RUSH: So the vote was 51-49. Manchin, Flake, and Collins all voting yes, but the final vote cannot happen by Senate rule before 4:42 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow. It has to be 30 hours after this vote was taken. Now, I want to say, I’m not surprised by Murkowski who voted “no.” A lot of people are asking is the vote now not gonna change? I mean, if the cloture vote and we got the procedural vote 51-49.

No, folks, because I’m gonna tell you what’s happening out there. I have been made privy to some of the comments, not just on social media, but to the offices that many Republican senators are getting. They are being deluged, their entire families are being threatened. Their grandchildren are being threatened. Their wives, their husbands, barmaids, everybody they know being threatened.

It’s enormous; it is never ending; the phones don’t stop ringing; the threatening emails and tweets do not stop arriving; it is unhinged; it is vile, and it is evil. And it’s not just Flake and Collins and Manchin. It’s all the Republicans are hearing. It is one of the most disgusting things many of these people say they’ve ever seen. In that regard, Jeff Flake and Susan Collins, I think they have to be credited for doing the right thing.

They are both facing enormous pressures. Flake is getting pressure like you can’t believe from not only members of the paid professional mob squad on the left, but other Democrats in the Senate and on the Judiciary Committee. I don’t think as far as Flake is concerned, he voted today for Kavanaugh in a… It’s not technically a vote for Kavanaugh. It’s a vote to go to a final vote.

And the rule of thumb always is that as these procedural votes go, so goes the final vote. But you can’t make book on that simply because of the abject, real, frightening threats these people are getting. And I think the vote for Flake today was really hard. I’ll tell you why. He went from being a “yes” vote to being harassed on the elevator to becoming a “yes” vote with the FBI investigation.

He got what he wanted. They’re still leaning on him. He’s leaving the Senate. This is his final term. The easy thing to do here would be to vote against Kavanaugh and receive the praise of the mob and receive the praise of the Democrats, and he went ahead, and he voted in what many of us think is the right way. He did the right thing.

He’s gonna be attacked viciously. He is going to be accosted by the left all the way through the rest of today, tonight, and tomorrow. The same thing with Susan Collins, the senator from Maine. I can’t describe for you… You might have an idea; you probably know. The things that are being said to these people, the threats that they are getting belie the notion that we live in a civilized society.

It’s unhinged. Much of it is insane and deranged and is made up of the psychological disorders that I believe constitute now the mainstream of the Democrat Party. The protesters are paid. Their signs are all the identically manufactured, the same phrases all over them. And these people… I don’t know if you’ve received threats and I don’t know if you’ve been barraged by them, but if you have and if you believe them, they can unnerve you.

Yet Flake and Collins did the right thing here. I only hope that they’re able to maintain their positions. Now, Collins has announced that she’s going to make a statement after 3 o’clock today. And of course everybody’s on pins and needles wondering what that’s going to be. Now, the thinking on this goes that there’s no way she would vote “yes” on the procedural vote this morning if her intention is to vote “no” down the road.

If you’re gonna kill the nomination, do it now, not tomorrow. I don’t think any of these theories or traditions can be hoisted up and used and relied on. I think we’re in brand-new territory here for a number of reasons. I don’t think you can say that just because Susan Collins voted “yes” this morning means a guarantee she’s gonna see vote “yes” tomorrow. And then why make a statement at 3 o’clock? Why make some…? Why 3 o’clock? And why make some statement?

Now, I try to keep my ego out of this as much as I can, but I’m telling you, when I see somebody’s gonna make a statement at 3 o’clock, first thing I realize is I’m not gonna be here to comment on it. And I wonder if I’m the only one that notices that or if the person making the statement might. It’s a curious thing. It could just well be that she wants a lot of attention for what she is going to say. But as of right now, they’ve both been… (interruption)

I’m not sucking up, Snerdley. Snerdley’s accusing me of sucking up. I’m not. I know the kind of threats these people are getting. Susan Collins… In fact, I’ll tell you this. Susan Collins has been assured by people that if she votes “no,” she can forget ever be reelected to the Senate from Maine by the Republican Party there. She’s also being told that if she votes “yes,” that all kinds of horrible, despicable things are gonna happen.

Flake is being told this. They all are. But Collins and Flake and Murkowski… Joe Manchin. Joe Manchin on the Democrat side. Joe Manchin voted “yes.” He’s a Democrat, West Virginia. He’s getting a load of it as well. So it could well come down… You know, there’s Senator Daines’ daughter in Montana? His daughter is scheduled to get married tomorrow. And he says, “You know what? I’m going to the wedding. This only happens once. I’m going to the wedding.”

Donald Trump, Jr., said, “I’ve got total faith, Daines is the greatest guy. If they need his vote, he’ll be there.” Well, they’re gonna needs his vote. So they got a plane standing by. They’re gonna maybe… Somebody said, “Why don’t you do the wedding in the Senate anteroom and have the reception in statutary, statutory, statuary, whatever it is, hall?”

But he will get there; he will vote.

And it could well be that they’re gonna have to Vice President Pence up there for final passage to make this happen. I hope it doesn’t eventuate that way. But there are a lot of people here that are doing the right thing and acting courageously, and because of that they are in the line of fire, euphemistically speaking that the left has set up for everybody. Collins and Flake have both tried to be accommodating and reasonable; the other side is not. They’re vicious and they’re vile; they are despicable; they are mean.

And it’s the same thing happening to Senator Flake.

So take a brief time-out. We’ll continue here, your phone calls as well. It’s Open Line Friday, which means that you can talk about pretty much anything you want. There are other things happening, as is the case each and every day, other things outside the primary news event of the day, which of course is the Senate vote on Kavanaugh.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, folks, don’t misunderstand me here. I know… (interruption) Mr. Snerdley…. Mr. Snerdley is worried about Susan Collins. He’s saying, “Why call and announce? Why make an announcement 3 o’clock? You voted ‘yes’ to continue the process. You voted ‘yes’ on the procedural vote. There can be only one reason to call a 3 o’clock announcement, to say you’re gonna vote ‘no.’ After suggesting the process should go forward, you want to shut down the process.”

I realize a lot of people think that that’s what’s in store here. And, course, I’m hearing… I knew this was gonna happen. I’m hearing from droves of you who say the proof is the timing, that she’s gonna do this after this program ends. It means that, “Rush, it can’t be anything you’re gonna like.” I’m getting emails that say… (interruption) You think that’s right, too? (interruption)

Snerdley says absolutely. He thinks that’s right as well. Well, we’ll see. I’m not going to withdraw my acknowledgment that I think she did the right thing.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Snerdley just found a link that Lisa Murkowski has not made her final decision yet. Uhh, that’s not what we were told earlier today. We were told her decision was final and that she had said, “Kavanaugh’s just not the man at this time for the Supreme Court.” That’s a quote. Well, I’m holding here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers… By the way, coming up on the Dittocam in the next segment, the monologue next hour: A couple of pictures of Dianne Feinstein with Murkowski up against a wall.

Feinstein’s got her hand above her head up against the wall, and it looks like Feinstein… It looks like the alien and what’s her name, Courtney…? What was the actress in the Alien movies? (interruption) Sigourney Weaver. It looks like Feinstein’s the alien and Murkowski is Sigourney Weaver, and that big weapon is about to pop out of Feinstein’s mouth and obliterate Murkowski. We’ll have that. In fact… Nope. We’ll save it ’cause I don’t have much-time here.

I want to read to you a couple of tweets from Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal. “1) Just to be clear on what @LisaMurkowski voted for today: –to legitimize and sign off on the most despicable tactics ever in a nomination. –to stand with Dianne Feinstein, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris. –to leave Judge Brett Kavanaugh subject to claims of perjury/impeachment.”

She signed off “2) –to abandon due process and presumption of innocence. –to potentially leave High Court at a 4-4 deadlock, putting the loony 9th circuit in control of everything that matters to Alaska–development, prop rights, gun rights, enviro rules, etc. Quite the statement.” Boy, that is so true. It’s a 4-4 tie. The 9th Circuit contains Murkowski’s state. She’s supposedly a Republican. But this nails it.

She voted “to legitimize and sign off on the most despicable tactics ever,” to stand with Feinstein, Kamala Harris. I’m telling you, this party — the Democrat Party — in a just world, would suffer the biggest midterm electoral defeat in this nation’s history. They deserve for this country to rise up against them at the ballot box because of everything they’ve done. In the past two years alone, just to Trump and the people that voted for him, specifically Kavanaugh.