Why not ‘Mr. Jackson,’ Sen. Collins? | Letter

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I’m offended that Sen. Susan Collins has cast Troy Jackson’s telling her to “shut up” during their recent debate as reflecting his misogyny. This, from a senator who approved a Supreme Court justice facing credible complaints of sexual assault, a justice who went on to overturn Roe v. Wade?

I wonder, instead, what the senator’s repeatedly calling her opponent by his first name betokens.

Is she highlighting the name’s relative unusualness, casting him as “not one of us”? Is this a “social class” barb, suggesting that her more aristocratic upbringing entitles her to respect, while his does not? This inequality in naming sounds to me like the custom, in wealthy families, of calling adult servants by their first names. This is Maine, not the Antebellum South. Using language to demean and disrespect is not part of our usual discourse.

Despite the wishes of some, we all remain equal here. And we will stand judged by our behavior.

Gail Wasserman
Brunswick

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Tagged: election 2026, featured letter, letter to the editor, senate 2026