Episode 248 Scott Adams: Senator Collins’ speech

Date: 2018-10-05 | Duration: 10:10

Topics

Senator Collins’ speech was very, very good…and important She set precedent and rescued our founder’s system

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## Transcript

## [Senator Collins' Speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=9s)

Hey Edwin, hey Dan, come on in here. It's going to be a big one. Hey Eric. Hey everybody. So you're probably watching the news and you were wondering, where is he? Where is he to come in here and talk to us about this? 

Senator Collins of Maine just gave the best speech I've ever seen. That's it. It's the best speech I've ever seen. Here's what I liked about it—let me turn off my phone because it's going to be beeping in a second. What I liked about it was, first of all, the moment was amazing. 

## [The Cinematic Moment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=70s)

The whole world was watching. The stakes were high; there was anticipation. There was maybe the Senator who couldn't go to the wedding with his daughter. If this were a movie, it might be the sequel to the first movie, which is Trump getting elected. This feels like if this were the second movie in that series, getting Kavanaugh through this process would be the end of the second movie. In terms of script and cinematically and everything, it was amazing. 

Now, I have to admit, I didn't know much about Senator Collins. I don't even know if I could put a face to her, frankly. I didn't have any preconceived notions. I just thought she was one of the medium-important Senators, but maybe she's more important based on this speech. 

## [The Power of the Delivery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=133s)

I thought that was just the best speech I've ever seen. I don't know who wrote it, but her delivery was excellent. I assume she was the primary author of it on some level. She went through such an insanely rational explanation to soften the blow, and she made us wait to the end, although it was obvious before the end which way she was going to vote. She still made us wait, which was amazing. 

The fact that she was a woman and it came down to—at least historically it's going to look like it came down to—one woman, which is perfect. She's one woman who has voted both ways. If there could have been a more perfect moment and a more perfect person for that moment, it was just shockingly important. 

## [Preserving the Principle of Innocence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=195s)

What I wanted to talk to you about was this: if you've been watching my Periscope, you know that I have been predicting that it would come down this way. Not so much just the vote, but that the principle of innocent until at least a little bit proven guilty would be the more important thing to maintain. 

The entire context was about the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court is really the top of the pyramid for the legal system in general and the credibility of it. It was terribly important. When you're talking about a principle as basic as "innocent until proven guilty," that has to take more importance because of the context that it was about the Court itself. 

## [The High Ground Maneuver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=257s)

I've been teaching you that in my book *Win Bigly*. Those of you who have read it know that my book *Win Bigly*, which will be coming out in paperback in about three weeks, talks about using the persuasion filter to predict. In this case, the persuasion filter predicted this outcome. 

Let me tell you the details of that very briefly. I talk in the book in a few different chapters about something called "The High Ground Maneuver." The idea is that if you take the High Ground and everybody recognizes it as the High Ground, you end up always winning. It's the only time you can guarantee you're going to win—if you've taken the High Ground. 

You recognize the High Ground when you see it, and in this case, the High Ground was the Constitution and the principle of innocent until proven guilty. Or, as Senator Collins put it more brilliantly, since it's not a court proceeding, you're not bound by that standard, but they're inventing the standard as they go. 

## [Rescuing the Founders' System](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=319s)

It made more sense, especially in the context of the Supreme Court nomination, to stay within a standard of fairness. They had passed every historical test. She took the reasonable middle ground of "more probably true" or "more probably not." She worded it better, but that's the basic idea. 

In so doing, she set precedent, which was another major theme that she talked about, and she rescued the system. You watched a system that the Founders had created hundreds of years ago that was supposed to be robust enough to take some tweaking but basically remain intact. The entire system was coming off the—anyway, the way it felt was that the wheels were coming off the system. People were thinking that these accusations would be enough to derail a process as revered as the Supreme Court nominations. 

## [Protecting the Precedent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=381s)

My prediction was that the High Ground is that the system had to be protected and that the concept of fairness and what it takes to derail somebody's life—the level of evidence for that—is a standard that nobody wants to set the wrong precedent for. So, my prediction was that that was an impenetrable precedent as long as there were enough Republicans who needed some cover to vote in that direction. 

Now, because I'm not blind to politics, obviously most Democrats were going to go one way and most Republicans were going to go another. But what Collins did—because she's a woman, that helped, because that's what the biggest issues seem to be about at the Supreme Court. 

## [Laying Ground Cover for the Vote](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=442s)

Because her speech was just flat-out one of the most brilliant things, the best speech I've ever seen, she laid ground cover for any other Republicans and for Joe Manchin who wanted to come over and vote with the Republicans as he's done before. 

She basically made it safe. She basically carpet bombed every bad argument, cleared all the enemy out of the village, and then the other Republicans can parachute down and do their votes. Watch how Republicans from this point on explain their vote. There's a smart way to do it and a dumb way. The smart way for Republicans to explain their vote is not, "Hey, I'm a Republican, so I vote Republican." That would be the bad way. The good way is, "Senator Collins speaks for me. Everything she said, I agree with." Boom. Just leave it there, and you have as good a cover as you're going to get. 

## [A Moment for the Constitution](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJfBQhvXj8&t=505s)

I'm not suggesting that the opposition is going to roll over; anything could happen between now and the actual vote. Anything's possible. But it looks like Senator Collins did an amazing thing for the Constitution and for the country. 

It was brave. She's going to take a lot of heat for it. Of course, she would have taken heat either way. But it was just one of the most amazing acts of patriotism and good politics. It was one of those moments when you thought everything couldn't get worse. Didn't it seem like democracy was just falling apart? The Constitution was starting to shake a little bit, and it looked like it was going to the dark place. 

Then she gives that speech. Yes, it was an amazing moment. I couldn't stop; I couldn't look away. I needed to do some other things pretty badly, but I just couldn't look away. It was an amazing, amazing thing. That's all I had to say about that. I'd love to stay, but I've got other things to do, so I've got to run. I'll talk to you later.