Kelly appointing Loeffler instead of Collins, a good move, if for no other reason than that it keeps the federal executive branch out of states' and the Senate's lanes

Georgia governor Brian Kemp has appointed Atlanta-area businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to serve the remainder of the term of Senator Johnny Isaakson, who is stepping down due to health issues.

Some conservative groups are expressing misgivings over the appointment. She's untested ideologically and Doug Collins, a House member representing a Georgia district who has lots of people wanting him to get the seat, is a known quantity - as in having a record of voting as President Trump has wanted Congress to vote on pretty much everything.

Erick Erickson, who has pretty authoritative knowledge of Georgia politics and government, is extending his trust to Kemp's judgement, because the governor has a track record of following through:

I am willing to give Governor Kemp the benefit of the doubt on Kelly Loeffler. Kemp replaced a Governor who talked a good game on religious liberty, encouraged the legislature to pass RFRA, then made sure it was done in a year he wasn’t on the ballot but the legislative Republicans were. The legislative Republicans all voted for it and Nathan Deal vetoed it despite promising to sign it. They’d claimed they supported it and he was not on the ballot. That governor then went on to sabotage protections for faith based adoption agencies in the state, but he loved Jesus and babies.

Kemp came in and pledged to sign fetal heartbeat legislation. Most Republicans assumed he would pull the RFRA stunt. Instead, he kept his word. He personally intervened to get support for it. He did the same with a school choice measure that was blocked by Senate Republicans. He has worked with conservatives to protect faith based adoption agencies. He’s earned enough good will and trust from conservatives in Georgia for us to trust him when he says Kelly Loeffler is pro-life and conservative.

But what tips the scale for LITD is the fact that Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, one of The Very Stable Genius's most sycophantic boot-lickers, tweeted this:

Matt Gaetz‏Verified account @mattgaetz

Matt Gaetz Retweeted Brian Kemp

.@realDonaldTrump told you how to be supportive: Appoint @RepDougCollins. You are ignoring his request because you THINK you know better than @POTUS.  

If you substitute your judgement for the President’s, maybe you need a primary in 2022. Let’s see if you can win one w/o Trump

That's shakedown crap. It also demonstrates a frightening disregard for the constitutional arrangement by which sitting Senators are replaced. The Framers' idea was that the Senate would represent states' interests in the national legislature. Granted, that notion was significantly compromised in 1913, when Senators started to be elected by the direct vote of citizens, rather than by state legislatures. This much at least has been preserved, though, and a real conservative, as opposed to a VSG cult-worshipper, would defer to it.

The phrase "because you THINK you know better than POTUS" is particularly galling. This is a matter for Georgia to decide. The assumption here is that the VSG has obviously superior wisdom to anyone else in a position to influence the nation's course - an assumption that gets proven embarrassingly wrong every day.

I do concur with Erickson that Loeffler must waste no time confirming her bona fides to any group or figure harboring any degree of skepticism. But what Gaetz is about did not prevail, and that's damn gratifying to see.