Sen. Coons rationalizes harassment of Republican senators over Kavanaugh - but gives a warning

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware appeared to rationalize the harassment and "extreme tactics" being used by the left to try to coerce members of Congress to vote against the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

'The extreme tactics being used'

Coons made his comments on Wednesday while speaking to host Chuck Todd on MSNBC.

"I have to ask you about some of the tactics of some of the special interest groups," Todd said. "You've heard reports, there's been coat hangers sent to Sen. Susan Collins' (R-Maine) office. Some really nasty voicemails that have been played, you know the tactics, it seems that the extreme tactics being used. I'm sure you get that there's a lot of passion, what do you make of them?"

"There is a huge amount of passion, as I think the whole country saw, dozens of people were arrested in the course of the hearings," Coons responded.

"All of our offices have gotten hundreds if not thousands of calls, many on a daily basis, and I think that's well justified because of the level of fear, of concern, of anxiety, both about the unpredictable behavior of our president, and the ways in which the Supreme Court may very well shift to a conservative majority for years or decades to come and decide vital issues about individual liberty in this country."

Coons, however, acknowledged that the tactics could backfire and end up hurting the cause of the left.

"I do, I'll take your point," Coons added, "Chuck, it may end up backfiring in that it may turn off several of the key, centrist votes, both Republican and Democrat, who are willing to consider a vote against Kavanaugh as they're weighing their decision here in the last days."

Here's the video of Coons' comments on MSNBC:

On Tuesday, Collins shot down the attempt to openly "bribe" her to vote against Kavanaugh by liberals who threatened to fund the campaign of her future political opponent if she voted against their wishes.

“I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh,” Collins said.