Is Blocking Merrick Garland the Latest Act of Republican Self-Destruction?
Is Blocking Merrick Garland the Latest Act of Republican Self-Destruction?
By Kurt Eichenwald On 3/16/16 at 4:00 PM
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The big question in all of this is, why did the Republicans declare before a nominee was put forward that they would oppose anyone? Are they really that dumb strategically? Yes, they got a few weeks of cheers from the Tea Party types. But why not just wait until there was a nominee, then break out the fainting couch by pretending no one could have ever imagined Obama would nominate so-and-so? That, at least, could have been portrayed as being a typical process in a constitutional government, not a declaration of some brand-new “not in an election year” standard clearly made up for pure politics.
By jumping the gun in their opposition, the Republicans will have to constantly repeat their line for the next 237 days that, because it is an election year, the people should have a voice in naming the next justice for the court. That’s all they’ve got. Democrats are then set up for a rat-a-tat-tat of responses:
the move is unprecedented;
the people already had a voice when they re-elected Obama;
presidents have had nominees confirmed in election years throughout American history;
the Republicans are refusing to do their job;
they are sacrificing government to politics;
they are crippling the court through at least 2017;
they are continuing their attempts to block Obama’s judicial selections with laughable excuses (such as when they fought to shrink the size of a major federal appeals court by suddenly declaring it was too big after a vacancy opened up);
they sacrifice government to politics, and cannot be trusted.
The political attack ads against every Republican in a close Senate race this year almost write themselves. The news stories will be relentless, with reporters asking uncomfortable questions like, “What day in a president’s last term should no more nominees be considered?” and “Why did the Republican National Committee start fundraising off of the idea of blocking any nominee even before Obama named one?” The GOP will be forced, again and again, to mutter its feeble justification for what will become increasingly evident was nothing more than a naked power grab.
And this gift to the Democrats will likely keep on giving. If Trump wins the nomination, expect to see hundreds of political ads showing the Republican standard-bearer insulting women, calling for blocking all Muslims from coming to the United States and talking about his penis, followed by the tagline, “Is this who you want to select the next Supreme Court justice?” Republicans have plans to help their at-risk Senators distance themselves from Trump, but if those candidates are simultaneously arguing that the next president should select the new Supreme Court justice, they are tying themselves directly to the man that party leaders have already called a cancer, a buffoon and dangerous.
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http://www.newsweek.com/merrick-garland-gop-self-destruction-437578
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