RIP Antonin Scalia

The people at CPSAN are so agenda driven.....

Congressional Repubs and Dems, especially those in the Senate, are hypocrites. It's been seen time and again, from the nuclear filibuster debate to this. It's as clear as the blue sky.

 

This is why I blame the citizens/voters more than politicians; people need to actually read and scrutinize the sound bites/snippets before drawing conclusions. Biden clearly did not say the President should not nominate because of political reasons, it was actually the opposite. More importantly, he never even came close to taking McConnell's position to hold the process hostage while waiting for the voting to play out. If you read the transcript, Biden is advocating following the Constitution regarding conferring with the Senate about the nominees and confirming per the Constitution.

 

He said he didn't think Bush should nominate a justice, if a vacancy comes up in an election year. That's the same thing McConnell is saying.

 

I also know some sports journalists who are better off following Thomas' example rather than asking the questions they ask.

 

Wrong.

 

He also said that if the opportunity should arise, Bush should consult with the Senate and/or offer up a moderate candidate and that he would support a nomination like that, instead of a candidate who would be polarizing.

He was saying that because there had been several nasty fights with some of the previous nominees,including Rehnquist, Bork (who got dumped) and Thomas. He mentioned Kennedy and Souter as Republican-nominated candidates who had been acceptable to just about everyone and he wanted Bush to nominate someone like that if he was going to nominate someone before the election. He was saying this because he didn't want the nomination process to fall victim to the election. To him, the Supreme Court nomination process was too important to be an election-year issue.

Contrast that with McConnell, who, knowing Obama is done in 11 months, told him not to even bother nominating anyone, no matter their qualifications.

But just go ahead and watch a two-minute soundbite and then throw out a childish "you're stupid" instead of doing a little research.

 

Let's look at what we have:

1) A president who, as a senator, contributed to a filibuster of a judicial nominee, a move that's ok now because his press secretary says he "regrets" it.

2) A Vice President who, as a senator, issued a pre-emptive call for the president from the opposition party not to nominate a justice until after the election.

Both of these are acceptable, even honorable political maneuvers because of the superior moral fiber of these men. Yet McConnell et al. attempt similar moves and are committing grave sins against the country.

Sounds like Baron logic.

This has all been political theater, the GOP trying to use what (little) power it has in this situation, and you've created this fiction that Obama's and Biden's prior machinations are of a different stripe.

 

It was of a different stripe and it's already been explained to you how it is different. One more time:

1. Obama was willing to go on record of his objection to a judicial nominee. The Republicans don't want him to nominate anyone because they don't want to go on record of their objection.

2. Biden said he was willing to vote on a justice as long as it wouldn't be someone that would be polarizing like several other previous nominees had been. Barring that, he wanted Bush to wait for after the election, an election that, with the power of incumbency and following up a popular predecessor, he had a pretty good chance of winning, and then he could nominate someone more polarizing. Contrast that with McConnell, who doesn't even want to hold hearings or consider any nominee, whether they are polarizing or not.

The Democrats were more honorable than the Republicans because they were 1. Willing to go on record as to any objections and 2. Willing to approve a compromise candidate for a president who they may have had to work with for four more years instead of universally announcing they were going to blow off their constitutional duty because the guy in office that they hate is leaving permanently in 11 months.

Yes, what the GOP is doing is political theater. Very bad political theater that makes them look even worse than if they had just let Obama offer his nominee and given a unanimous thumb's down.

That's the difference here.

 

Ok Baron.

 

Of all the things to criticize Justice Thomas for, his refusal to or disinterest in asking questions at oral arguments should be at the bottom of the list. For the most part he is correct that any given case can be decided on the briefs and the transcript. Oral arguments are mostly for show.

 

The sarcasm is just flooding my screen.

 

Is that not bad? I'm asking b/c I really don't know, but the story sure made it sound odd and controversial.