In the hours following Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court following the death of Antonin Scalia, Republicans reiterated their plan to postpone taking any action until after the November election. Meanwhile, the Democrats rolled out their game plan to force the GOP to not only vote, but confirm the so-called moderate justice.
Surprisingly, Obama and the Democrats are using the Constitution as the basis for making their demands on a vote.No, really! They are! Of course, by doing so, they exposed their ignorance of the document because there is no requirement for the Senate to vote or confirm anyone Obama nominates.
However, despite the assurances of Mitch McConnell to the contrary, the “no-vote” coalition within the GOP ranks could be showing signs of cracking, as seven Republican Senators have announced that they will meet with Garland.
Yeah, I know Shocking, isn’t it? The cave-crew includes:
- Susan Collins (ME)
- Jeff Flake (AZ) – a man who lives up to his name
- Mark Kirk (IL)
- Rob Portman (OH)
- Kelly Ayotte (NH)
- Jim Inhofe (OK)
- Thad Cochran (MS)
Seven, by the way, is already half the number of Republican voters needed by the Democrats to end a filibuster, assuming all Democrats and Bernie Sanders vote yes.
A few weeks ago when I wrote about the possibility of a GOP cave, I was accused of being the equivalent of the storybook “boy who cried wolf” for insinuating that McConnell and his minions were devising a way to give Obama what he wants—again—while making it look like they were fighting him.
But now we are hearing from Harry Reid—the de facto leader of the Senate ever since McConnell became the official leader—is boldly proclaiming the inevitability of the anti-Second Amendment, pro-abortion justice’s confirmation. On his Twitter account, he wrote:
Republicans are backing down so quickly that they’re already bargaining about what month they will fully cave and confirm Obama’s nominee.
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) March 16, 2016
With McConnell’s reputation as a lying liar telling lies, and seven Republicans already preparing to cave, it looks like Senate Leader Reid is right again.
David Leach is the owner and publisher of The Strident Conservative, your source for news and opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.”
His daily commentary is nationally syndicated via Salem Radio Network.
