Discussion: McConnell Threatens To Hold Kavanaugh Hearing Right Before Midterms

imkmu3 · July 20, 2018, 9:15am

Why not both?

mcstubbins · July 20, 2018, 9:18am

McConnell is rapidly rising up my list of most hated politician ever. Will take a lot to unseat the current #1, Darth Cheney, but Mitch is making a strong push.

demosthenes59 · July 20, 2018, 9:19am

“We need Kavanaugh on the Court ASAP to protect Trump.”

lastroth · July 20, 2018, 9:20am

Someone should have pointed out to Leo Leonard that when a Supreme Court nominee has a long history on the bench, was a former political appointee, worked on a special counsel investigation, and a previous confirmation hearing went for 3 years. That boy has history, and going through it takes time.

the_loan_arranger · July 20, 2018, 9:21am

“We have a constitutional responsibility to do a thorough and fair hearing,” said Grassley.

Yet another obituary for irony.

gryka · July 20, 2018, 9:22am

Hypocrisy aside. This is a very weak move.

Yesterday he yanked a presidential appointee to federal court over racist writings… (when was that a problem for GOP?) and today he threatens to delay vote on SCOTUS nominee with a really bizarre argument about demoralization of Dems? If it’s so demoralizing, why is he threatening, instead of doing? This is what GOP does, after all.

I would assume the Dems decided to try to delay the hearings BECAUSE they wanted to … I don’t know… delay the hearings? So what’s the threat here? Exactly?

To me it rather sounds like a plea for help… And it’s awfully early in the game, isn’t it?

So let’s cut to the chase, dear McTurtle: how many of the votes you thought you had got wobbly? Is it that only African American Senator you have? Are there more?

daveminnj · July 20, 2018, 9:26am

[quote=“imkmu3, post:41, topic:75073, full:true”]
Why not both?
[/quote]I’ll try. I promise I’ll try.

greylady · July 20, 2018, 9:26am

McConnell seems to have forgotten that the GOP is the majority in both the House and Senate - he’ll be keeping more Republicans off the campaign trail than Democrats.

And, to make things even more interesting - one of the Russian firms indicted by Mueller (Concord Management) is trying to use one of Kavanaugh’s rulings in their defense - on the rights of foreigners to spend money to influence US politics. Key words from the article: In the case of the foreign national decision, Kavanaugh said the government would have to prove that foreign nationals had knowledge of the law’s restrictions before seeking criminal charges. And he said the ban did not include foreign spending on “issue advocacy and speaking out on issues of public policy.”

We need to make certain US votors know that Kavanaugh supports expanding Citizens United to include foreign money!

Here’s the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/russian-firm-indicted-in-special-counsel-probe-cites-kavanaugh-decision-to-argue-that-charges-should-be-dismissed/2018/07/19/0faace34-8aba-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html?utm_term=.d84fc2f95b58

the_loan_arranger · July 20, 2018, 9:28am

No, he didn’t pull the appointee over racist writings – he yanked the nomination because he realized he didn’t have the necessary votes for confirmation. If he’d had the votes, racist writings would have been a net plus.

honeyboywilson · July 20, 2018, 9:28am

Remember, it takes 51 senators to have a quorum.

loss_mentality · July 20, 2018, 9:36am

Historic obstruction, eh? Historic projection, more like.

gryka · July 20, 2018, 9:39am

Interesting development: https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/07/19/one-nation-ad-joe-manchin-733151
Inquiring minds and all.

gryka · July 20, 2018, 9:46am

Of course.

sfaw · July 20, 2018, 9:48am

Traitor Turtle trying to get tumbreled. First the CSA, now Russia, eh, Mitch? And you’re apparently hoping that the Traitor-in-Chief will return the favor, after you give him a SCOTUS Shill who will keep his fat orange ass out of prison? Good luck with that.

the_loan_arranger · July 20, 2018, 9:50am

Fine, except that it doesn’t work that way. All Representatives are up for election every two years, but the House is not involved in Senate confirmation hearings so no Republicans or Democrats will be kept off the campaign trail by Senate hearings.

There are 33 Senate seats up for (re)election in 2018, 24 Democrats (including 2 Independents) and 9 Republicans, so considerably more Democrats than Republicans will be kept off the campaign trail by Senate hearings in October. In addition, there are 2 special elections to fill vacated Senate seats, one in Minnesota and one in Mississippi. Consider this a wash.

So there is definitely an advantage to the Republicans by keeping the Senators up for reelection in Washington in the last month of the campaign since the Democrats have to defend 24 seats while the Republicans only have to defend 9.

ncsteve · July 20, 2018, 11:06am

What, isn’t your morale devastated by the very thought?

One begins to see how the prospect not having a reliable ideologue beholden to him personally on the Court would be making McConnell a little frantic, however.

carolson · July 20, 2018, 9:51am

The power this POS wields is obscene. When, oh when, can we have another LBJ as majority leader…

captain_america · July 20, 2018, 9:56am

That’s our Mitch.

Bringing a flintlock to a machine-gun fight.

reggid · July 20, 2018, 9:59am

But her emails.

riverstreet · July 20, 2018, 10:08am

Do we have any photos of McConnell dancing in the moonlight with the adorable Mariia Butina?

Or accepting bags of money from the adorable Paul Erikson?