Yep. I can’t think of any time in history when a POTUS was not just obstructed by the opposing party, but pilloried, nullified, and belittled as Obama has been. Hey GOP assholes, who has above 50 percent approval? Not you.
I don’t think they’ll hurt Republicans as a whole because Mitch McConnell is not running for President, and most voters won’t decide who to vote for President based on the Supreme Court. It’s too abstract a concept. Many voters don’t even know how many SCOTUS justices there are, or who the Chief Justice is.
And it won’t hurt Republicans in Congress because most of them, especially in the House, come from Strongly Republican states or districts. They’re at far more risk of being primaried from the right than losing to a Democrat in the general election. And the easiest way to attract a formidable primary challenge is to take any position that even remotely supports President Obama and “liberals.”
Who the hell does Obama think he is – the freakin’ President of the United States?
Oh shit — I thought that Mitch’s whole duty was to make Obama a one term Pres. ? —
This cannot be emphasized enough.
Several times in several of the comment sections tonight I have seen people posting about President Obama’s "Constitutional right to appoint a Supreme Court Justice.
Please pull your collective heads out of your collective asses, people.
This is not a “right.”
It is a Constitutional duty.
It is a Constitutional responsibility.
It is a Constitutional obligation.
Please keep your eye on the ball and stop handing the right wing talking points and distractions. They are quite adept at creating their own, so stop playing the game in front of where ever the right-wing thugs decide to set the goal posts on any random afternoon.
President Obama stated it precisely as it needs to be played: his Oath of Office requires him to execute his duties as President of the United States to uphold the Constitution and otherwise govern on behalf of the citizens of the United States. We elected him, twice, by wide margins (an historic landslide in 2012) to perform those duties. We The People elected him specifically to execute his responsibilities during his term in office … which very specifically and explicitly include the expectation that he appoint Supreme Court Justices during his tenure.
You take this and you shove it in the face of every single Repugnicunt asshole (I’m talking to you, Bitch McConnell) who tries to claim that PRESIDENT Obama isn’t “allowed” to appoint a Supreme Court Justice “because.” Beat them in the face with it, push their God damned shit in with it, then curbstomp the fuck out of them with it at every single opportunity.
Anyone who is calling to stop the nomination process is a flat out seditious traitor. When they are doing it from within our own government (such as sitting Senators), they need to be called upon to resign for violating their Oaths of Office.
Obama has warm words for Scalia, while the Republicans practically trample all over his still warm body to disrespect the President…which seems to always be their first priority.
Yep, with Republicans immediately calling to stall any nomination, and President Obama couching his duty to nominate Scalia’s successor in terms of honoring his legacy and commitment to the rule of law, the Republicans have just boxed themselves in.
They won’t be able to argue that nominee X is too liberal, because they’ve already said they’d block anyone.
And after the Civil War, though for a time that was mitigated somewhat by the supermajority in Congress steamrolling the President, overriding every veto.
Truman’s time was also marked by conflict with a Tea Party-like wing of the Republicans, though not quite as vicious as today. Still, after reading the biography of him, I came across with the feeling that Truman and Obama were a lot alike in their presidencies. Their reelection campaigns were pretty similar too, both running against a wealthy Northeastern governor who was a relative moderate in the party and won the nomination by a large margin but who nobody actually liked.
Obama called Scalia “a larger than life presence on the bench” who devoted his life to public service.
Obama’s ability to turn the other cheek never ceases to amaze me. How can he say these things without having the words stick in his throat? (Or, finishing the sentence, as, “…devoted his life to public service, in the same way American Pharaoh will service Thoroughbred mares.”)
My favorite RuBotTM line from the debate: “It’s been fifty years since a lame-duck President nominated a Supreme Court Justice.”
This led Josh to question whether RuBotTM knows what a lame-duck is. (FWIW, Josh, no, RuBotTM doesn’t.) Apparently the last Supreme Court Justice nominated by a RuBotTM LameDuckTM was Anthony Kennedy, nominated by President Saint Ronald of Reagan.
But Reagan was a Republican, and we all know IOKIYAAR.
By the way, when is that OS upgrade for RuBotTM supposed to arrive?
Right?! Who made him president?
It’s because it is not in Obama’s " nature " to be so — He exists on a totally separate portion of the spectrum than the GOP — It is just not within his being, so to speak — He is " above " the fray —
Once again … a CLASS ACT ! —
There is a special double-secret addendum to Article II Section 1 Clause 5, that says, “Nor shall any Ni-clang who might be eligible under this clause be allowed to exercise any of the Various Powers of the Office of President without the Express Written Consent of Yertle the Turtle and Eddie Munster.”
I know this because at this evening’s seance the shade of Fat Tony Scalia told us it is written in invisible dog-whistle ink.
/snark
Ummm, 'President" Obama doesn’t have a choice because it is his ‘constitutional duty’.
It’s not like he booted Scalia off the bench and deemed himself King.
Being POTUS is a job, remember that, and Obama has a job to do, that he’s been fairly elected twice to do.
This is one of those, ‘elections have consequences’ things and holy Bat Shit Bat Man, this is a huge consequence.
Let’s hear a big cheer for the Good Guys, Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Actually, Obama was unfairly elected twice. The Teapartisans did their damnedest to steal the election in 2008 and again in 2012.
Some people have read Rover’s Nov 6, 2012 melt-down on Fox when Ohio was called for Obama as due to Rover’s believing his “unskewed” polls. Maybe. I think Rover knew the fix was supposed to be in, and turnout was so high that the fix didn’t take.
Hip-hip-hoooooooray!
GOP: If founders intended to have a black man nominate a Supreme Court nominee, they would have written it in constitution. Instead, they gave us Three Fifth Clause.
What’s with you correcting me?
I guess you have your POV but that doesn’t mean that what I said wasn’t exactly right.
The Republicans steal or attempt to steal elections, this is no new news. Then candidate Obama outfoxed (haha) them and two term, fairly elected President Obama has thwarted them with regularity ever since.
Bush was installed and with a big assist by this very dead Judge that just kicked it.
Obama won in clear landslides.
ETA: thanks for the cheer
We’re saying the same thing in different ways. Saying Obama was fairly elected twice glosses the GOP’s efforts to steal the election.
I don’t think the rat-bastards should get a pass on it – as you note, Obama beat them twice, despite their efforts to cheat.
And yes, elections have consequences, and (assuming that Harry figures a way to get Obama’s nominee confirmed) baby, this one is huge.
That’s an understatement really, The ramifications probably can’t even be fully weighed.
One that comes to mind is that the Repubs will quit throwing things in front of the partisan/activist court knowing that they’ve got right-leaning jurists to assist in their otherwise bogus law suits. There won’t be any 5-4 decisions if the cases never get that far and now there won’t be for sure because we will get possibly the next 3 or 4 picks.
The big pendulum of justice has swung back our way.
Obama went on to say that those responsibilities were also “about the
institution to which justice Scalia dedicated his professional life and
making sure it continues to function as the beacon of justice that our
founders envisioned.”
President Obama is one bad-ass troll.