I don’t doubt the WH is vetting Sandoval and several others. Actually putting him through the vetting process, even with no intentions of nominating him, is part of the long game.
11 Likes
Harry wouldn’t pitch a Supreme Court nominee to the White House solely to prevent Sandoval from running for the Senate. The potential consequences to the country are just too big. But Harry may have pitched Sandoval as a way to troll the Republicans.
6 Likes
And then there is this about Sandoval
1 Like
IMO-- this is Josh Earnest running point for BHO.
Keeping the heat turned up.
jw1
2 Likes
I agree but it didnt take the Obama critics here to jump all over it
2 Likes
Yeah, this common misuse of “moderate” is irksome. Maybe he’s “moderate” in the sense that he’s willing to slowly transform America into an imaginary “utopic” version of the colonial era, but a couple of liberal positions does not a “moderate” (nor “centrist”) make. No genuinely centrist Republican can avoid being primaried right out of the party these days.
1 Like
DO NOT WANT!!! I hope this is part of a bigger strategy here and not the old 2009-2011 pre-compromising “give the GOP everything that they want for nothing in return” strategy that failed so spectacularly. I have to imagine that Obama knows the stakes here and isn’t willing to give up the farm, but he has a history of this, so who knows.
CNN reporting on this as we speak… it’s a good trial balloon… let’s hope it just stays that way…
1 Like
Sandoval is pro-choice, opposed same-sex marriage bans in court, and embraced the ACA. He basically shed all the excesses of the Right Wingnutery and Bagger Cons that other Rethugs embrace out of fear of the Tea Potty and the Rightie loons.
So he has the unique distinction of being the only top level R who doesn’t feel the need to take unpopular loyalty oaths to an unhinged GOP lunatic base and, not surprisingly, is extremely popular in NV.
The reason why he still leaves me unsettled and nervous is because he seems to use his ‘moderation’ as a politically tactical means to gain a popular following which allows him to pursue what is still a very conservative economic agenda. The Nevada education budget was gutted by Sandoval.
Hmmm…He IS a popular Governor in moderate western state (Hell, I even like him, and I can’t think of any other Republican I use the “like” word with at all.)
This one still has me pondering.
5 Likes
People: You KNOW PBO is trolling the Conservatives with this: Not only do they have to say that even a republican won’t get a hearing, but they also have to throw Sandoval under the bus “for not really being one of us, anyway” to justify it.
11 Likes
Here’s the problem with the centrist deal, any GOP senator that is a supposed centrist are currently walking behind McConnell and saying “good job Mitch, that will show him.”
I’d rather have a moderate or liberal Democrat as the nominee.
Let’s lose pretence and instead have this issue be about the obvious but glossed up issue.
3 Likes
He is anti-labor, which is a huge deal considering the cases currently on the docket and coming up the pike. That’s a big, BIG dealbreaker.
6 Likes
Just No. No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
I’m pretty sure I can’t even type enough no’s.
1 Like
Who gets to appoint Sharon Angle to NV Gov if he takes the job?
2 Likes
Can’t help but be reminded of the West Wing episode in which newly elected Santos floats his former opponent as a possible VP (since his running-mate died on election day). The opponent “reads” the play: by floating him he’d get Republicans to say they’d be willing to hold expedited hearings; then Santos can nominate the person he really wants and force them to hold expedited hearings for that nominee, since they’d already signalled their willingness to hold them for a nominee they like…
This feels similar: a way to put Republicans on the spot: see? How could you possibly reject any nominee sight-unseen, when I’m seriously considering this person ?
4 Likes
“Not even gonna hold a hearing? That’s too bad. I was seriously thinking about Bristol Palin.”
3 Likes
I’m slightly amused by the thoughts that Sandoval will be hard to attack because he’s a Republican. Their main fear is attacking him would be to further alienate the Hispanic community…if that’s possible.
Chuck Hagel could probably attest to the fact that Republican Rightie loons and panderers have NO problem attacking any Republican they see as remotely friendly to the President.
7 Likes
I hope you’re right. From the start I thought that maybe the reason they were pulling this stunt was to try to get Obama to nominate someone more conservative. I’d rather take our chances on the next election than nominate someone conservative.
6 Likes
I think you’re right. I think Pres Obama got the GOTP reaction he wanted.
4 Likes
Of course, me too. But any well qualified person of left of crazytown will of necessity be required to gut themselves in public in the hearing room and bleed out on the GOPer senator’s desks just to satisfy their lust for Obama’s head on a platter
2 Likes
“Vetting” just means they’re getting him to fill out the reams of paper and digging into his past and, probably, getting the FBI to do the security review. But, cruelly–given how invasive and generally horrible the process is–it doesn’t mean you’re under serious consideration.
This is pure cage-rattling, just to make them look bad for taking the absolutist position and to force the MSM asshats to confront the absolute absurdity of a position they’ve already come close to normalizing. Reid coming out with some glowing words for him is the dead tell of what’s going on here.
18 Likes