Tuesday, April 04, 2017

The Nuclear Option? I'll believe it when I see it

Speculation is swirling in Washington as the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court continues to make its way through the Senate.  Reports are now that there are 41 Senators committed to support a filibuster when the nomination comes to a vote.  These reports then blithely state that the Republicans will "invoke the Nuclear Option" in order to confirm Judge Gorsuch.  For those of you who went to public schools and thus never had a civics class, the Nuclear Option means that the Senate will change its rules to allow confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee via a simple majority (51 votes) rather than a three-fifths super-majority (60 votes).

The first thing we all need to realize is the Republicans, especially their leadership, have no courage at all.  They have proved this over and over during the 8 year reign of Barry the First, and even during the W administration when they didn't do anything they said they were going to do when they had control of both the legislative and executive branches.

So when I read these offhand remarks about Republicans invoking the Nuclear Option, I have to laugh, because they have never shown the least inclination to do anything that is hard, or will subject them to criticism.  And the criticism will be loud, long, and intense, starting with the vote they will have to take to change the rule in the first place.  Mitch McConnell has never shown the courage to face the outrage the press would put out when they find that this rule change is going to be brought to the floor.  He will pull the rule change, allow the confirmation vote to go forward and lose, and then shake his head sadly while lamenting the democrats intractability and unwillingness to cooperate on this very important nomination, and how sad it is that such a good man and eminently qualified judge will not be on the Supreme Court.  And once again a party and a philosophy that has lost over a thousand seats nationwide over the last decade will have won the political war, over the clear will of the people of this country.

1 comment:

Scott said...

Well smack my head and call me Shirley! I didn't think ol' Mitch had it in him.