On a radio interview on Monday, John McCain said the following:
I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up. I promise you. This is where we need the majority.
That’s right, it doesn’t even matter who the nominee is, McCain is promising that the GOP will block them. It also puts the lie (again) to the Republican claim that they are blocking Merrick Garland because they believe the next president should pick the next Supreme Court justice.
It also really pisses me off about McCain. So much for his motto “Country First“. Or did he give that up when he picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate? He should change his motto to “I will debase myself in any way possible to get reelected”.
And what is his strategy? Leave the Supreme Court empty-handed and deadlocked until a Republican is elected president? Like that is going to happen any time soon (or if ever, given that the demographics against them are getting worse). And even if a Republican does eventually become president, does he think the Democrats will be cooperative and confirm after being blocked for what may be decades?
Our country is screwed.
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Especially considering that Ginsburg is 83, Breyer is 78, and Kennedy (the court’s main swing vote) is 80. McCain is playing the long game… in a decade we could start seeing solid 3-2 conservative victories and the court will really be able to cause some damage.
Terrible. Hopefully he was implying that if republicans get a senate majority they would put a check on HRC nominating a more liberal candidate.
Here’s Ross Sorkin’s thoughts on what the wiki leaks emails reveal on how “friendly” HRC is with the banks http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/business/dealbook/hillary-clinton-wall-street-wikileaks.html
You may already be aware that McCain has started to walk back that statement. From cnn.com:
>>A spokesperson from McCain’s Senate office later clarified his comments on opposing a Clinton-nominated justice.
“Senator McCain believes you can only judge people by their record and Hillary Clinton has a clear record of supporting liberal judicial nominees,” said McCain spokesperson Rachael Dean. “That being said, Senator McCain will, of course, thoroughly examine the record of any Supreme Court nominee put before the Senate and vote for or against that individual based on their qualifications as he has done throughout his career.”<<
Later, when asked about how he felt a Trump administration would perform on such matters, he said:
"Hey, some people are saying he's brilliant, a billionaire. I don't know, he's kind of a dummy, I hate to tell you, but perhaps he is a billionaire, okay? I happen to like billionaires who haven't lost a billion dollars, this I can tell you."
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Frankly, walking back an extreme statement like that is one thing, the minimal thing, but only a total rejection and major rip on Trump something like that would help regain my respect for McCain.
It is outrageous. And possibly unconstitutional. This is why we have to make Democrats retake the Senate.
Even if the democrats retake the senate, the repubs can still filibuster any nominations with only 41 votes. Unless they change the rules of the senate, and that seems unlikely. Correct me if I’m wrong.
IL – I believe you are correct. Last I heard it takes a 2/3 majority to stop a filibuster, or override a presidential veto for that matter.
This is hilariously funny. I just looked at the Wikipedia article to copy/paste McCain’s perfidious actions in life. He dumped his first wife Carol because she was involved in an accident and no longer an asset to his career.
He married Very Wealthy Cindy (and much younger) so he can finance things. That part is no longer included in Wikipedia. The mostly paint McCain as some Saint. He is a deplorable.
John McCain turned 80 in August. There may be older in the Senate, but people can get Alzheimer’s at 50. I think with all John McCain has been through,he is well over the hill and has no idea what he is saying or doing.