Posted on 04/03/2017 6:36:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Jennifer covered how Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) will be joining fellow red state Democrats Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) in supporting Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination. Yet, as we took a step forward, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) decided to join Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) clown show filibuster. He says he can’t vote for a nominee who can’t answer important questions, which is a milquetoast answer given that Ruth Bader Ginsburg decided 70 questions during her confirmation process:
Jon Tester announces he'll vote against Gorsuch, and against cloture. 2nd deep red-state Dems to do so, following McCaskill— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) April 3, 2017
Judge Gorsuch is a smart man but that doesn’t make him right for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. I cannot support a nominee who refuses to answer important questions. With Judge Gorsuch on the bench, I am deeply concerned that dark money will continue to drown out the voices and votes of citizens, the Court will stand between women and their doctors, and the government will reach into the private lives of law-abiding Americans. These are not Montana values, which is why I cannot support this nomination
The red state Democrat elaborated further on a Medium post. That puts the number of Democrats voting to block Gorsuch at 40. That now only leaves five unknowns, Sens. Leahy (D-VT), Warner (D-VA), Bennet (D-CO), Coons (D-DE), and King (I-ME). Leahy said he’s not inclined to support a filibuster, who could have offered the red state Democrats some cover, but I guess liberal pressure and the wounds from Senate Republicans blocking Garland were too much. Time for some payback, I guess. There was some hope that this filibuster game would fail since at least nine Senate Democrats said that Gorsuch deserved a hearing and a vote. That turned out to be a lie. Very in keeping with how Senate Democrats have acted from the beginning of this session. I guess we should have expected two-timing antics from Democrats concerning how they behaved over Mike Pompeo’s nomination to become our next CIA director..
It seems like we’re going to have the nuke the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations after all. Yeah, I guess one could say this is sort of sad, but Democrats were asking for it. They decided to filibuster Gorsuch, an eminently qualified candidate for the Court, for no reason other than President Trump being the person who nominated him. At the same time, this isn’t surprising either. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) signaled that Democrats would go nuclear on Supreme Court nominations if he and Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told a group of Democratic donors her concerns about this Gorsuch filibuster, namely that her party should keep their powder dry for a possible fight over a second vacancy. Then, she decided to join Schumer’s filibuster scheme. I guess the silver lining with this is that should Senate Republicans nuke the rules and a second vacancy should occur, filing it with someone, like Judge William Pryor, won’t be such a difficult task.
Schumer has said that the GOP shouldn’t change the rules, but the nominee. Schumer spoke with NBC’ Chuck Todd yesterday about the state of the Supreme Court fight, where he said that Gorsuch won’t get the 60 votes. Jenn wrote how Todd reminded Schumer that there is no 60-vote rule:
I admire Chuck Schumer’s commitment to the “60 vote” SCOTUS nominee “standard” that he just invented.— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 2, 2017
Our nominee was Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell broke 230 years of precedent and didn't call him up for a vote. It wasn't in the middle of an election campaign, it was March. Second, then now it looks like we have the votes to prevent Gorsuch from getting on. Now, that doesn't mean you have to change the rules. Each side didn't get their nominee. Let's sit down and come together. Our Republican friends are acting like, you know, they're a cat on the top of a tree and they have to jump off with all the damage that entails. Come back off the tree, sit down, and work with us and we will produce a mainstream nominee.
Schumer says Gorsuch isn’t mainstream, despite folks on MSNBC, like Ari Melber and Rachel Maddow, conceding that Gorsuch is within that framework. Also, at this point, who on the GOP side wants to work with Schumer on anything? You’re not getting Garland. You’re not getting a liberal replacement, Chucky. You lost the election—and that has consequences. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Gorsuch's nomination today.
Tester’s obviously tired of Washington and wants to go back to his cows in Montana. Any rural person who votes democrat has to be gay or have some other extraordinary reason.
Oh yeah, Gorsuch is coming up this week.
Happy McCain Backstab Week everyone. This one should be a doozy.
Clearly you do not understand Montana history. (Of course, why should you?)
Montana has only reelected ONE Republican Senator, Conrad Burns, in its entire history.
John Tester beat Burns in 2006...
Eff Schumer and the demonrats. WE WON, THEY LOST. They better live with it!!!
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Change that to
WE WON
THEY LOST
WE better live with it and at least pretend to ACT LIKE IT.
Many conservative farmers vote DemonRat-ick to keep the gravy train coming.
Never underestimate one's ability to justify handouts to themselves.
I hope the Rats force McConnell to grow a backbone and pull the nuclear trigger. Get rid of the filibuster, once and for all (even for legislation if possible).
Gotta give Tester credit. He figures he’s going to get targeted anyway, so might as well stick to his guns.
Why are Red States sending Democrats to La La DC anyway
I am a little nervous about this. McTraitor was huddling with the rats late last Week to save the filibuster it only takes 2 rinos to block the rule change. The rats just want to keep the SC at 4-4 so the 9th circus can hold the POTUS hostage.
Tester is against Making America Great Again?
How does he expect to get re-elected?
The stupid dummodumie “obstructionists” are pushing the repubs to use the nuclear option. They created this problem long ago and it is now hanging over their heads.
IMO and for what its worth (meaning nothing), Scalia was murdered and his body quickly disposed of to avoid any possible detection of the murder. Removing him and believing Hitlary was going to win the election, they planned to put their own demodummie justice on the SCOTUS. It backfired when Trump won....now, they are doing what ever they can to keep that seat open as long as possible. They are obstructionists through and through.
I heard a VERY interesting rumor this past weekend that John McCain and Lindsey Graham are in negotiations with Schumer to obtain 60 votes to confirm Gorsuch with a promise/guarantee that the Republicans would NOT impose the so-called nuclear option on future Trump nominees for SCOTUS.
My source is no conspiracy theorist by any means and, unfortunately, it doesn’t sound out of character for either of those morons, nor is it out of character for the GOP “leadership” to do something that stupid.
Lol.. Manchin is was and has been a gun grabber. I find it most entertaining that he was so chummy with trump just weeks and months ago.. and now, I seriously laugh because it is clear that dealing isn’t working. Another trump fail.
My apologies.. misread it. Manchin is still a gun grabber.
“... the government will reach into the private lives of law-abiding Americans...”
__________________________________
You mean just like Obama and you dems have done for the last eight years???
Does McCain or Graham control whether or not the “nuclear option” can or cannot be used?????
“I hope the Rats force McConnell to grow a backbone and pull the nuclear trigger. Get rid of the filibuster, once and for all (even for legislation if possible).”
My concern is that The Turtle will cut a deal with Schumer to leave the filibuster in place and let Gorsuch be confirmed on the “promise” that he will not go nuclear on the next nomination. I just Imagine that The Turtle thinks a 5/4 SCOTUS is acceptable and that “preservation of the Senate Rules” is more important than creating a SCOTUS that will be impervious to the RATS for decades. Because as sure as $hit stinks, the RATs will get back into power, and they WILL go nuclear if it suits their purposes.
My goodness, Montana. You really outdid yourselves this time.. a buffoon for Senator.
All you naysayers would like nothing more if the rats get what they want. You make me sick
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