Tuesday, February 16, 2016 (Rino alert)
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk hesitates on Obama Supreme Court nominee hearings
CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Mark Kirk has yet to weigh in on whether he thinks the Senate majority should hold hearings on an Obama nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death over the weekend.
The nation is divided along ideological lines on the issue, and the most conservative Republican senators support delay considering the nomination until after a new president is in office in January 2017. The New York Times reports on two conservative senators’ responses:
Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, who faces re-election this year, said in a statement that the Senate should follow what he called “common practice” to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term. Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, agreed, leaving nearly every vulnerable Republican incumbent backing Mr. McConnell’s pledge.
Illinois’ Senator Mark Kirk isn’t conservative, and he is facing re-election challenges in the March 15th primary and the November General Election. His opposition in the GOP primary is from the right and his opposition in the General will be from the Democrats’ Left.
Those of us in IL know this. But in the famous words of Jagger and Richards, “you can’t always get what you want”.
The choice then, as it is now, was between a Democrat who would vote the liberal position 100% of the time, and Mark Kirk, who will do so about 50% of the time.