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Dem infighting erupts over Supreme Court pick
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/396987-dem-infighting-erupts-over-supreme-court-pick ^ | Alexander Bolton - 07/14/18 | Alexander Bolton - 07/14/18

Posted on 07/14/2018 7:14:22 AM PDT by yesthatjallen

Democrats are fighting among themselves over how far to go to oppose Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and tempers are starting to flare ahead of a decision that could weigh heavily on the midterm elections.

Liberal activists, who are closely aligned with the party’s base, are losing patience with centrist Democrats who are on the fence over Kavanaugh, a judge with impressive credentials and the approval of the conservative Federalist Society.

But Senate Democratic leaders don’t want to twist the arms of vulnerable colleagues up for re-election in pro-Trump states, adding to the disappointment of activists.

“There’s a great deal of frustration,” said Neil Sroka, spokesman for Democracy for America, a liberal advocacy group that is pressing Senate Democrats to unify immediately against Kavanaugh.

“We need to be training all of our firepower on Murkowski and Collins and we don't need to be wasting one shred of energy trying to push a Democrat in the right direction on this extremist nominee,” he added, referring to moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who are viewed as potential swing votes.

“There’s great deal of impatience amongst the grassroots for senators to get off the fence on Kavanaugh,” Sroka added.

Liberal activists argue that if Democrats unify early against Kavanaugh, it will put more pressure on Collins and Murkowski to oppose him, just as they opposed efforts to repeal ObamaCare in 2017 after Democrats unified against that effort.

“We’re looking for more clean statements of opposition from more senators,” said Elizabeth Beavers, associate policy director at Indivisible Project, a liberal advocacy group dedicated to defeating President Trump's agenda.

“We already know plenty about Kavanaugh,” she said. “In order to get on Trump’s short list, these people had to show willingness to gut reproductive rights and show hostility to the Affordable Care Act.”

Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, a group that plans to spend $5 million on ads pressuring senators to oppose Kavanaugh, this week made a splash when he called out Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) for taking a cautious approach to the nominee.

In a tweet, Kaine said he was “wondering” whether Kavanaugh would rule to uphold the Affordable Care Act, protect women’s right to an abortion and safeguard civil liberties.

Fallon rapped him with a sharply-worded tweet of his own: “We already know the answers to these questions, Tim Kaine. Stop playing political games and help us #StopKavanaugh.”

It was unusual public spat between two Democrats who had prominent roles on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign — Kaine was her running mate and Fallon her spokesman.

Kaine on Thursday defended himself, comparing Democrats who want a snap judgment on Kavanaugh to Republicans who refused to give a hearing to Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court in 2016.

“That’s just not the way I take the Supreme Court,” Kaine told The Hill. “I tried cases for 17 years, I’ve appointed [state] Supreme Court justices as governor. I certainly have opinions but I do feel like I’m supposed to read opinions, I’m supposed to read articles, I’m supposed to have an in-office interview [of] any Supreme Court nominee.

Kaine said that if he comes out immediately against Kavanaugh, he might not get a chance to meet the nominee and ask him about his views.

He argued that Fallon also “criticized the Republicans for not being willing to meet with Merrick Garland.”

“I want to extend that courtesy that they wouldn’t extend to Garland,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to meet with Obama’s nominee in 2016 and Garland never received a confirmation vote.

Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, said that Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is going to feel pressure from the base to crack the whip on centrists.

“He’s answerable to the base,” he said.

But Baker doesn’t think there’s much Schumer can do to pressure centrist Democrats.

“They’re going to have their votes conform to what their reading is of the voters in North Dakota or West Virginia.”

Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) are two red-state Democrats up for re-election this year.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) told reporters this week that there would not be an effort to whip red-state Democrats.

“They just don’t get it,” he said of liberal activists. “That’s counterproductive. Chuck Schumer gets tough with senators. You know how that plays back home?”

Another head-turning moment came Thursday when Adam Jentleson, the former deputy chief of staff to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Democrats should use the year-end government funding bill as leverage to press Republicans to turn over sensitive documents from Kavanaugh’s time as White House staff secretary under George W. Bush.

He argued in a Washington Post op-ed that Kavanaugh’s internal communications during the Bush administration “could shed light on his views on executive power and other critical issues that will probably come before the court.”

If Republicans refuse to make those documents available, “Democrats should force the issue by using [the] substantial power of the minority to grind the Senate to a halt” including funding of the government beyond Sept. 30.

That bold suggestion was immediately rejected by Senate Democratic strategists.

“What a genius,” said one Democratic aide derisively.

A Democratic strategist close to a red-state senator called the idea “crazy.”

“Here’s the brutal reality: Unless that there’s new polling that I’m not aware of, this does not rank as one of the top five issues for the voters that end up deciding the red-state races,” the source said.

The strategist warned that it could backfire on Democrats if they “come out right off the bat and say we’re going to oppose him at all costs irrespective of what they find.”

“I don't think that’s going to play well at the Senate level,” the source said. “It ain’t California and New York that’s electing a senator from Montana.”

Democrats facing tough re-elections this year in states that President Trump won by big margins also don’t want to get mixed up in a potential government shutdown a month before Election Day.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) earlier this year panned Democratic threats to hold up a government funding measure over immigration as “stupid talk.”

But other Democrats think the year-end funding bill is fair game after McConnell triggered the nuclear option last year to strip the minority party’s power to filibuster Supreme Court nominees.

“The nuclear option was dropped on the process,” noted former Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who represented a Republican-leaning state when he served in Congress and who played a prominent role in negotiating a compromise over appellate-level judicial nominees in 2005.

“I understand why they would use everything they possibly could because they’re not in the position they once were with 60 votes,” he said.

McConnell used a party-line vote last year to change Senate precedent and lower the threshold for confirming Supreme Court nominees from 60 votes to a simple majority.

Changing procedural rules with a party-line vote is so controversial that it’s likened in the Senate to using a nuclear weapon in warfare.

Nelson said Republicans should expect a bitter fight over the Bush-era documents because they are central to judging Kavanaugh’s record.

“When you nominate someone with a partisan background, it’s going to be very difficult not to disclose their partisan activities,” he said.

“I’m sure that some people will think these are extraordinary circumstances because they’re worried about what’s in those emails.”


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brettkavanaugh; supremecourt
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1 posted on 07/14/2018 7:14:22 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3670847/posts


2 posted on 07/14/2018 7:17:49 AM PDT by madison10 (Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and President Trump)
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To: yesthatjallen

Wedding Singer...”they’re losing their minds. We’re reaping the benefits”


3 posted on 07/14/2018 7:26:04 AM PDT by albie
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To: yesthatjallen

I worry a little about the midterms then I hear Kaine is a little nervous, and it makes me sure they’re not very confident about much.


4 posted on 07/14/2018 7:27:09 AM PDT by arkfreepdom
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To: albie

You should enjoy these as they pertain to the insanity of the RATs:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/07/the-week-in-pictures-freakout-at-11-edition.php


5 posted on 07/14/2018 7:29:39 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: yesthatjallen

Here’s an idea: Why don’t you do what’s right for US instead of you?


6 posted on 07/14/2018 7:35:24 AM PDT by econjack
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To: yesthatjallen

When the Dems throw in the towel, they will let Manchin and one or two others vote to confirm to save the seats in WV and other close states.


7 posted on 07/14/2018 7:37:45 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: yesthatjallen

Seeing that democrats oppose democracy and the Constitution, and favor violent non-Christian ideologies, I move that the democrat party be outlawed, and its members thrown in a gulag.


8 posted on 07/14/2018 7:41:26 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Liberalism, like insanity, is the denial of reality.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Oh, that the Republicans would have fought for ALL of Kagan’s papers, like the Dems fight for everything they want. Kagan would have never made the cut. And, after being Solicitor General and arguing for Obamacare, she wouldn’t recuse herself in the Obamacare debate. Do Republicans have the strength of the Democrats?? EVER??


9 posted on 07/14/2018 7:42:00 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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To: madison10

I thought I was required to excerpt the article.


10 posted on 07/14/2018 7:47:02 AM PDT by SMGFan (Sarah Michelle Gellar is on twitter @SarahMGellar)
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To: yesthatjallen
"How sweet it is!"


11 posted on 07/14/2018 7:52:20 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (MAGA in the mornin', MAGA in the evenin', MAGA at suppertime . . .)
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To: originalbuckeye

Oh that will happen from now on. Every piece of paper a nominee has will be scrutinized on both sides. Just like the days of Ginsberg getting 99 votes are over. From here on, votes will be close.


12 posted on 07/14/2018 7:52:49 AM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: yesthatjallen
“I don't think that’s going to play well at the Senate level,” the source said. “It ain’t California and New York that’s electing a senator from Montana.”

Exactly. He'll sail through and probably get 54 votes, including at least three Dems.
13 posted on 07/14/2018 7:54:04 AM PDT by Deo volente ("Our Independence Day is at hand, and it arrives finally on November 8th." Donald Trump)
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To: yesthatjallen

If they ignore Party mandates, the Stalin trials are ahead for them.


14 posted on 07/14/2018 7:54:08 AM PDT by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
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To: yesthatjallen
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) told reporters this week that there would not be an effort to whip red-state Democrats.

“They just don’t get it,” he said of liberal activists. “That’s counterproductive. Chuck Schumer gets tough with senators. You know how that plays back home?”

Bingo!

15 posted on 07/14/2018 8:22:35 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
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To: ExTexasRedhead

Bookmark


16 posted on 07/14/2018 8:44:33 AM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: SMGFan

What I was trying to say: the exact article had already been posted.


17 posted on 07/14/2018 9:25:02 AM PDT by madison10 (Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and President Trump)
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To: econjack

Now that right there’s funny, expecting a politician, especially a Democrat, to do what’s right for the country.


18 posted on 07/14/2018 9:44:09 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Three most annoying words on the internet - "Watch the Video")
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To: I want the USA back

My thoughts are much like yours, FRiend.

Give 5,000 or so leading RATS a reservation out West somewhere to establish their Socialist Utopia upon. Give them plenty of tools, construction materials, agricultural equipment, everything they need to be self-sustaining.

I guarantee you there would be mass starvation within a couple years.


19 posted on 07/14/2018 10:04:08 AM PDT by Nothingburger
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To: yesthatjallen

“Liberal activists, who are closely aligned with the party’s base, are losing patience with centrist Democrats..”

Centrist Democrats? Isn’t that an oxymoron.
Next they will be telling us the social benefits of the Gulag.


20 posted on 07/15/2018 8:05:13 AM PDT by CoastWatcher
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