Hold the line. Block it all. The game is in motion.
Sessions never appeared good or intelligent.
Sessions was a wolf in wolf's clothing. Anybody who said or thought otherwise was probably also a wolf.
Nah, Sessions was a wolf in racist clothing. I don't like Gorsuch much but Sessions was worse.
Repubs wouldn't fill a seat in the last year of Obama's presidency. Why would the Democrats fill a seat in the last year of Trump's?
Honestly, Gorsuch is a perfectly competent judge, from what I can tell, and was prob the best case scenario for Dems. This is a risk.
saving Obamacare should be more important than Gorsuch's nomination though
So is the ideal scenario that the republicans go nuclear and then the Democrats take back government in 2018 and 2020 before enacting the most progressive agenda in recent history?
Honestly, Gorsuch is a perfectly competent judge, from what I can tell, and was prob the best case scenario for Dems. This is a risk.
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!
Right until it blows up in their face.
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Scalia has been gone for over a year and Republicans just straight-up denied even having hearings while Obama was president.
How is this acceptable?
Block everything. Shut down the govt.
sounds familiar
Good. Listen to a day of hearings on Gorsuch. This guy is terrible. Why is it impossible for him to answer straight?
Never mind the fact Garland should have gotten a fair hearing.
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!
Right until it blows up in their face.
Gorsuch dropped "Democrat party" during the confirmation hearing. It's not a risk.Honestly, Gorsuch is a perfectly competent judge, from what I can tell, and was prob the best case scenario for Dems. This is a risk.
Bingo.What would it matter? They go nuclear now, or they go nuclear later. What's the difference?
Block everything. Shut down the govt.
sounds familiar
Good. Listen to a day of hearings on Gorsuch. This guy is terrible. Why is it impossible for him to answer straight?
Never mind the fact Garland should have gotten a fair hearing.
All you need to do is watch this guy say, "Well gosh" "Oh golly" like a million times during his hearing to know he's a piece of shit. Amazing that some people can't see through that shit. The way the media has been tiptoeing around how the GOP stole a nomination is bullshit too.
They won the election, signaling that the people either don't know or don't care about this move.
The rules have thus been altered.
That makes no sense. You think it will be Republicans who care about the balance of the court? Ginsburg goes, the filibuster goes regardless. McConnell ain't going to be able to resist the pressure from Trump and from his own base to fill her seat in that situation. This logic is just totally breaking by head. "Republicans totally won't be salivating over Ginsburg's seat, and will totally leave it alone, but only if you leave alone Scalia's! We tooooootally won't come after it if you don't do that! No fingers crossed behind our back or anything! Really!" Don't get by why argument is getting any ground, because it completely falls apart on its face--trusting Republicans to act in good faith like that never leads to anything good, and it's surprising to hear anyone who would call themselves a progressive try to make that argument.Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!
Right until it blows up in their face.
What would it matter? They go nuclear now, or they go nuclear later. What's the difference?
So is the ideal scenario that the republicans go nuclear and then the Democrats take back government in 2018 and 2020 before enacting the most progressive agenda in recent history?
The difference is 2018. If they can pull just enough wins to prevent even a tiebreaker, going nuclear would be pointless, thus preserving it for later on down the line.
Forcing them to do it now is a big risk, and to me is a sign the Democrats don't think they have very good odds in 2018.
When Trump's in power, that's the best action to take.
Garland was a best case scenario for the right tooHonestly, Gorsuch is a perfectly competent judge, from what I can tell, and was prob the best case scenario for Dems. This is a risk.
This is absolutely the end game plan. Better for this to happen so that when the dems take over they can run roughshod over the republicans in pursuit of policy.
We'll just need a candidate for president that has the balls to toss bipartisanship in the bushes in order to get his agenda through. Bipartisan politics died during the Obama era via Republican hands. This is the political reality now.
Force them to go nuclear on this pick, pray Ginsburg doesn't croak in three years? Sounds like a winning strategy!
Right until it blows up in their face.
Most legal scholars that I've seen weigh in have said that Gorsuch is basically qualified and the kind of judge you could expect to be nominated by any conservative president. The parts of his confirmation hearing I watched showed a guy who was basically cut from the Scalia cloth, but smarter than Scalia, overall, and with the possibility of not always skewing in a conservative direction.
Honestly not a fan of gridlock everything but I guess its par for the course.
then they'd get rid of the filibuster then. if conservatives want to force a judge through then he's getting through, no reason not to go for it now.
Except that's not what has happened with any of Trump's nominees so far, and if you can't use a filibuster because you're afraid that they'll blow it up when there's nothing to stop them from blowing it up then the threat of a filibuster for a hypothetical future nominee doesn't mean shit anyway.
They needed to do this.
This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'
Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.
What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond d points with the base?
Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.
This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'
Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.
What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond points with the base?
Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.
This is all for show and political posturing. The Democrats have no power to do anything at all until they can flip Senate seats, and I simply disagree with the political strategy. It is a given that the Senate Republicans will go nuclear. Use it to your advantage rather than 'get it over with.'
Garland has no bearing here to the electorate the Democrats need to win back. They don't care about revenge for Garland or even remember his existence.
What do you gain in forcing the nuclear option now with a nominee that looks competent and articulate to the general public beyond points with the base?
Either force them to nominate a more center-right nominee with the second pick or use the filibuster on a less polished pick.
the ideal scenario is that republicans are so afraid of dems taking back congress and getting appointees that they decline to nuke the filibuster and gorsuch does not get on the court
Honestly, Gorsuch is a perfectly competent judge, from what I can tell, and was prob the best case scenario for Dems. This is a risk.
Most legal scholars that I've seen weigh in have said that Gorsuch is basically qualified and the kind of judge you could expect to be nominated by any conservative president. The parts of his confirmation hearing I watched showed a guy who was basically cut from the Scalia cloth, but smarter than Scalia, overall, and with the possibility of not always skewing in a conservative direction.
Now, filibustering this on the grounds that the GOP were disgusting for what they did to Garland? I'm on board with that. But Scalia-lite replacing Scalia is hardly an end of the world scenario.
Dems ain't retaking the Senate in 2018, if that's what your arguing. I can tell you that right now, no matter how badly Trump messes up. The House will very much be in play, but not the Senate. Last year was the chance for retaking it, and it didn't happen. The map in 2018 was always unfavorable in Democrats in the Senate, and nothing's changed in that regard since D's are mostly defending. Ain't going to happen.The difference is 2018. If they can pull just enough wins to prevent even a tiebreaker, going nuclear would be pointless, thus preserving it for later on down the line.
Forcing them to do it now is a big risk, and to me is a sign the Democrats don't think they have very good odds in 2018.