The Senate unanimously confirmed Sandoval as a district court judge in 2005 after he was nominated by President George W. Bush. The Nevada Republican stepped down from the bench in 2009 to run for governor and is now counted among the most popular governors in the nation.
Ponder the above paragraph for just a moment, because it’s going to factor into our discussion of Republican intransigence and just how much they truly despise The Black Guy in the White House © and his skin color everything he personifies.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (whom Samantha Bee has referred as a “chinless dildo” [I claim dibs on that as a band name, BTW]) stated almost at the very instant Justice Antonin Scalia shed his mortal coil that Republicans would not consider an Obama nominee as a replacement on the Supreme Court. Citing (nonexistent) “Constitutional principle” and “the will of the American people” (already expressed- TWICE- via Presidential elections), McConnell insisted the President not put forward a nominee. That, to the Majority Leader’s partisan logic, should be left to the next President (which McConnell confidently assumes will rightly be a Republican).
Never mind that when Scalia passed, The Black Guy in the White House © still had 341 days- almost fully a quarter- of his second term left to serve. Evidently that’s enough for Republicans to consider him a lame duck and unworthy of putting forward a nominee for the Senate to consider.
I know; how DARE The Black Guy in the White © think himself worthy of actually fulfilling his Constitutional duties, right? And Republicans will make sure to stymie him by refusing to fulfill THEIR Constitutional duty.
That THAT, you illegitimate Kenyan usurper and hater of our freedoms and the baby Jesus….
We don’t need any reminders that Republicans are the worst. Like, ever again. Seriously, we are all good with this lifetime supply already. Sadly, that doesn’t stop them from jumping up and down and waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care (because they don’t) and saying, “Remember now? And now? And now? Don’t forget! NEVER FORGET!”
So on Wednesday, when a name emerged of a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Dead Scalia — and that name was Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, who, in case you missed it half a sentence ago, is a Republican — the GOP didn’t waste any time at all doing that thing they do.
Yep, so thorough and unyielding is Republican hatred for The Black Guy in the White House © that they’d refuse to consider anyone put forward by him…EVEN IF HE’S ONE OF THEIR OWN. Think about that for a moment…and consider the absurdity and unrivaled intransigence in a group of elected representatives refusing to do their job- even if they’re given something close to what they want (Gov. Sandoval has since disavowed interest in being nominated).
Then again, in defense of consistency, McConnell’s spokescritter (there’s a job that must suck donkey balls, eh?) responded with this witty rejoinder: “The Leader didn’t say the Senate would act ‘if’ it was a certain type of nominee.”
Perhaps the problem with Gov. Sandoval is that he’s not the sort of slash-and-burn Conservative ideologue and Scalia clone that wouldd give Republicans a collective woody. He embraced Obamacare as a way of expanding Medicare in Nevada, he’s not rabidly, stridently, and inflexibly anti-abortion (It’s ALL about protecting the health of women, don’tchaknow??).
If he introduced a bill to make Jesus the official Christ of America, they’d filibuster the goddamned thing, and we’d probably have to listen to Ted Cruz whine on the floor of the Senate about it.
That sentence may well be the best summation of the Republican predilection for dickishness I’ve encountered. Republicans in Congress would refuse to breathe if The Black Guy in the White House © endorsed oxygen. Republicans, out of sheer, unadulterated animus, have for seven years refused even the slightest of concessions to making something resembling progress if it could be interpreted as a political win for The Black Guy in the White House ©.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, McConnell isn’t willing to commit on considering a nominee from the NEXT President, either. So…the takeaway seems to be that Republicans will ONLY consider a nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy if comes from the RIGHT kind of President (i.e.- White, Republican, deeply Conservative). Now there’s some prescient, inspired leadership, eh?
Stay classy, Republicans!!
Congratulations, America! By electing a cabal of self-righteous amoral lightweights whose legislative program is centered around complete dickishness, obstruction, and intransigence, you have exactly the quality of leadership you deserve.
This is what happens when you drink the KoolAid the Far Right is peddling.
