The big news of the weekend is the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. All the Republicans can talk about is the idea that he was a lion and a great justice. The Democrats, out of respect, have held their tongue. No one wants to talk about his bigotry or his obstinate refusal to consider what was best for the country but only about what fell in line with his conservative views. Scalia was responsible for much of what is wrong with this country, especially his leadership of the Citizens United decision and the various ones on guns.
Of course now that Scalia is gone, Clarence Thomas will have no one to tell him how to vote and that could cause real chaos on the court. Who will interpret the arguments for Thomas? How will a man who hasn’t spoken since he joined the court get information, when he can’t ask questions? Will Thomas, without his mentor, just quit the court and spend the rest of his life harassing women?
Scalia, an avid hunter, claimed to be an originalist, but his leadership on the Chicago gun case, in which he completely ignored the opening language of the Second Amendment in order to give an opinion that was favorable to gun interests, didn’t look very original. An originalist wouldn’t have just ignored the first part of the amendment, the part that spoke to the need for militias and therefore the need for men to own guns so they could be part of those militias. He may have liked to call himself an originalist but he only acted like one when it served his purposes.
Mitch McConnell has come out boldly, demanding that Obama not make an appointment during the last year of his administration and stating outlandishly, even before any nomination is made and without knowledge of who that nominee could be, that the Senate will not approve any nomination. This is typical of the worm that announced upon Obama’s first election that he would have as his first priority the blocking of Obama from further election victories. Of course, he failed at that promise and let’s hope, for the good of the country, that he fails at this one. McConnell and the GOP members of congress will attempt to keep the Supreme Court from doing its job for at least a year in the same way they kept congress from doing anything for the last six years. We need a full Court and frankly we need one after all these years that leans to the left. It’s too bad that the conservatives don’t have enough faith in the veracity of their own positions that they need an advantage from the Court in order to move them into law.
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The Republicans weren’t taking any chances of looking like the non-functional boobs they did at the next-to-last debate. Instead of having the candidates wait in the wings and then stumble over each other getting all the way out onto the stage all by themselves. This time they were all herded out at once. This is a school child’s way to avoid a traffic jam. Grown-ups would have done it exactly the same way as last time, but would have gotten it right this time.
The biggest question and the first, was about who would appoint the justice that would replace Scalia. Naturally all the candidates wanted to wait until after the election because, they all cling to the faint hope, that they will be the next president. None of them seem to consider that such a situation will mean that none of the cases before the Court get done for a year, because with eight members there will rarely be a majority or consensus and so at least half the cases will be thrown out.
That’s so typical of the kind of failed politician that inhabits our congress. None of them cares if the country suffers as long as their party gets a shot, no matte how long at making that appointment. Notice, I didn’t say Republican because the Democrats in the same position would make the same choice but when Trump calls for delay, delay, delay, when it comes to a new appointment, it is simply infuriating. Haven’t the Republicans in congress delayed everything enough in the last six years? It just goes to show the difference between being just a politician and being someone who knows how to govern.
The Republicans shout that he people must decide who will appoint the next justice, but the people have already decided when they elected Obama to serve for four years and then again for four more.. This point was made to Ted Cruz by George Stephanopoulos and Cruz’s reply was but, but, but… mainly because there is no logical answer to that question, not for Cruz and not for any of the other losers who are running in the GOP primary.
There is one other consideration that Mitch McConnell is too stupid and too obstinate to understand. Observing the current situation in congress Obama would probably nominate someone who would have at least some appeal to the Right. Obama’s former nominees both garnered votes from Republicans, so it is probable that Obama would nominate someone who had some appeal to Republicans just to get that nominee approved. On the other hand, if the GOP forces a wait until after the election, and a Democrat wins, along with the Democrats taking back the Senate and reducing the GOP majority in the House, a far left nomination will be assured.
The candidates at the debate had no sooner gotten done with SCOTUS then they jumped to the Middle East and our policy there. Naturally everyone on the stage attacked Obama’s current policies; but not surprisingly, none of them has any alternative. They all talked tough but not one single candidate had any plan to do anything, tough or otherwise. Only Kasich had any kind of policy and his was to organize everyone else and have them fight with us, which is exactly what Obama is doing so what the hell are all these turkey’s gobbling about?
Typical of the group was Jeb Bush, who said he wants us to destroy ISIS. Really! Who doesn’t want that? Do any of these clowns have any idea how? Bush also wants to destroy Assad, which will leave Syria in exactly the same condition as his idiot brother left Iraq. It’s fascinating that neither Jeb Bush nor Marco Rubio thinks that George Bush was responsible for the Iraq war and both think he kept the country safe despite the fact that 911 happened on his watch and that the wars he created without cause, resulted in thousands of casualties and left us in a constant state of war for the last dozen years. This may be Jeb’s and Marco’s idea of keeping the nation safe but I don’t think anyone with any intelligence will agree with them. This kind of denial of reality might make Jeb a rival of Trump on the reality TV circuit but it also makes him cannon fodder in a presidential fight. Using his bullying ways, Trump buried both Bush and Rubio on the subject of the Middle East and the war. For some reason Rubio thinks that being on a committee that he never showed up for, makes him some kind of expert on foreign affairs. It doesn’t. After this debate there is only be one person who logically should have a chance against Trump and that is John Kasich. Not that the Right ever considers logic.
Watching these debates, which were angry and filled with cheap shots and lies, one can only come to a single conclusion. Four of the debaters really aren’t suited to be President. Trump, Rubio, Cruz and Bush spent most of the debate yelling at each other, making personal attacks and generally acting like thugs or small children having tantrums. None of them, especially Trump and Cruz, exhibited any sense that they had ever been taught manners. These guys are just not Presidential. They would all be an embarrassment to this country. Carson is just so wrong about everything that the idea that he knows how to run any country is absurd. So that leaves John Kasich. Kasich is the best Republican candidate. He proves that every day. In the horrifying event that the Republicans win, he will make the best President.
One looks at Sanders and Clinton and then one looks at five of the six candidates standing on the GOP debate stage the other night and one is appalled at the differences. Hillary and Bernie speak about issues that matter to the people while the GOP candidates fight about who is a bigger liar and whose family did the most damage to the country when they were in office. Was George Bush a disaster? Well, Trump, Cruz and Rubio seem to think he was. How about Bill Clinton? Hillary and Bernie seem to agree that he was very good for the country. Of course real history will agree with all these people but it’s too bad that the three Republicans haven’t much to say about anything else.
One of the major considerations that separate the Republicans and the Democrats is the way they look at party as opposed to country. All you have to do is watch the debates in which the Republican argue about who is a true conservative and on the Democrat side where the argument is about policy. Does any sentient human being really care about who is more or less conservative or for that matter liberal? What’s important is how this or that person will govern. Where it makes a difference is in what kind of world they want to live in, not how closely they stick to party lines and that’s where policy comes in.
What’s important is not how liberal or conservative a candidate is, but how well the policies he or she advocates will work. That’s what should make all the difference. That’s what is important. You don’t hear Hillary or Bernie talking about who is more liberal. They argue about issues and how they want to solve them. That’s what the voters should be paying attention to because that’s what will decide whether this country moves ahead or continues to stagnate the way it has with a Republican congress.