Republicans are still scrambling to figure out how they can be totally against allowing President Obama a Supreme Court confirmation following the death of Antonin Scalia, but at the same time not look like they're trying to force a constitutional crisis or something out of sheer partisanship. The other part of it is how do they capitalize on their obstruction. That part Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has figured out.
McConnell clearly sees some political payoff in his controversial strategy, writing a letter to potential donors from the National Republican Senatorial Committee telling them their "support means everything at this pivotal moment in American history." The National Republican Senatorial Committee had tread more lightly around the matter earlier this week, but is now leaning in alongside McConnell.
"Senate Republicans have made a commitment to ensuring that the American people have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice," McConnell wrote on Wednesday. "Stand with Senate Republicans as we hold our ground in waiting to confirm a new justice until after 2016, the time by which the American people will have chosen a new president and a new direction for our country."
Meanwhile, his second-in-command Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is doing the "sure we're open to a nomination" dance, while totally ruling out the possibility that any nomination would get a floor vote. And the dog whistle he's using is clearly audible: "Cornyn said the presidential election should be a referendum 'on who makes that appointment because I think many people simply feel like they don't recognize their country anymore.'" Subtle, huh?
He went on to say that "It's entirely up to the Senate whether to confirm that nomination, and I think we should not, and we should defer that to the next president." You know, the president elected by just the white people.