The bullshit is really flowing from Senate Republicans as they contort themselves in figuring out a justification for abdicating their constitutional duty when it comes to filling the Supreme Court seat made vacant by Antonin Scalia's death.
You've got Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins with their "we should definitely hear what the nominee has to say," and then summarily reject him or her. Then you've got Wisconsin's Ron Johnson not knowing what in the hell he believes. Or whatever this is supposed to mean from Nevada's Dean Heller.
"The chances of approving a new nominee are slim, but Nevadans should have a voice in the process. That's why I encourage the President to use this opportunity to put the will of the people ahead of advancing a liberal agenda on the nation's highest court. But should he decide to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, who knows, maybe it'll be a Nevadan," said Senator Dean Heller.
Whatever that is, it's all about Nevada, I guess. But the crown goes to the King of Bullshit, Orrin Hatch from Utah.
Hatch, who served as the Judiciary Committee's chairman or its ranking Republican from 1993 through 2004 and continues to sit on the committee, said in an interview that he worries that a political spectacle amid a presidential race could be "demeaning" to the nominee, the Senate and the panel's reputation for conducting fair and serious work. […]
"My own personal feeling is, and this would absolutely be up to Senator Grassley and Senator McConnell, is that it would be better to not even have hearings," Hatch said. "We are in the midst of one of the most obnoxious, terrible presidential campaigns that I've ever seen. I don't want to see the courts be smeared by being in the middle of the process."
Right. It's all about protecting the institutions of the Senate and the Court, and all about saving the potential nominee from what could be a "demeaning" process. Of course, he's got no problem trashing the institution of the presidency, subverting Obama's constitutional duty to fill Supreme Court seats and thereby demeaning this president. That's perfectly fine. But, boy, we don't want the Senate to look bad.