Congress is now on recess for two weeks, with the Senate leaving some critical work undone. Most critical, the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be attorney general, which has already set a
record for Republican obstruction. Senate Republicans are in a mess over this nomination, none of them wanting to see Eric Holder continue in office, but few wanting to be on the wrong side of the tea party on immigration. So they're blaming their spinelessness on
their "constituents."
But, they say, their constituents have told them that a vote for Ms. Lynch affirms Mr. Obama's executive actions on immigration, which she has said she finds lawful. […]
"Perhaps she'll be confirmed," Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, said after a long pause and a deep audible breath, "but she won't be confirmed with my vote. That's what my constituents want of me, to make a stand against someone who has basically taken the position that the executive branch has unlimited, almost czarlike powers." […]
"I'm ready for [Holder] to leave also," said Senator John Boozman, Republican of Arkansas and an opponent of Ms. Lynch's confirmation. "I don't want to argue. That's where I'm at, and that's where the people of Arkansas are."
Where this overwhelming opposition to Obama's immigration policy is coming from is no mystery, and it's not the majority of anyone's constituents. Last month, polling found that
just 17 percent of the voting public thinks that fighting President Obama's executive action on immigration should be the Republican Congress's highest priority. And a CNN poll from
late last fall found that a whopping 76 percent of voting Americans back the president's executive action.
Who's opposed? The nativist tea party, a mere 18 percent of adult Americans. This is all about potential tea party primary challenges. It's about the abject fear these elected Republicans fear from just a fraction of their constituents. What it is most definitely not about is the majority opinion of their constituents.