Whatever public pressure Senate Republicans face to do their damn jobs and consider—seriously consider, not just pretend to consider for public appearances—President Obama’s ultimate nominee to the Supreme Court, the Republicans face at least as much pressure from the far-right groups that fund their movement and rule their world:
“The strategy that makes the most sense is to say that there should not be any consideration of this nominee,” Curt Levey, executive director of the FreedomWorks Foundation, said in an interview with TPM. "It would be irrelevant to have a hearing because it’s the situation: the fact that it’s an election year, the fact that his policies are before the court, the fact that the court is so finely balanced at the moment.” [...]
“It’s not about any one particular nominee,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the conservative legal organization Judicial Crisis Network, told TPM. “We know exactly the kind of person [Obama] is going to appoint. Getting into those details is just a silly distraction.”
You know, the silly distraction of doing anything but flatly blocking anyone, at all, no matter how qualified, Obama might nominate. Senate Republicans engage in that silly distraction at the risk of primary challenges, these groups warn. Because it’s not about the nominee or their qualifications. Refusing to even hear about those qualifications is:
“... the most honest,” Levey said. ”The very fact that people on our side feel very strongly that there shouldn’t be a hearing before we know the nominee is because it’s not really about the nominee. ... Frankly, the real objection here is to Obama.”
“Frankly, the real objection here is to Obama.” You don’t say. The honesty is refreshing, anyway. Can we get that to appear in flashing lights any time a Republican claims otherwise or a reporter believes those claims?
