While Democratic leaders have been spending much of their time reflexively genuflecting to the traditional media and mumbling about "civility," this is how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell responded to the series of horrific Supreme Court decisions issued this week.
Then he went on to flat out lie about his role in putting that guy, Neil Gorsuch, on the Supreme Court. He lied about the months-long blockade he waged against President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland. "All I did was apply the Biden rule," McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. Which is in itself a lie.
Because there's no such thing as the "Biden rule." There was a speech that then-Sen. Joe Biden made on the Senate floor in June 1992 in which he suggested that if there were to be a vacancy on the high court, then President George H.W. Bush "following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not name a nominee until after the November election is completed." He also made clear in that speech that "if the President [George H.W. Bush] consults and cooperates with the Senate or moderates his selections absent consultation, then his nominees may enjoy my support." It was a hypothetical scenario, addressing a potential vacancy and a potential nominee some four months before the next presidential election. The event didn't happen.
What McConnell did was tell a sitting president eight months before an election that the Senate was not going to consult with him about a real—not hypothetical—nominee, that Republicans would even refuse to meet with one, and there would be no hearings, no debate, and no cooperation. Period. McConnell later gloated "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.'"
Meanwhile, of course, he was working behind the scenes to make sure that the American people didn't find out the extent to which Russia was interfering in the election of Donald Trump.
This is no time to be civil. Fuck Mitch McConnell—and take away his majority. Please give $1 to our Senate candidates fund.