Quote (Thor123422 @ Sep 19 2020 03:26pm)
The only one I have contention with is the middle. Republicans have been escalating since Obama with their historic stalling of every judicial appointment even when they admitted they had no issue and were the ones to go nuclear on supreme court nominations.
It was a fig leaf of a pretense, nothing more than a transparent talking point for Harry Reid to leave out the SCOTUS when he went nuclear on all judicial nominees. He didn't go nuclear on the SCOTUS because he
didn't have a nominee at the time. That door was already open, that bell already rung. It was an absurdity to watch Democrats insist there was some kind of distinction in 2017, and worse yet, when they wasted what little political capital they had with John McCain and other anti-Trump Republicans willing to hold up a nominee on that pretense when they lined up against Gorsuch with an election mandate, a guaranteed loss. I was really vocal at the time saying it was a completely unforced error and Democrats actually had the potential to throw a wrench into a future nominee, especially if they had any trouble during the nomination process (GEE, who woulda thunk)
But the stalling and stonewalling of judicial nominees- that was just tit-for-tat following the same measures Democrats took in Bush's second term, when they held open his seats and 'stole' them for Obama
which of course was tit-for-tat and retaliating against how Republicans did the same to Clinton, as Democrats did to Bush sr, and so on, and so on, and so on
I don't see how it is historic or unprecedented- its just the same measures, done more effectively. Democrats steal a dozen seats, Republicans steal two dozen. Democrats go nuclear for judicial nominees, Republicans go nuclear for supreme court nominees and set up a judge assembly line and hammer out hundreds of lifers
Quote (Handcuffs @ Sep 19 2020 03:26pm)
Y'all snowflakes sound like a bunch of petulant children whining about how "Dems started it first". What a strange place to feel that your sense of integrity is rooted in comparing and combating against the left. You'll find no issue in anything so long as it "owns the libs".
I don't feel like I need to rewrite this for you:
Quote (Goomshill @ Sep 18 2020 09:56pm)
'started 4 years ago'
the back and forth about judicial nominees and filibusters and partisan politics and running out the clock to game the rules has been going on our entire lifetimes, with Republicans taking seats from Obama, Democrats taking seats from baby Bush, Republicans taking seats from Clinton, Democrats taking seats from daddy Bush, etc etc. The cyclical escalations and retaliations and partisan tricks have been a permanent fixture of American politics tracing all the way back to Marbury v. Madison establishing the very concept of judicial review in the first place, as federalist hamiltonians tried to pull a fast one of the democrat-republican jeffersonians. So spare me the nonsense about this being 'started' by someone who 'punched first'
when it comes to each step of that cycle of escalation, however, its been democrats escalating and republicans retaliating more often than vice versa- at least in living memory. Going back to FDR if you want to, but the obvious most impactful precedent was Harry Reid going nuclear where the Republicans had demurred to the Gang of 14. And look at how that has come back to bite them in the ass.
each escalation has backfired and been capitalized on by the Republicans to far greater effect. It was profoundly foolish of Harry Reid to go nuclear when he didn't even have a SCOTUS pick to ram through. He got his lower court picks and Republicans then took over, nominated twice as many lower courts and 3 scotus picks and counting. And nobody expects Democrats to get back both the senate and presidency this election, so they won't be able to dig themselves out of this hole even if Biden wins. Maybe if Trump bites the head off a toddler on live TV as an october surprise
This post was edited by Goomshill on Sep 19 2020 02:35pm