Cracks Emerge In GOP Strategy On Supreme Court Nominees

[cal04]

More and more GOP senators say they'd be open to voting on an Obama nominee.

Another GOP senator has strayed from his party's line on a potential Supreme Court nominee, saying he would welcome the chance to vote on a candidate put forward by President Barack Obama.

"The chances of approving a new nominee are slim, but Nevadans should have a voice in the process," Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said in a statement Wednesday. "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."

He also joked that he'd like to see Obama nominate someone from Nevada.

The comments by Heller, vice chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, are a small, but significant, departure from the stance of most members of his party. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has warned Obama not to even think about putting forward a name to replace the late Antonin Scalia.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dean-heller-supreme-court_us_56c4d442e4b08ffac127606b

[Bucky]

1. The article only mentions four crackers

If I'm not mistaken, we'd need 14 crossovers to break a Republican filibuster. That's a tall stack of pancakes.

[lindysalsagal]

2. Heard this just now on NPR: they don't have consciences, but they have strategists

Who know that voters already hate the GOP so much, they can't afford to block this.

But you know they will, anyway, because bigotry. Because hate.

[craigmatic]

3. Tactics are changing but not the overall plan.

They'll give the nominee a vote but they'll filibuster or stall that way just to keep them from taking office.