Democrat Harry Reid backs Republican for Supreme Court

[Purveyor]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he would support Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval as the next Supreme Court justice, putting his weight behind a moderate Hispanic Republican from his home state.

In an interview with CNN, Reid, who met with Sandoval on Monday and discussed the vetting issue with him, said he would endorse the Nevada governor for the spot.

"I don't pick the justices, but I know if he were picked, I would support the man," Reid said of Sandoval.

"He's a good person, has a great record, and has been a tremendously good governor in spite of having to deal with some very big problems there," Reid said.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/politics/harry-reid-brian-sandoval-supreme-court/

[Merryland]

1. disgusting political payback I guess

All the dirty laundry is floating to the surface (sorry for the mixed metaphor)

[randys1]

5. Nah, this is a chess move by Harry and Barack, to prove

just how unpatriotic cons are.

[LovingA2andMI]

7. In The Days Were....

The Smelly Leftovers of the Nevada Caucus are still simmering, plus attempts to Throw Bernie Sanders under the bus -- and now this -- sorry but now is NOT the time for game playing.


Nominate (and talk about for that matter) a real potential SCOTUS candidate or don't. Unless they are just fine with the GOPer being nominated by a Democratic President.

[randys1]

10. As long as you are on record congratulating Obama for the hundreds of things

he has accomplished, then I will take your criticism with validity.

[LovingA2andMI]

15. We Stand Behind The President...

When He Is Right -- and Have No Problem Questioning Him - If His Choices Are Questionable or Wrong.

Like If He Keeps With This Narrative and Possible Nominee for the Supreme Court.

[Android3.14]

22. Did Britney Spears steal your account info?

Are you suggesting we should never question the President?

[brush]

27. Nah. Randys1 hit it on the head

This move is floated out there to show how obstructionist the repugs are if they don't even hold a hearing for someone from their own party.

Sandoval embraced the ACA and abortion rights and is considered moderate.

The president has no intention of nomination him. You'll notice his name, out of several being considered, is the only one leaked out.

[Xyzse]

43. I begin to think the same way.

I am currently letting things play out and refrain from judgment at this time.

[dchill]

2. Not surprising...

He endorsed Hillary.

[abelenkpe]

3. ...

[catrose]

4. Harry, if you can't say something nice

don't say nothing at all

[LovingA2andMI]

6. WOW, just WOW....

The Democratic Party is Going the Way of the Whigs....

First trying to throw Bernie Sanders under the bus....now this!

What is the threat that if we don't support this "type" of party and a certain candidate -- we're not Democrats again? Are they Democrats if they back up nominating a Republican to the SCOTUS?

Just wondering....

[walkingman]

8. I understand it but

I don't like it. Obviously Obama has two reasons to do this.

First - To show the hypocrisy of the GOP refusing to give any consideration to anyone he nominates.

Second - Would it be better to appoint someone that is a moderate and has previously had almost unanimous support from the GOP for his prior Federal Judgeship and by doing so ensure that just in case the next President is a Rethug he could not appoint another right-wing extremist like Scalia (or Originalist if you prefer).

I don't like it because I view it as a "cave" by Obama similar to his initiating the chained CPI cut during budget negotiation - terrible negotiating strategy. And also I simply do not believe that the GOP can win in Nov. We are talking one of the following - Trump, Cruz, Rubio - not a "snowballs chance in hell".

[TM99]

28. Obama sucks at chess with the GOP.

If they call his bluff and confirm the appointment of this Republican, then the Democrats are locked into as well or they will look like the obstructionists in an election year. Plus we end up with a Republican on the SCOTUS which completely null and voids the main argument neoliberals have for the voters on the left to vote for Clinton. If you don't, the GOP will put a Republican on the SCOTUS.

Game, set, and match! There is a Republican on the SCOTUS, Obama's neoliberal legacy of free trade and moderate Reagan conservatism is cemented, and Clinton loses to Trump because of the scorched earth & no one gives a shit any more about the SCOTUS.

If we had a real progressive president, he would choose a real progressive nominee. Let the GOP block him. Show the American people he is being blocked. Put it back on them as the obstructionists.

But sadly we don't have that president....yet!

[Reter]

39. Look at it like this, Republicans have put straight-up liberals on the Supreme Court

George HW Bush gave us David Souter, who was never anything but a solid liberal. After that, it's been strictly partisan. Clinton gave us two liberals, George W Bush gave us two conservatives, and Obama gave us two liberals. The last Democrat to give us anything other than a liberal was JFK in 1962 with conservative Byron White. I guess we were overdue.

[Arkana]

44. Which they won't, because their base views Sandoval as a RINO

and they're terrified of being primaried.

[TM99]

45. No more or less so than Democrats.

Right now, they hold the power and not just on a Federal level.

The right is anything but terrified.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Are we now seeing the true

Obama and Reid? And we thought Clinton was the best Republican President!

[brush]

29. Look deeper.

Last edited Wed Feb 24, 2016, 11:01 PM - Edit history (1)

The president has no intention of nominating Sandoval. You'll notice his name, out of several being considered, is the only one leaked out.

It's to show the hypocrisy and blatant obstructionism of the repugs.

Neither Reid of the president are dummies.

Sandoval is also a Latino so it won't go over well in the Latino community if the repugs keep it up with the "no hearing for any nominee" obstructionism, thus guaranteeing even more Latino votes for dems in the November general election.

[Wellstone ruled]

37. Hopefully this a ruse.

Reid made a statement this PM about supporting Sandoval and said he could work with him.

Latino community in Nevada is split. Much of their Leadership is very conservative.

[houston16revival]

11. Give Us Hell, Harry!

[Dont call me Shirley]

12. Reid is a republican in a Democrat suit. How did that filibuster reform work out? Not at all.

[ladjf]

13. Of course he does. If Reagan was still alive , they would vote for him. nt

[chapdrum]

14. Of course he does

Soon to be followed by his endorsement of Hillary.

[Plucketeer]

16. I got one of those questionaire

cash-tionaire pleas in the mail today. Had Pelosis name all over it. Four pages of loaded questions they really DO NOT care to hear from me about. T'was fortuneate timing too! I had just run out of toilet paper!

[Carolina]

17. and he backs HRC, too

Enough said.

We need too take our party back... to the party of FDR, HST, JFK, LBJ. Enough of third way, republican lite DINOs

[TeddyR]

18. Republican extremists always complain

Of RINOs. They aren't right and neither is anyone who claims that Hillary or Reid are "DINOs."

[Carolina]

25. whatever

You have your opinion and I have mine. Rather sad that the independent is the real DEMOCRAT while so-called Democrats cave -- or signal potential to cave -- to repukes again and again and again

[lobodons]

19. Seriously? You new to the political game?

Obama and Harry are playing multi dimensional Chess. (GOP stuck still fighting over who goes first, red or black with red crying he's gonna take his game home.)

[jpb33]

23. Give me a break

More denial from Dems. Every time Obama does inexcusable things like this Dems bring out this over-used analogy. I have heard it time and time again thru Obama's tenure and it is bullshit. Dems come out and say Obama is just doing his jedi thing but in the end it comes to light that there was never any chess-playing or political gamesmanship. In the end, Obama's strategy was always out there in the plain light of day because he straight out says what he wants it is just that Dems are in denial.

And in this case he does want to appoint a Republican to the SC. How do I know this? Because Obama and his staff are telling us so.

[lobodons]

24. Just wait

Sandoval is NOT going to be the pick. (Its never the 1st guy leaked) BUT it does have us all talking about how great a move it is tying GOP's hands, putting them behind the black ball and how many Senate seats they are going to lose.

[jpb33]

20. WTF

How many times are Democrats going to fall for this. Every time Obama caves Democrats come out and say he is just playing to chess to te Republican's checkers, or it is Obama's great political kung fu that he is setting in motion.

The truth is Obama is not playing any games here. It is not a trial balloon or some political trick to show up republicans. Obama has never been some great political strategist. He has never been a great politician like Johnson or FDR. He simply hates politics and has never put in the time and effort it takes to win politically. He never has made the connections or made political allies in the Congress or with world leaders. To do this it takes time and effort and Obama just hates that part of the job and never wanted to make the effort.
And this is one of the reasons why he always is on the short end.

So Democrats need to just admit it to themselves that this is Obama's true intentions. He does want to nominate a Republican to the SC. In the history of the US political system there has never been a president to nominate or give so many positions to the other party. It is insane. I have no knowledge of a president nominating to the SC a person of the opposite party. Why the hell vote for a certain party if that party is going to just appoint those to office's who hold opposing views. That is the whole purpose of voting. A person is aligned to a specific party based on the same political, social, economic views.

The problem is Obama has never had a specific ideology. The only reason he is a Democrat is because he is from Chicago and the dems are the strongest political party in Chicago. I still cannot for the life of me describe what Obama's tenure as president is about. If someone mentions Teddy Roosevelt, you know what he is about and what he wanted to bring to the WH, same thing with FDR, Johnson, Reagan. But with Obama I cannot come up with any type of political philosophy. The man just has no belief system. This is why he constantly rolls over for Republicans, constantly appoints R's to powerful positions, and now wants to appoint a R to the SC.

Who knows maybe some of the Republican obstructionism has saved us from some of Obama's worst tendencies. If it was not for Republican obstructionism he would of already cut social security. Maybe Republican obstructionism regarding the SC will save us from a Republican SC appointment.

I cannot stress this enough it is like we live in bizarro world where a Democratic President appoints a Republican to the SC. It is just bat-shit crazy and there is 0 excuse for it. This shows Obama cares very little about the Democratic party or the millions who voted for him. The SC appointment is nothing but a box he needs to check off in order to say he filled the position.

And any Democrat who is ok with this has lost their minds and their loyalty has gone into the insane realms of outright hero worship.

[brush]

31. How has he caved? There is no nominee yet.

Look deeper. It's one name out of many names being considered.

Why is that?

To put pressure on the repugs as Sandoval is a repug himself and also Latino. It won't go well in the Latino community, the second largest voting block in the country, if he's refused a hearing, thus highlighting the hypocrisy and obstructionism of the repugs and guaranteeing even more Latino votes in the general election for us dems.

Sandoval hasn't, and won't be the nominee so stop with the "caving" crap.

The president and Reid are no dummies.

[revbones]

34. Hear Hear!

I've been saying that since he got elected with the bs chess analogies. I'm not sure about the SC nomination though, since he did previously nominate Sotomayer and Kagan - and while they aren't super liberal, they aren't Republicans either.

[lark]

21. Go to hell, Harry.

Why should Obama nominate a Repug? What good does that do? This is just BS cronyism and he knows it. Obama should nominate a youngish person on the appeals court who will increase diversity and who was approved with no dissents previously. Someone who doesn't have a long track record for the Repugs to hate, a stealth candidate, would also be nice. Yes, he probably should nominate someone who's not a liberal firebrand that I would love. OTOH, if he can't get his nominee through, when Bernie wins, he should absolutely go for the gusto and nominate a young liberal firebrand and the Dems should use the nuclear option. They can either play nice now or lose the Senate and their control. People are sick of their shit and it will show on election day.

[Kip Humphrey]

26. Just to remind everyone, Reid is Team Hillary.

[milestogo]

30. Isn't he retired yet?

We don't need his input.

[INdemo]

32. Harry Reid is a spineless Democrat that was

that was afraid to stand up against Republicans on critical issues and allowed the minority party in the Senate to run the show.
Harry Reid is the weakest Democratic Majority Leader we have ever had.

[revbones]

35. But he was the "Lion of the Senate"

rofl

[LiberalElite]

38. No, that was Ted Kennedy nt

[blackspade]

33. Figures.

There are plenty of Democrats that would be much better......

[rockfordfile]

36. I don't think so

The guy is a republican Governor. To me Brian Sandoval comes off as a far right republican.

[Kingofalldems]

40. Triangulation. Guy is pro choice.

Repubs will never vote him in and will pay the price politically.

[PATRICK]

41. The two responses

are the "chess analogy" which has been pretty discredited if not shown to be pretty impotent politically and in policy and the other one, that unfortunate sincerity in trying to promote "moderate" republicanism as the unshakable law of the land. Especially with the gratuitous kick by Reid it places our heads in a noose and invites both an inescapable trap for Dems and victory for the GOP, restoring the horrendous anti-labor, pro business majority in the court if not also an election bias for November. It is all, all bad no matter how you look at it if it turns out Sandoval is the nominee, with the GOP determining how much Dems have to lose because the repugs who are already out there, have nothing left to lose.

I really hope they would just shut up about the vetting teaser game. The only thing getting confirmed is our belief that the party leadership thinks neo-Reaganism must reign supreme. Trump looks sane by comparison.

[mdbl]

42. This headline to this article made me laugh

It figures.

[Nevernose]

46. Sandoval just refused a nomination.