Their first tactic was to claim, falsely, that it just isn't done for a president to nominate a SCOTUS justice in his last year in office. That didn't fly, because it's not true; so now they're trying this:
"Don't make us hurt the nominee."
Huh? That's what it amounts to. Sen. Ted Cruz said: "I think that hearing would end up very politicized. And I don't think it would be fair to the nominee." Thanks for you concern, Ted. You could accomplish that by simply being fair to the nominee yourselves.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), in a tight re-election campaign, said it might "mislead" people into thinking it's about the qualifications of the candidate, but "it's bigger than that." In other words, confirming President Obama's nominee -- no matter who it turns out to be -- is not an option. So, if they have to destroy the reputation of the nominee, that's what they'll do.
Now they're pleading not to have to do the dirty work that they will 'be forced to do.' Come on, guys. Put on your big boy pants and do your job. If you're going to hurt the nominee, you'll just have to take responsibility for your actions.
Perhaps the strategy is to try to scare off any potential nominee from accepting President Obama's nomination. I think his strategy is going to be to select someone with such impeccable credentials and so obviously qualified that the Republicans will only wind up hurting themselves if they try to play politics.
As much as I disagreed with Justice Scalia's approach to the Constitution and disliked him personally, I do think it is downright shameful that Republicans couldn't even wait until after his funeral before turning it into a political "throw them to the lions" sideshow. Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz didn't even wait an hour after his death was announced before throwing down the gauntlet.
Ralph
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