Update: Sen. Reid’s maneuver (described in this article), being so blatantly out of step with reality, forced him to back down and heed Sen. McConnell’s plea to focus on jobs and the economy, while they continue to move judges along at a rational pace.
Pathetic. That’s the word that should be used to describe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nevada) latest gambit to try to force a vote on 17 district court judicial nominations in just a few hours. Having rightfully earned the title of the leader of the “Do-Nothing” Senate, Reid is trying to look busy for his liberal supporters by fighting a Republican political obstruction that is nowhere to be seen.
Like a madman punching at the wind, Reid would almost deserve our pity if it weren’t for the fact that, while he plays his childish games, the country continues to suffer, tumbling down a financial and moral abyss under his and the president’s leadership.
Ironically (though, not completely unexpected), a quick glance at Sen. Reid’s homepage today makes no mention of the 17-judge push on which he is focusing. Instead, it is full of statements like this one, “Nevada’s economy is slowly showing signs of improvement, but more work must be done to help Nevadans still struggling to find a job. Creating good-paying jobs for Nevadans is my top priority in Congress.”
Just to make sure, I checked to see if all of those judicial nominees were unemployed Nevadans, but, alas, that is not the case. No, Sen. Reid wants to pretend that he cares about jobs and the economy while he concentrates on political power plays for the president and their liberal supporters.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has actually pleaded with Sen. Reid to focus on jobs and the economy, even as they continue to move judicial nominations at a steady pace. McConnell said in a public statement:
The JOBS Act passed the House by a vote of 390 to 23, and the president says he supports it. While we’re working on a bill to help get people back to work, we can make progress on other judicial nominations. So I encourage the Majority to work with us on both legislation and nominations, not to go off on a partisan, and unprecedented, path that won’t get us anywhere, and won’t solve the problems Americans care about.
Sen. Reid has chosen to fight the usual liberal straw man opponent instead. Because, as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) correctly pointed out in his floor speech yesterday, there is no nominations crisis. He correctly stated that the Senate has, “confirmed 129 of President Obama’s judicial nominees in just over three years. That is more than were confirmed under George W. Bush’s entire second term.”
So don’t be fooled. Senate Majority Leader Reid controls the Senate’s calendar, and he is choosing to ignore the American people and his colleagues to focus on partisan politics and not the economy.