Mitch McConnell willing to sacrifice the Senate to save his own skin over Supreme Court blockade

Rss@dailykos.com (joan Mccarter) · Monday, March 28, 2016, 11:22 am

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has created a monster—an extremist, vindictive, and powerful monster. He took an absolutist position on a Supreme Court nomination blockade—no personal meetings, no hearings, and no votes—and now has no choice but to stick with it or go the way of John Boehner.

The activist right has been galvanized by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's quick and forceful insistence that the Senate will not take up a high court nominee for the rest of Barack Obama's presidency, spending millions already to defend the GOP position with likely lots more to come. Tea party groups that have dissed McConnell for years as an establishment sellout are singing his praises. […]
"If the senators start to move off of this position, the biggest problem they are going to face is going to be a loss of support … they’re going to alienate the most active part of their constituency," said Adam Brandon, president and CEO of FreedomWorks. "I want Mitch McConnell to see that the potential grass-roots army is far stronger than anyone on K Street." […]

Democrats believe McConnell is motivated by self-preservation. Siding with activists on the Supreme Court, they say, could help the majority leader avoid Boehner's fate. […]

"I do believe he’s going to lose the majority. And he’s hoping that 2018 is going to be better [electorally] and he wants to save his job so he’s around [to return to majority leader] in 2018," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in an interview. "He’s actually saving himself and sacrificing his people that are up this time. He knows what happened to Boehner."

That sounds about right. McConnell is clearly more concerned about losing the far right interest groups than losing the Senate this cycle, and those groups are fully engaged in this fight. The Judicial Crisis Network has already spent $4 million in ads to prevent a confirmation. The anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List has pledged millions to back up the blockading Republicans. FreedomWorks has declared a truce with McConnell, for now. President and CEO of the group Adam Brandon gives a clear warning: "I want Mitch McConnell to see that the potential grass-roots army is far stronger than anyone on K Street."

That message has been received, loud and clear. McConnell is going to save his own skin, even if that means handing a Supreme Court nominee to Donald Trump.

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