McCain Says GOP Will Regret ‘Nuclear Option,’ Backs It Anyway
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[quote]WASHINGTON ― Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the staunchest defenders of Senate rules, hammered on Wednesday his party’s plans to change those rules to confirm nominee Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, then said he has no choice but to go along with it.
McCain had signaled that he might do so earlier in the week, but made it official in a Senate floor speech in which he highlighted both Democratic and Republican hypocrisy on the issue.
“We are in a terrible place. My colleagues should understand that this is a historic moment if we move forward with it,” McCain said before announcing his intentions to help them move forward.
Supreme Court nominations require 60 votes to advance if any senators raise objections to moving forward and mount a filibuster. Democrats announced Monday that they had enough senators objecting to stop President Donald Trump’s nominee.
That prompted GOP leaders to say they would employ the so-called “nuclear option” to change the rules and end filibusters for the Supreme Court.
Just to make sure everyone understood where he came from, McCain reminded people how he has worked over the last 14 years to defuse showdowns over judicial nominations, once joining the “Gang of 14” that cleared the way for a number of former President George W. Bush’s nominations.
Then he specifically quoted his own party leaders warning of the dangers of ending filibusters in 2013, when Democrats went nuclear over long-stalled lower court nominations.
Among the half dozen he cited were then-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), now the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the third-ranking Republican.
Republicans had repeatedly declared Democrats were breaking the rules to change the rules, and McConnell warned specifically that Democrats were about to end “one of the most cherished safeguards of liberty in our government—the right of a political minority to have a voice.”
“We warned that the Democrats would not be in control of the White House or Senate forever, and would come to regret their actions, and we were
right,” McCain said. “Their actions came back to haunt them. I believe our
actions will haunt us as well.”[/quote]
[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mccain-says-republicans-will-regret-nuclear-option-backs-it-anyway_us_58e517fbe4b06a4cb30e2a9f?q7&[/url]
What a maverick
McCain is so disappointing. He keeps talking about resisting Trump and keeps branding himself as some figurehead of the moderate wing, but then he tows the party line [I]every single time[/I].
If McCain stood up as an example of a Republican pushing back against the Trump-led party, and voted against them, and actually followed through his words with actions, I'd have a hell of a lot more respect for the guy. I already respect him more than most Republican reps, but the rhetoric falling by the wayside every time a vote comes up really cheapens everything he says.
Mccains just hot air
[QUOTE=.Isak.;52065408]McCain is so disappointing. He keeps talking about resisting Trump and keeps branding himself as some figurehead of the moderate wing, but then he tows the party line [I]every single time[/I].
If McCain stood up as an example of a Republican pushing back against the Trump-led party, and voted against them, and actually followed through his words with actions, I'd have a hell of a lot more respect for the guy. I already respect him more than most Republican reps, but the rhetoric falling by the wayside every time a vote comes up really cheapens everything he says.[/QUOTE]
It sort of seems like he's backing the party line despite vocally opposing it just to show them that it's going to end poorly. Which seems kinda short-sighted to me since that means it's going to end up a problem either way and politicians tend to be highly resistant to learning their lessons. (Could also just be me being too optimistic about why he's being so dumb too.)
[quote]Republicans had repeatedly declared Democrats were breaking the rules to change the rules, and McConnell warned specifically that Democrats were about to end “one of the most cherished safeguards of liberty in our government—the right of a political minority to have a voice.”[/quote]
:why:
Coward.
spent five and a half years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton, afraid to break ranks with a bunch of stuffy old people
[QUOTE=Cone;52066203]spent five and a half years being tortured in the Hanoi Hilton, afraid to break ranks with a bunch of stuffy old people[/QUOTE]
Goes to show how just much power and influence those stuffy old people have, which is unfortunate.
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;52066339]Goes to show how just much power and influence those stuffy old people have, which is unfortunate.[/QUOTE]
Makes me wonder how much the next generation of government will have to clean up.
[QUOTE=AnnieOakley;52066478]Makes me wonder how much the next generation of government will have to clean up.[/QUOTE]
It will probably end like in the Simpsons with the country being massively fucked tbh
This is truly disappointing. Although I'm not conservative in my views I've always thought McCain a voice of reason to the conservatives. To his credit he is displaying that in his words, but it's his actions that matter. Party over country is becoming the new normal I suppose.
[QUOTE=TurtleeyFP;52065531]:why:[/QUOTE]
I need to find the video of him talking in the senate about how it's terrible for the dems to not allow the sitting president to appoint justices, it's troll as shit, to the point where I think he might be doing it on purpose.
McCain is too scared to stand up because he's unwilling to risk his head. He talks bravery and sacrifice but doesn't put his hand on the chopping board when the time comes.
Come on dude.
He's just a spineless fuck who parades around acting like he actually cares about the people, even if it means selling out for monetary gain.
Devils-advocate: if he voted against this he might've gotten primaried by someone more willing to toe the line, after all, GOP leadership these days are about as far right as you can get and would gladly replace McCain should he get to wild, crazy, and y'know actually do his job.
It's a lot easier to understand McCain's reasoning if you don't try to glean it from an overtly partisan source like Huffington Post.
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/senate-nuclear-option-neil-gorsuch/[/url]
[quote]A small, bipartisan group of senators held informal conversations in recent weeks to avoid the looming showdown.
"A number of us discussed it," Republican Sen. John McCain told CNN. "We all wanted to do something, but we couldn't agree on common ground. A testimony of the polarization of the Senate."[/quote]
McCain wanted to find a bipartisan solution to resolve the current situation without changing the long-standing precedent of filibusters allowing the minority party to retain some political power. Since that didn't happen, but since the empty Supreme Court seat still needs to be filled, he voted to end the standoff but warned that there will be side effects down the road. With Democrats promising to filibuster indefinitely, if neither side is willing to compromise I don't see how else this could have played out.
[QUOTE=catbarf;52067796]It's a lot easier to understand McCain's reasoning if you don't try to glean it from an overtly partisan source like Huffington Post.
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/senate-nuclear-option-neil-gorsuch/[/url]
McCain wanted to find a bipartisan solution to resolve the current situation without changing the long-standing precedent of filibusters allowing the minority party to retain some political power. Since that didn't happen, but since the empty Supreme Court seat still needs to be filled, he voted to end the standoff but warned that there will be side effects down the road. With Democrats promising to filibuster indefinitely, if neither side is willing to compromise I don't see how else this could have played out.[/QUOTE]
It could have ended before it began if the Republicans hadn't robbed the previous president of a supreme court appointment.
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;52067813]It could have ended before it began if the Republicans hadn't robbed the previous president of a supreme court appointment.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://twitter.com/resisterhood/status/848980552686460929"]It could have ended before it began if the Republicans hadn't robbed the previous president of 79 nominees[/URL]
[editline]6th April 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=Durandal;52067648]Devils-advocate: if he voted against this he might've gotten primaried by someone more willing to toe the line, after all, GOP leadership these days are about as far right as you can get and would gladly replace McCain should he get to wild, crazy, and y'know actually do his job.[/QUOTE]
Rather than kicked out and replaced by a willing pawn who would assist in subverting democratic order, he chose to become a willing pawn voting for subverting democratic order???
Doesn't sound like a functional government to me.
[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;52067851][URL="https://twitter.com/resisterhood/status/848980552686460929"]It could have ended before it began if the Republicans hadn't robbed the previous president of 79 nominees[/URL]
[/QUOTE]
Don't forget he still had more than [B]a year[/B] left in his term too.
[QUOTE=Durandal;52067648]Devils-advocate: if he voted against this he might've gotten primaried by someone more willing to toe the line, after all, GOP leadership these days are about as far right as you can get and would gladly replace McCain should he get to wild, crazy, and y'know actually do his job.[/QUOTE]
McCain just got voted into another 6 year term though
[QUOTE=Lambeth;52069930]McCain just got voted into another 6 year term though[/QUOTE]
Well it seems like being a spineless coward is what you need to be successful in American politics these days.
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