Republicans MUST Confirm Barrett Before the Election
Oct 2, 2020
RUSH: Meanwhile, even before President Trump’s COVID news, Dianne Feinstein and every other Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee were demanding that Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing be delayed. Just as we predicted. The minute I heard that they were gonna go ahead and allot weeks for hearings, folks, I got a bad feeling about this. We just do not learn, and it’s not even that.
We, of course, learn. Lindsey Graham cannot possibly be ignorant about what the Democrats’ intentions are here. We don’t need to do any hearings. This whole thing has got to happen before the election! You know, this came up in the debate the other night, and Trump sort of mangled it, if you ask me. It’s not this complicated. He was elected president in 2016 for four years.
We have an opening in the Supreme Court that is occurring within those four years. The American people spoke. They elected Trump largely on the basis of his Supreme Court list of potential justices. He made it a big part of the campaign in 2016. To say that Trump is not entitled to make this pick because it’s so close to an election is nothing more than a Democrat delay tactic.
He, of course, is entirely entitled to make this pick, constitutionally. There’s two things about it, and that’s it. The president names the justice; the Senate has a role to play, advice and consent. The Republicans run Senate. If their advice is, “We’ve got the votes to pass the nominee; we don’t need to do any hearings,†then there’s the consent, and we can be done with this.
Now, no. Now we’re gonna do hearings, and now we’re gonna do this and that, and we may not even finish until October 22nd, and we gotta have this or that happen. Now there’s even, “Mitch McConnell will not even guarantee there will be a vote before the election.†I said, “What the hell’s going on?†“Well, he’s in a tight battle in Kentucky.†So what? Man, this is big, this judicial nomination.
This may not come by our way again, this opportunity, because if this woman is not confirmed before the election, you can kiss it good-bye. She’s not gonna be confirmed after the election. “What, Rush, even if Trump wins?†If Trump wins, they’re gonna do everything they can. It depends on what happens in the Senate. But you don’t want to take the chance.
We’ve got an opportunity here to get this woman confirmed, legally, politically, whatever way you want to analyze this. The legals and the constitutionality are all on our side. Now here come the Democrats demanding a delay. Even before Trump gets COVID-19, they’re demanding a delay. The process, they say, is “too hurried to properly vet Amy Coney Barrett.†No, it’s not!
The woman has been vetted three years ago. They put her through the indignity of this three years ago for her nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. All of this was so predictable. It was damned predictable this was gonna happen.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, at about 1:14 this afternoon, sometime in the 1 o’clock hour today, Politico ran a story. The headline of the story: “McConnell Vows ‘Full Steam Ahead’ on Barrett as Fears Rise of Virus Outbreak —
“Sen. Mike Lee, a key Republican on the Judiciary Committee, announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus.†So here’s the guts of the story: “Lindsey Graham is scheduled to begin hearings for Barrett on Oct. 12,†ten days from now, “and is planning to hold a committee vote on the nomination on Oct. 22. In his statement, Lee said he planned to quarantine for 10 days and expected to be able to provide support for Barrett in the committee.
“‘I have spoken with Leader McConnell and Chairman Graham, and assured them I will be back to work in time to join my Judiciary Committee colleagues in advancing the Supreme Court nomination,’ Lee said.†I’m still looking for the part of this story where McConnell says it’s “full steam ahead.†McConnell, appearing with appearing with Hugh Hewitt on the radio today, said “that he has yet to choose a date for the final floor vote, but that Democrats will be unable to delay Barrett’s confirmation.
“But fallout from the pandemic is largely out of his control.†Ohhhh, see? “‘Our biggest enemy, obviously, is … the coronavirus, keeping everybody healthy and well and in place to do our job,’ he said. [The Turtle] said that portions of Barrett’s confirmation hearings are likely to be conducted remotely … he was not yet sure whether senators who met with Barrett and the White House officials had contracted the virus.â€
So I’m still looking for part of the story, “McConnell vows ‘full steam ahead,'†but don’t see it in the story. “I have spoken with Leader…†(muttering) Well, I’ll trust your word for it, ’cause the headline says he “vows ‘full steam ahead.'†I don’t know. I don’t see any evidence of “full steam ahead.â€
