I am put in remembrance of that old Disney "classic"(???), "The Absent Minded Professor", from the fifties, when Fred MacMurray was flying his new invention over Washington,D.C., (his "souped-up", model T "touring car"). The General, in charge of defending the Nation's Capitol had issued a warning to the "unidentified flying object", over the city, that if they didn't identify themselves by the time he counted ten, he would order the defensive anti-aircraft missiles to open fire. Since the professor's car only had a one-way commercial radio in it, he couldn't respond. So he "flew" behind the Congressional Dome (thinking he would surely be shielded by it). The General reached the number, "8", when his junior officer reminded him that if they shot now, they might endanger every single Congressman, as well! Undaunted, the General counted,"9", when his fellow officer said, "And they've just put a new front on the building." This caused the General to issue a,"Hold your fire" command, finally!
Things haven't changed much, I guess! Congress is now grilling President Trump's recent appointee to take the seat of the deceased Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. Republicans are lauding Tenth Circuit Appeals Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch, for what has to be considered a stellar career, while Democrats are playing politics, trying to find anything they can to criticize him about. So far the worst charge they can come up with is that his opinions are not "mainstream" enough, which is their code word for "liberal socialist". As far as I'm concerned, that is a compliment that he should be proud of, and they sling it at him as if it were a pejorative!
What this all boils down to is politics at it's most blatant worst! I am reminded of President Eisenhower lamenting that he was "buffaloed" by his advisers from the American Bar Association, who recommended the appointments, assuring him that they were conservative judges, when in fact they turned out to be some of the most liberal justices ever appointed. Then the Democrats tried to "railroad" Justice Thomas' appointment with a somewhat flimsy charge of sexual harassment of a co-worker. Apparently, "dirty pool" is acceptable for Democrats, as long as they can get their way.
That being the established rule, as they see it, it is perhaps time for the Republicans to stop "playing nice", and settle this issue, now, the way we all expected it would have to be done! They must invoke the so-called "Nuclear Option", that the last Democratic-controlled Congress voted into law, which states that a vote of 51 Congressmen is all that is required for a confirmation, instead of the traditional 60 votes (which would mean at least 8 Democrats would have to join with the Republican majority). It's a shame this has to be resorted to, but the Democrats put themselves in this position, so let's "have at it", and let the proverbial "chips" fall!!!
With a likely (at least) two other Justices needing replacement soon (one, who is eighty, talking about soon retirement, and the other who is well known to sleep through much of the Court hearings) it would seem that this may be the only way for Trump to get his nominees appointed. If there were some way to isolate the Democrats to a safe distance from the rest of Congress, I might be tempted to seek out that General,in the Disney movie, to see if he is still ready to push the button!!!
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