As President Barack Obama prepares to name his pick for the high court, the Senate's No. 2 Republican said the qualifications being discussed — "emotions or feelings or preconceived ideas," Sen. Jon Kyl called them — aren't enough to justify a lifetime appointment. The Arizona Republican on Sunday wouldn't rule out a filibuster to block an Obama pick that falls outside his definition of the mainstream.
How funny is this? First, the Republicans tell the world the President said something he didn't say. They repeat it. Now, Jon Kyl is planning on acting, prepared to keep Barack Obama from doing something he enver said he was going to do in the first place.
Back in the late 1990's, when Newt Gingrich was saying that Columbine and Susan Smith (the insane South Carolina woman who drowned her children after trapping them in a car and pushing it into a pond, then turned around and claimed it was done by a black man before admitting her guilt) were examples of Democratic policy and politicians, or the direct result of liberalism, if Trent Lott (then the #2 guy in the Senate) had been quoted as saying that he would block any Clinton Administration nominees who were willing to kill their children, or who would organize a mass killing, how seriously could he be taken?*
Next thing you know, Mitch McConnell will hold a press conference in which he insists that any bill to transfer our sovereignty to Muslim terrorists will be filibustered. These guys are ridiculous. I'm glad the press keeps quoting them, because the fun never stops.
*Actually, both then and now, such a statement would not only be quoted, but probably discussed in deep, thoughtful, pedantic terms by David Broder, while Chris Matthews wet himself on his program, wondering how the Democrats could survive such a political masterstroke by the brilliant Republicans. Which only shows how stupid our media is.
