By Joan McCarter
Hand it to Mitch McConnell, (click here) whether he's in the minority or the majority, he leads Republicans in setting all sorts of records for obstruction. It's particularly impressive, now that he's in control of the Senate, that he's breaking new records with just one non-vote: Loretta Lynch's nomination to be attorney general....
...For essentially the first two centuries under our Constitution, senators afforded the president free rein to stock his Cabinet as he chose, except in the most extraordinary circumstances. Getting over the "advice and consent" hurdle was about proving competence for public service, demonstrating good manners and keeping your moral nose clean. […]
There is a lawsuit about the President's Executive Order so there is no reason to hold up her nomination. First it was DHS and now this. Are the Republicans finished making money after the nomination? They are most definitely out of any cash flow with the letter to Iran's Ayatollah.
This time, there's been an important additional twist: The single biggest reason Republicans oppose Lynch is that she disagrees with them on a single matter of public policy. They say her sticking up for the president's immigration executive orders reveals one of two larger problems: that she won't steer Justice in some fundamentally new and centrist direction (as if that was ever going to happen) and she can't be counted on for the independence an attorney general sometimes needs to pursue the rule of law over the pull of politics....
The President needs to chill in being 'out there.' The Republican need to focus.
