Posted on 02/17/2016 5:08:52 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Conservatives now have yet another reason to revere Antonin Scalia: In death, he just may keep Donald Trump from becoming the GOP nominee.
In every presidential election I can remember, both major parties have issued two warnings: This is the most important election of our lifetime. And it will decide the balance of the Supreme Court for decades to come.
Now, that last part is finally, irrefutably true. And are Republicans really going to trust a guy who was pro-choice until a minute ago to appoint Scalia's successor? Will they pick someone who still speaks highly of Planned Parenthood to replace the justice who called a buffer zone outside clinics "merely the latest of many aggressively pro-abortion novelties announced by the court in recent years"? Scalia himself might dismiss that possibility as "pure applesauce."
In such a closely divided country, Republicans know they can't win without the social conservatives who have for months been Trump's fiercest critics on the right.
A number of pro-life groups sent a letter to Iowans before the caucuses there, explicitly "urging Republican caucus-goers and voters to support anyone but Donald Trump."
"On the issue of defending unborn children and protecting women from the violence of abortion, Mr. Trump cannot be trusted,'' said the letter, which was signed by leaders of the Iowa Right to Life, the Susan B. Anthony List and Concerned Women for America, among other groups. "We have come to this conclusion after having listened patiently to numerous debates and news reports, but most importantly to Donald Trump's own words...
"Mr. Trump has said his sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who struck down the Partial Birth Abortion Ban in New Jersey, would be a 'phenomenal' choice for the court. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump also said he thought pro-choice Senator Scott Brown would make a 'very good' Vice President.
"Moreover, as women, we are disgusted by Mr. Trump's treatment of individuals, women, in particular. He has impugned the dignity of women, most notably Megyn Kelly, he mocked and bullied Carly Fiorina, and has through the years made disparaging public comments to and about many women. Further, Mr. Trump has profited from the exploitation of women in his Atlantic City casino hotel, which boasted of the first strip club casino in the country."
Trump has since clarified that he was just joshing when he floated his sister's name, but conservatives really aren't kidding when they joke darkly that he might try to name fellow reality TV star Judge Judy; after all, as the highest paid performer on television, wouldn't the biggest paycheck make her the most phenomenal jurist in Trumpthink?
Social conservatives dare to hope Scalia's death will sober up those Republicans willing to ignore Trump's lack of discernible core principles.
But having initially underestimated his appeal, political commentators have now swung to the opposite extreme, and have become too skittish to posit that yes, blaming George W. Bush for 9/11 will lose him some support.
As may the unsettling spectacle of him screaming through much of a presidential debate in which he turned up looking oddly like an orange Brach's Easter egg whose marshmallow insides were suggested every time his white hands came near his over-bronzed face. (And if you think such superficial concerns don't matter, I refer you to Al Gore's own orange debate, in which he could have been sighing deeply at the damage done by his makeup artist.)
One of the few areas of agreement at Saturday's GOP debate, just hours after Scalia's death was announced, was that his passing had finally focused the public on the reality that this time, the balance of the court really is on the line.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Scalia's unexpected death "underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans.''
The dreaded "establishment" in both parties has been struggling visibly over how to undercut improbable grassroots favorites without seeming to do so. As Hillary Clinton reportedly told Democrats reluctant to support John Kerry in 2004, "You don't have to fall in love; you just have to fall in line." This year, of course, falling in line has fallen into disrepute.
Yet in the end, neither the firebrand Bernard Sanders nor the billionaire populist Trump is likely to be nominated, for very different reasons. On the Democratic side, Hillary's real firewall may be officialdom's superdelegates. In the GOP, the candidate whose unified political theory really does boil down to a big plate of "jiggery pokery" may very well be stopped by the passing of the writer who resurrected that whimsical phrase.
Sure! /s
Yes. Bwahahahahahaha. Keep dreaming. I think you follow Glenn beck to much.
You wish. Kind of repulsice how people are using Scalia’s death.
Cruz backed Roberts. Checkmate.
Secure the borders, secure the borders, secure the borders
So let’s nominate one of the other candidates that will definitely lose ,thereby insuring a Dim Prez and Liberal Justice ...makes sense for our side ...why change now ?
Let’s get real - Trump is the only way to go ...
“True” conservatives have their Wellstone moment.
I think his pick of Pryor for the court would be awesome! I mean, a guy who supported getting rid of the Ten Commandments? Totally conservative! /s
Bohunk.
I’m a Cruz-bot (as they like to say in these parts), but I see NO impact on the Republican Nomination Race from Scalia’s death.
I don’t buy it.
Play on!
I guess TDS means GOPe can’t wait to bury the guy before they start politicizing his death.
To his subsequent chagrin.
Checkmate happens when someone drops out.
Until then, we’re playing the game.
Amen. A guy that runs down to the border with Beck rewarding illegals with teddy bears and soccer balls is NOT going to secure it.
Which candidate had real time excellent choices on his mind during the last debate? Seems to me it was trump.
If we were talking dead horses, maybe, but we are talking dead babies that are still just as dead even if he has changed his mind.
“..Beating the abortion dead horse gets us nowhere...”
True. It should not be a political issue. Not certainly at the presidential level. This country have numerous problems far greater than abortion to fix. The content of the White House, Congress and the SCOTUS to name some on the short list.
Yeah, they've said "He's done!" and have been wrong. Consistently.
I'm not saying he is the best choice, but I am saying his political obituary has been written so many times I've lost count.
I really am confused this time.
All of the top candidates in my opinion have assets and liabilities.
A must read for take on obozo and Antonin Scalia’s passing and what it means to the country. No one here needs to be reminded of the duplicity and hypocrisy of this jerk and this is excellent. One of my father’s sayings was, “depends on whose ox is being gored.”
http://patriotpost.us/alexander/40740
“”On Tuesday of last week, Justice Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court majority staying EPA regulations proposed by Barack Obama for his so-called “Clean Power Plan.” That plan was just the latest SCOTUS objection to Obama’s extra-constitutional efforts to bypass Congress and impose his will by regulatory fiat instead of legislation.
On Tuesday of this week, in the wake of Justice Scalia’s death, Barack Obama’s United Nations climate envoy declared that Obama would ignore the High Court’s ruling against his “climate change” agenda and, moreover, ignore the Constitution’s mandate requiring “Consent of the Senate to make Treaties” as specified in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, by signing the UN Climate Treaty.
That announcement was followed by Obama’s protests against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s assertion that “the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” Obama claims McConnell is an “obstructionist,” insisting “the Constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen,” and declaring Republicans are violating Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 mandating the “Consent of the Senate to appoint Judges of the Supreme Court.”
Yes, that is the same Article, Section and Clause Obama is himself ignoring when announcing the same day that he would sign the UN Climate Treaty.
Cruz only backed Roberts after he was nominated.
Roberts had no track record at that point to indicate what he would do later.
Stick to checkers.
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