Republican Senator Tells His Own Party To Man Up And Vote On Obama SCOTUS Nominee

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) called out his own party’s cowardice by telling his fellow Senate Republicans to man up and vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

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Audio of Sen. Kirk:

During an appearance on WLS-AM in Chicago, Kirk said:

It is the Constitution says the president should nominate and we should provide advise and consent. We should go through the process that the Constitution has already laid out. The President has already laid out a nominee who is from Chicago land, and for me I am open to see him.

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Just man up and cast a vote. The tough thing about these senatorial jobs is you get yes or no votes. Your whole job is to either say yes or no and explain why.

As Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) pointed out on Thursday during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, the Republican argument for obstructing President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee is full of contradictory absurdities. Franken said, “First, it was we should let the people decide. Well, we would argue the people decided. The President has a four-year term. Scientists tell us that there are approximately ten months left in his term. But then I hear, let the people decide, and the presidential election should decide, but then I hear colleagues from the other side saying well, you know what? If the election goes the wrong way, I’d be happy to consider this nomination during the lame duck. How absurd is that? So, it’s let the people decide unless they decide on Hillary Clinton, in which case let us decide.”

The Senate Republican excuses for obstructing President Obama’s nominee are a gibberish smokescreen that is designed to avoid giving Merrick Garland an up or down vote. Republicans spent years praising Garland, so they can’t defend their obstruction based on the record of the nominee, so they have been reduced to ducking and dodging while playing cowardly word games.

Sen. Kirk was right to call out his own party. Nothing gets a politician voted out of office faster than cowardice.

Mitch McConnell needs to shut up, man up, and do his damn job by allowing a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association