THE NUCLEAR OPTION – DERELICTION OF ‘DUTY’: GATES’S UNPRINCIPLED DUPLICITY

[Geee]

Breitbart:

Only Washington could create a sleazy charlatan like Bob Gates and pass him off as some bipartisan example of competence and honor.

With his new memoir out justifiably sliming President Obama, Vice President Biden, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gates makes like a greasy, mange-patched rat scrambling atop the floating debris of a sunken ship.

“I never doubted Obama’s support for the troops,” Gates grandly writes, posturing himself as the magnanimous centrist that passes for nobility only here in Washington.

“Never doubted Obama’s support for the troops, only his support for their mission.”

Holy cripes, how did this get past an editor? Does the guy not have any friends to glance over his book to tell him what a treacherous wretch he is for even thinking such a stupid thought, let alone memorializing it forever in a hardcover book about himself that he modestly titled Duty?

I will tell you what “duty” is. “Duty” is getting out of high school and signing up for the Marines because you love your country. “Duty” is the unquestioned following of your orders and deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan on a mission to make America safer. “Duty” is Skyping with your wife and young, growing family and keeping upbeat even though you will go on a mission tomorrow morning that very likely will get both of your legs and your right arm blown off.

[Draggingtree]

Dems’ Nuclear Option will allow Trump to fill over 100 court vacancies quickly

Posted by William A. Jacobson Monday, December 26, 2016 at 8:30am | 12/26/2016 - 8:30am

 

And Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

 

 

We’ve written many times about the Democrats’ destruction in 2013, under the leadership of Harry Reid, of the filibuster for judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level.

 

Most of the columns written recently, including by us, discuss whether Republicans will extend that “Nuclear Option” to the current Supreme Court vacancy.

 

And certainly, that’s very important,But there is another way in which Harry Reid’s gambit is going to hurt Democrats.

 

There currently are over 100 vacancies in the federal appeals and trial courts.

 

As Philip Rucker and Robert Barnes at WaPo write, that will allow Donald Trump to reshape the federal judiciary rather decisively and quickly, Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary:

 

Donald Trump is set to inherit an uncommon number of vacancies in the federal courts in addition to the open Supreme Court seat, giving the president-elect a monumental opportunity to reshape the judiciary after taking office.

 

The estimated 103 judicial vacancies that President Obama is expected to hand over to Trump in the Jan. 20 transition of power is nearly double the 54 openings Obama found eight years ago following George W. Bush’s presidency.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/12/dems-nuclear-option-will-allow-trump-to-fill-over-100-court-vacancies-quickly/

[Draggingtree]

Take Their Leverage Away: End the Supreme Court Filibuster

By Erick Erickson | January 4, 2017, 08:45am

 

In multiple interviews, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has insisted there is a filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. He did it again last night on MSNBC where he suggested any nominee the GOP finds acceptable would be outside the mainstream. In fact, Schumer is suddenly okay with an eight seat Supreme Court.

 

Schumer, when insisting that the filibuster is there for Supreme Court picks, notes that the filibuster no longer exists for other executive nominations. Of course he says he regrets it and dodges the fact that Democrats are the ones who scuttled it.

http://theresurgent.com/take-their-leverage-away-end-the-supreme-court-filibuster/

[Draggingtree]

The GOP needs to send Harry Reid a thank you note

By DrJohn 1 Comment

Wed, Jan, 4th, 2017

As the new Congress convenes, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demonstrates that for some reason being a democrat leader in Congress has the unfortunate prerequisite of being an idiot. A volcano of bombast picking up right where Harry Reid left, Schumer spit out his vision of the unending obstructionism he plans forr the GP and…

[Valin]