Senate Republican leaders Monday seized on comments made by Vice President Joe Biden 24 years ago, when the then-senator from Delaware said the Senate should not consider a Supreme Court nominee during an election year.

"Once the political season is underway and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over," Biden said in June 1992 on the Senate floor, according to a C-SPAN recording of his remarks.

Biden was referring to a hypothetical situation, since the Senate was not considering a nominee at the time of his remarks. But the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this month has left a precarious 4-4 ideological balance between right- and left-leaning justices as they consider cases on abortion, voting rights, Obama's health care law and other polarizing issues.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reiterated the stance he took hours after Scalia's death that the next president should select a court nominee. He said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, whose statements have wavered, agreed with him.

But separately, McConnell's press office and Grassley in a floor speech went further and cited the 1992 Biden remarks. Grassley called the comments "The Biden Rules" and said the vice president "knows what the Senate should do."

Biden defended himself in a written statement, saying that in his 1992 speech he said the Senate and White House should cooperate "to ensure the court functions as the founding fathers intended." He said under his long-time leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the chamber considered nine Supreme Court nominees "and the current Senate has a constitutional duty to do the same."

Both sides have spent days unearthing comments members of the other party made about court nominations years ago under presidents of different parties when the political circumstances were reversed.

McConnell's assertion that the president elected this November should nominate the replacement has drawn support from nearly all Republicans and irate, solid opposition from Democrats. Yet as the two parties girded for what promises to be a months-long battle, some cracks have appeared on the GOP side.

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. — who faces a difficult re-election race this year in a Democratic-leaning state — distributed an opinion column he'd written for the Chicago Sun-Times saying he looks forward to Obama selecting a nominee.

"I also recognize my duty as a senator to either vote in support or opposition to that nominee following a fair and thorough hearing along with a complete and transparent release of all requested information," Kirk wrote.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she favored Judiciary Committee hearings "so that there can be an in-depth vetting of the nominee and his or her views." Several other GOP senators said they'd defer to a decision by Grassley about holding hearings, including Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Rob Portman, R-Ohio and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who face re-election contests in November.

Obama is expected to announce his nomination in coming weeks. GOP senators will gather on Tuesday for the first time since Scalia's death to discuss their path forward.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/23/biden-argued-against-weighing-supreme-court-nomination-during-1992-campaign.html?intcmp=hpbt1

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-dismisses-his-own-filibuster-as-gop-threatens-to-nix-nominee/article/2583391


Obama dismisses his own filibuster as GOP threatens to nix nominee
By Nicole Duran (@Duranni1) • 2/16/16 5:20 PM


President Obama on Tuesday downplayed his decision to filibuster of one of President George W. Bush's choices to the Supreme Court, and said Senate Republicans should quickly hold a confirmation vote on whomever he chooses to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Obama was one of 25 Democrats to filibuster Bush's nominee, Samuel Alito, a decade ago. But when asked whether that vote undercuts his request that the Senate consider his eventual nominee to replace Scalia, Obama said it's not fair to compare the two events.

Obama also indicated to reporters that his filibuster reflected a different time, and that the Senate should get past those kinds of fights today.

"I think what's fair to say is that how judicial nominations have evolved over time is not historically the fault of any single party," he told reporters in California. "This has become just one more extension of politics."

"And, there are times where folks are in the Senate, and they're thinking... is this going to cause me problems in a primary, is this going to cause me problems with supporters of mine, and so people take strategic decisions," he said.

"But, what is also true is, Justice Alito is on the bench right now. I think that, historically, if you look at it, regardless of what votes particular senators have taken, there's been a basic consensus, a basic understanding, that the Supreme Court's different."

Republicans disagree, and say Obama's own vote shows that senators have used the right to block Supreme Court nominations. Many Republicans have already pointed out that Obama tried to block Alito because of Alito's views, and that the only different this time around is that Republicans likely have enough votes to block Obama's pending nomination.
<<<<<<<<<

only difference is,that now it is his Nominee that could get the same treatment!

What goes around ... comes around.

http://grabien.com/file.php?id=79098&searchorder=date

Contains a Transcript and Biden's C-Span-Video!

Site does not permit Copy/Paste without becoming a Member,so you will have to watch it on-site!

President Obonzo never fails to prove,
just how much of an idiot he truly is.

He (Obama), is like a child

Vladimir Putin



* one hissy fit coming up *