Re. the Lynch AG nomination: The Senate GOP majority keeps sinking lower and lower

What a bunch! Senators Ernst (IA), Cornyn (TX), McConnell (KY), and Thune (SD) pretend to give a hoot about sex trafficking. No, no, they're pretending to be against it. That's not the problem.

by Ken

Remember back when U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch was nominated to succeed Eric Holder as U.S. attorney general? And President Obama was reamed royally by apologists for the toxic sludge passing for U.S. senators under the Republican banner? Once again, we learned, That Damned Obama was guilty of the most heinous crimes in U.S. history -- a combination of Benedict Arnold, Hitler, and the kiddie-devouring monster hiding under the bed, because he hoped to have USA Lynch confirmed by the still-Dem-controlled Senate. And the crackpot-right-wing apologists rose in holiest dudgeon to denounce the president for this vile slur against the incoming Republican Senate majority. How dare this Kenyan Muslim America-hater?

As those self-same Republican Senate majoritarians have demonstrated since they assumed control of the chamber, any apprehensions about the horror of their rule were understated.

It's vaguely amusing to recall some of what the NYT's Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Matt Apuzzo wrote on November 7, when it became clear that Ms. Lynch would get the AG nomination:

Mr. Obama chose Ms. Lynch, a low-profile prosecutor, amid a new political environment after Republicans took the Senate. . . .

Nominating Ms. Lynch may also carry political benefits for a White House looking to recalibrate its strategy. She is a two-time United States attorney whom the Senate confirmed by acclamation in 2000 and again in 2010. She has no personal ties to Mr. Obama or his policies, freeing her of the baggage that weighed down other candidates.

If she is confirmed, her appointment will also allow the president, questioned in recent days about what he may do differently after his party’s thrashing, to bring a fresh face into an administration many have criticized as too insular.

The initial Republican reaction was guardedly positive. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said Ms. Lynch would receive “a very fair, but thorough, vetting” by the panel.

“I’m hopeful that her tenure, if confirmed, will restore confidence in the attorney general as a politically independent voice for the American people,” Mr. Grassley said in a statement. . . .

"A very fair, but thorough, vetting," eh? Ha ha ha! Grassley must be working up a comedy act. Which is to be encouraged if it would entail his departure from the Senate.

The November 7 NYT report also included this paragraph:

It was not clear how quickly Ms. Lynch could be confirmed in the lame-duck congressional session that convenes next week, when Democrats will still control the Senate. A White House official said Mr. Obama believed she should be confirmed “as soon as possible.” But Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said the nomination “should be considered in the new Congress, through regular order.”

"Through regular order," eh? Ha ha ha! Good one, Miss Mitch! And it's to be hoped that those lying-scumbag right-wing apologists who were vilifying the president and basking in the glow of the New Regular Order have all eaten poison and died. Because here we are four months and change later, and, well, the Senate majority leadership doesn't seem able to get the Lynch nomination to a vote.

Because there's far-right-wing ideological psychosis to be pursued! And nothing could be more important than suffocating the country in these creatures' stinking doody. Here's Carl Hulse's report from his NYT "First Draft" column this morning (links and name-boldfacing on-site):

Democrats to Ramp Up Push for Attorney General Vote

Democrats say they will intensify the pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to allow a vote this week on Loretta E. Lynch for attorney general after the majority leader said he would not bring her nomination to the floor unless Democrats relent in a separate fight over a human trafficking bill.

The new developments on Ms. Lynch’s nomination were the latest twist in the bizarre saga of the human trafficking measure – a once-bipartisan piece of legislation that has not only gone off the rails, but is now ensnaring a major cabinet-level nomination. Democrats say they will not allow the trafficking measure to proceed unless Republicans drop an anti-abortion provision that Democrats say they were not aware of – even though they had weeks to review the legislation.

Mr. McConnell said last week that the Senate would not move on to any other business until it had passed the trafficking bill. On Sunday, in an appearance on CNN, he made clear that ban on other business included a confirmation vote on Ms. Lynch, currently the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. McConnell sees the Lynch nomination as powerful leverage to force Democrats to back off their objections to the trafficking bill and as a rationale for moving slowly on a nomination that many Republicans already oppose. Ms. Lynch appears to have the bare minimum number of votes needed to be confirmed, with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. available to break a 50-50 tie.

But it is not as if the Senate never considers executive branch nominations with other legislation on the floor. In fact, the Senate is scheduled to vote Monday evening on two assistant secretary nominations. But Mr. McConnell is not likely to give in on the Lynch nomination very easily.

I could rant a little more, but what's the point? It's too late to hope that these creatures can be shamed into decency. It becomes ever more apparent that they don't have a spark of decency among them.

#