Not There Yet

by digby

Howie Klein has a great post up today discussing Mitch McConnell and the Republicans’ supposed move to moderation. I urge you to read the whole analysis. I know that many people think the GOP has to tack back to the center, and perhaps that will come to pass. But my read, like Howie’s, is that they are not there yet by a long shot.

Conservatives actually prefer obstruction and are good at it. In fact, when you think about it, it’s their natural place in the system since they claim to not believe in government. There’s something quite dissonant about being in charge of something you hate. So they are quite natural at being the party of obstruction, far better than the Democrats who proved that they really don’t have a talent for it at all.

One of the things that’s quite clear is that there will be a Battle Royale over the Supreme Court. They already have a nominal majority, but Kennedy is just eccentric enough to not be able to completely count on. They will be looking for someone to fill any vacancy who could potentially be a Souter or Stevens for their side — someone nominated as a moderate but who will end up being a comfortable vote for their side. At the very least they will try to force Obama to do what they forced Clinton to do, which is nominate moderates to all levels of the court to balance out the far right radicals that the Republican presidents insist they have a right to confirm. (Remember: the “consequences” of elections are that if Republicans win it’s a mandate for a far right agenda and if Democrats win it’s a mandate for moderate bi-partisanship. WTTW.)

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that John Kyl was throwing down the gauntlet. It looks like McConnell is too. Howie writes:

The Times calls McConnell “genteel” (which is an absurd way to refer to someone who was kicked out of the army for grabbing an enlisted man’s private parts) and “cagey,” and offers some hope that he may be turning over a new leaf.

Senator McConnell is pronouncing President-elect Barack Obama off to a good start with an opportunity “to tackle big issues and to do them in the middle.” We have heard it before. Yet the heartening twist from the minority leader, newly re-elected after a race he found too close for comfort, is that he is quoting from Mr. Obama to make his point, retrieving a bit of prophecy from 2004, when the Democrats despaired in the minority and Senator Obama observed: “Whoever’s in power is going to have to govern with some modesty and some desire to work with the other side of the aisle. That’s certainly the approach I would advise Democrats should we regain control.”

Sounds like what McConnell has actually been saying, though, is that as long as Obama adopts Republican policy positions, he’ll go along with him. Last week he promised the radical right Federalist Society that he would do his best to undermine President Obama’s judicial nominees. According to McConnell “judicial nominees who have identified themselves with political causes in line with the interests of favored groups, including some of the politically correct ones identified by Obama during the presidential campaign, might not be able to keep their oath to uphold the law.” I kind of think the Times was a little naive in its assessment today.

Yeah.

McConnell raged, just as Kyl did, about Obama’s comment that he would appoint people who have “empathy.” This seems to have some currency on the right — look for it to join “tort reform” and “secret ballot” as huge applause lines.. Evidently, the last thing we should want is a judge with empathy. For real. That’s what they are saying.

I think that’s quite revealing, don’t you?