With the Nevada and South Carolina results in the rear-view mirror, the chief topic of the presidential campaigns now will probably focus on the nomination of a Supreme Court justice to replace the recently departed Antonin Scalia.
The lines on both sides have been drawn with President Obama announcing that he will “in due time” forward a nominee to the Senate. As for the Republicans, most senators are in unison when they call for such a nominee to be made by the next president rather than Obama.
Most vocal on the Democrat side has been Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. He is advocating for immediate approval of the president’s choice, although he was a strong leader against President Bush’s nomination of a potential justice while Bush had a full 18 months left on his term as president. Since Obama has less than a year left in office, when you compare Schumer’s remarks of today with his castigation of yesterday, it indicates he can be swayed by whomever happens to occupy the Oval Office.
Oddly enough, shortly after Schumer’s endorsement of Obama having the right to nominate, the administration rewarded him (Schumer) by cutting $90 million from the anti-terror funding, which severely affected the New York City. Apparently this was in retribution for Schumer’s stand against the Iran nuclear deal..
Interestingly enough, the deposed Harry Reid has been quick to come out and say the Republicans will probably “cave in” on the Supreme Court situation. No matter how the fight over the justice controversy turns out, it will probably have a major effect on the November election.
As far as the current primary contenders are concerned, the most startling development has been the surge in popularity of Democrat Bernie Sanders. As a septuagenarian socialist, it is no wonder that most of Sanders’ support comes from younger voters, many of whom have no idea how his call for increased taxes on everyone will eventually affect them. As the late Nikita Kruschev famously stated, “We will destroy you from the inside,” as he was espousing the benefits of communism. It would seem to be that Sanders is among his chief acolytes.
While the Supreme Court nomination is occupying most of the headlines, the most recent announcement about the issue was that President Obama intends to skip the Scalia funeral. That announcement came on the heels of the White House issuing a statement that Obama would be the first sitting president to visit Cuba since Woodrow Wilson. That trip is scheduled to take place early this coming spring season. This proposed trip to the island nation will occur while the Communistic Castro brothers are still in power.
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