Jon Kyl, Senate Republican's #2

"Hopefully the president won't nominate someone here who is so far out of the mainstream in terms of the way he or she approaches deciding cases that we won't have to do that," Kyl said. "In extraordinary circumstances, both Democrats and Republicans reserve the right to not only oppose a nomination, but also prevent the vote on a nomination. That should be a rare case, and I would hope that the president's nominee would not fall into that category. But I think you never say never here, given the fact that the president has already signaled that he wants someone with empathy, and who will decide cases based on that. I think you have to reserve it."

I haven't studied their backgrounds to any great extent. I'm waiting until it's narrowed down, till you see who's really out there.



But as sort of an author of the words "extraordinary circumstances," I do understand that there can be certain circumstances where you would -- you might vote against somebody on the filibuster.



But let me just say it this way. I don't care whether they're liberal or conservative. I just want to make sure they're not activist. I don't want an activist on the-- on the bench.



When I was governor, I appointed almost 81-- over 81 judges-- the entire Nebraska supreme court, two chief justices, the entire court of appeals, and that was my -- I had no litmus test, but I did have a test, and that was did I believe that they were going to apply the law or were they going to be an activist and try to engineer the law.



Quite honestly, I think we want to read the law. We don't want to have to read judges' minds. So I think that's the test-- will they be an activist or not-- and I-- I would hope that there wouldn't be any circumstances that would be so extreme with any of the president's nominees that the other side would feel the need to filibuster or that I might feel the need to filibuster in a case of extraordinary circumstances.



That's what the Gang of 14 was all about.

Arizona wingnut and corporate shill Jon Kyl isn't the most extreme member of the Senate. According to Progressive Punch's algorithm of every single vote in their careers, there are 7 members of the Senate ever so slightly to the right of Kyl: Richard Burr (R-NC), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jim Bunning (R-KY), John Cornyn (R-TX), and John Barrasso (R-WY). All other 91 members-- and not including Al Franken (D-MN)-- are more in tune with the American political mainstream than Kyl. Very few members, however, are as in tune with the wishes of corporate America as Senator Kyl is. Always more than willing to lend a hand to any wealthy, powerful business interests who "donate" to his political career, Kyl has faithfully served the interests of the banksters , a payback for the $3,711,808 they "contributed" to his campaigns, just as he's always taken the interests of the medical-industrial complex to heart in return for their $1,971,468. One thing about Kyl though, as big a whore as he is for the rich and powerful, sometimes he just does things because he's an extremist sociopath, like when he recently sponsored Dutch neo-Nazi Geert Wilders' trip to speak to America's most fanatic right-wingers.Aside from being McConnell's #2 in the Senate hierarchy, Kyl is also one of the most ruthlessly partisan members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Within days of Obama's election last November, while the mainstream part of America was celebrating that the nightmare was ending, Kyl was hysterically screeching that Obama would get no honeymoon and that if Obama tried to use "empathy" as a criteria for nominating judges, he would lead a filibuster to prevent confirmation. Yep, Kyl was the first bonehead to start attacking Obama for suspicion of empathy--! Most other rightists at least waited for the first Supreme Court vacancy before they started fulminating and threatening.Real news stations usually prefer to shy away from pathetic and predictable hacks like Kyl, especially on Sundays, but he was Chris Wallace's guest ontoday. Aside from all the laughable party talking points, Kyl gave away the far right's filibuster strategy : rope in the Gang of 14 by persuading them that whomever Obama nominates fits the "extraordinary circumstances" that merit filibuster.And, aside from inviting on one of the most right-wing members of the Republican caucus on the show, the fair and balanced network also invited the indisputablyright-wing Democrat, Nebraska shithead-- and Gang of 14 zealot-- Ben Nelson, who, like his pal Kyl, also has a tendency to always vote in the interests of his biggest corporate contributors. Needless to say, he agreed with Kyl in his own pseudo-moderate way: This wasn't a threat to lead an impeachment effort against hard right activist John Roberts. It was an attempt to intimidate the very intimidatable Democratic president. Two members of the Gang of 14 were defeated at the polls, Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), and two, John Warner (R-VA) and Ken Salazar (D-CO), resigned, but the 0ther 8-- Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Nelson (D-NE), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) could easily find a whole gaggle of disloyal new-- and not so new-- Democrats who are champing at the bit to show the constituents back home how tough they are on their own president. The obvious place to look for new members would be among the Evan Bayh anti-Obama Bloc, especially, Bayh (D-IN) himself, plus Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Michael Bennet (D-CO). Other Conservadems Kyl could turn to include still-a-Republican-at-heart Arlen Specter (D-PA), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Max Baucus (D-MT), Mark Begich (D-AK), Tom Carper (D-DE), Mark Udall (D-CO), Jon Tester (D-MT), Jim Webb (D-VA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Tim Johnson (D-SC) and, depending on the weather or what she ate or whatever loony way she decides what she's going to be on any particular day, Claire McCaskill (D-MO). I'm sure Kyl can cobble together a fine filibuster effort from that crew.

Labels: Ben Nelson, conservadems, Gang of 14, Jon Kyl, Obama's judicial nominees, obstructionist Republicans, reactionary Democrats, Supreme Court