Democrats Lost More Than a Supreme Court Seat This Week

"Will voters now want to turn the Senate over to these fools?" 

Nation and State  "The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that Democrats hoped would thwart Amy Coney Barrett’s path to the Supreme Court instead threaten to squash a greater hope of Senate Democrats: a majority.

"Cory Booker of New Jersey asked the adoptive mother of two Haitian children, “You condemn white supremacy, correct?”

If the hearings did not galvanize demoralized conservatives, then why did CNN keep cutting away to below-the-fold matters?

"Sen. Mazie Hirono asked the question on nobody’s mind: “Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors, or committed any physical or verbal harassment or assault of a sexual nature?”

"Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s presentation Tuesday drew comparisons by Sen. Ben Sasse to the fevered thinking portrayed in A Beautiful Mind. It more closely resembled the big basement meeting in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Sure, Whitehouse never actually uttered, “Is there something you could share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?” But his 30-minute remarks, relying heavily on breathy conspiracy theories and intricate flow charts, left room, just like Pee-wee’s three-hour presentation, for not a single question." . . .

Whitehouse . . . just got relentlessly mocked for his silliness.

The juxtaposition between the brilliant Barrett and her dim Democratic interlocutors subtly conveyed the stakes this November. Amid their monotonous speeches occasionally disguised as questions, mind-wandering viewers asked a question to themselves: Do we really want to elect more of these buffoons in three weeks so they can control the Senate?

Democrats can’t ‘Kavanaugh’ unflappable Justice-to-be Amy Coney Barrett: Goodwin . . . "In that context, the separation-of-powers discussion is crucial because it is one of the defining differences of the two main political parties. Dems have used the courts as a kind of super legislature to win rulings on measures they can’t get through Congress and statehouses. Republicans generally want judges to stay in their lane and not be activists who stick their fingers in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing." . . .