*Similar releases will be sent targeting vulnerable Senators and Senate candidates in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and Florida
Ron Johnson was quick to back Mitch McConnell’s obstructionist plan this week, and has earned a well-deserved rebuke from Wisconsin newspapers:
Capital Times: Editorial: Ron Johnson and GOP candidates assault the Constitution
The authors of the U.S. Constitution did not outline a two-party system. Nor did they imagine that a plan for reasonable checks and balances would become a tool to empower petty obstructionists like Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.
… Yet Republican senators responded to the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia by proposing to shred not just the Constitution but precedents that date from the earliest years of the American experiment. Within hours of the announcement of the conservative jurist’s death on Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared that “this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
That would leave a vital position vacant for a year, which is absurd.
Of course, there is no notion too absurd for Johnson, who quickly echoed his boss.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Editorial): President Barack Obama, Senate should do their job
…Republicans, including Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who faces a difficult re-election battle this fall against former Sen. Russ Feingold, have quickly closed ranks around McConnell. Johnson’s statement Sunday echoed McConnell.
…As much as Republicans may wish it were not so, the Constitution still says that presidents serve four years — not three — and it remains silent on when a president becomes a “lame duck.”
…Obstructing a nomination for purely political reasons is a risky political bet for Republicans and a poor outcome for the coequal third branch of government. Obama and the Senate must both do their duty.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is trying to pre-empt criticism his party may face for refusing to move forward on President Barack Obama’s expected Supreme Court nominee, arguing Tuesday that “doing nothing is also an action.”
Germantown Now Commentary: Why Won’t Ron Johnson Do His Job?
Ron is wrong on two counts. The American people have already decided the direction of Supreme Court nominations between January 2013 and January 2017, by our overwhelming re-election of President Obama. In trying to negate the consequences of that election, Johnson is exhibiting his gross and utter contempt for the Constitution.
Secondly, it is not up to the Senate to determine the ideology of the President’s nominations…Again, Johnson is showing his ignorance of the Constitution.
…Ron thinks that the President should have no power to nominate during his fourth year of a four year term. By Johnson’s weird logic, no Senator’s votes should count during the final year of their six-year term. Maybe Ron should just abstain from voting for the rest of 2016. Or better yet, since Russ Feingold is so far ahead in the polls, Ron should just turn his 2016 Senate votes over to the likely winner now.
… It is ironic that Ron Johnson refuses to do his job as Wisconsin Senator, yet is asking us for another six-year term.
“Senator Johnson has once again put the Republican party ahead of his responsibility as a U.S. Senator,” said Lauren Passalacqua, DSCC National Press Secretary. “It’s disappointing Senator Johnson would ignore his basic duties, and Wisconsin voters will remember this blatant disregard for the constitutional process in November.”
