MSNBC host Steve Kornacki argued that if Republicans took the same position on President Obama nominating a Supreme Court justice that Joe Biden did back in 1992, Democrats would be outraged and “Democrats are now saying the opposite of what they would have said before” on Monday’s “MTP Daily.”
After playing the clip of Biden saying that any Supreme Court vacancies arose, the vacancy should be filled after the election back in 1992, Kornacki said that while Biden said in another portion that he would consider a more moderate pick, “The Democrats are now saying the opposite of what they would have said before.”
NBC News Analyst John Ralston said Senate Minority Leader Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) wouldn’t make the same argument he was making if the president was a Republican or the Senate was controlled by Democrats and that “everything is situational.” And members of Congress “change what they say depending on what the situation is.”
Kornacki then added that if a Republican senator said that Biden said back in 1992, “you would have outrage from Democrats. they would say, this Senate — and yet that was the Democratic posture back in 1992.” Kornacki continued that the clip of Biden was “devastating” to attempts to gain the high ground in the fight over the Supreme Court.
NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Chris Jansing then joked, “So, let me channel the White House, but Steve, you know, that was in June. We’re in February now.”
Kornacki responded that he had actually heard that argument that “The difference between unprecedented constitutional obstruction and something totally routine is three months. I’ve heard that today.”
Jansing added that politics is “like the silly season on steroids” and that the feeling around the court is that a successor should be picked and confirmed.
(h/t Real Clear Politics)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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