No Reason to be Reasonable

 No Reason to be Reasonable by Erick-Woods Erickson

With yesterday’s start to the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings, now is a good time to remind Republicans that there is no reason to be reasonable about the nomination.

Reasonableness, of course, is what the Republicans are actually doing. They’re going through the process even if the opposition does not like it. The reality is the Democrats would be doing the same if the roles were reversed.

But, in the press, “reasonableness” is doing whatever the Democrats demand. The very same reporters who waged a character assassination against Brett Kavanaugh are now doing the same against not just Barrett’s nomination, but against reason and history.

“Court-packing” has a historic connotation. It specifically refers to adding seats to a court to ensure the outcomes you want. That is what Democrats are proposing and, after the Pence-Harris debate, it became an untenable position for Biden to not take a side. Everyone from Jake Tapper and David Axelrod on CNN to talking heads at MSNBC began acknowledging Biden needs an answer.

Instead, what Democrats have done with an assist from much of the press, is revise the phrase “court packing” to claim the GOP has already been doing it merely by filling open seats — not adding seats.

Here’s Dan Rather on October 10th:

Dan Rather @DanRather

Can we at least recognize that “Court Packing” at all levels of the judiciary has been the Republican playbook for decades? Asking for Merrick Garland.

October 11th 2020

Then Howard Dean joined in.

Howard Dean @GovHowardDean

You have already packed the Court with incompetent judges and corrupt appointment processes. We will simply UNpack it and undo the corruption the Federalist Society has brought to the appointment process.

ChuckGrassley @ChuckGrassley

FDR in 1937 wanted to pack the Supreme Court; his own Democrat Party fought it so it didn’t go thru Now the Democrats want to pack SCOTUS so it can be a super legislature contrary to the Constitution #realhistorychannel

October 11th 2020

By the Sunday shows, it had already become the official line of the Democrats — it is the GOP that has been packing the courts.

Tom Elliott @tomselliott

@SenatorDurbin Sen Hirono, asked about Biden packing court, echoes Durbin: “I'm really concerned about the court packing with the ideologically driven nominees now sitting on the court, some 200 of them, that Trump has been putting on the court, aided and abetted, of course, by Mitch McConnell"

This is, of course, not true. Filling vacancies is not packing a court. Undeterred, the Associated Press helpfully decided to carry water for the Democrats. In coverage of the Montana Senate race, the AP’s Iris Samuels, wrote this.

Bullock said that if Coney Barrett was confirmed, he would be open to measures including adding justices to the bench, a practice critics have dubbed packing the courts.

“A practice critics have dubbed” could not be a more obvious advancement of a Democrat talking point by a major media outlet. This is the same media that now claims bipartisan votes are not bipartisan.

CBS News @CBSNews

Lindsey Graham says Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 "with a bipartisan vote." Only three Democrats voted to confirm her

Three Democrats voting for something with the GOP is, in fact, definitionally bipartisan.

As with the Kavanaugh hearings and the press’s willful advancement of Democrat talking points, there is no point in playing up reasonableness now. The media will give the GOP no credit for it. The circle of jerks that make up the Washington press corps have taken a break from polishing up their resumes for the Biden Administration to advance a Democrat talking point on court-packing.

Republicans need to understand that, at this point, there is nothing they can do except either confirm Barrett or give up. Giving up is not an option. The press will not even commend the GOP for that.

Instead, the GOP needs to fight like hell, confirm Barrett, and move on. This is too important and the GOP has no reason to placate the press.