4 FALLACIES & A FACT: Flailing Fringe Faction Losing Grip On Senate Dems

4 FALLACIES & A FACT: Flailing Fringe Faction Losing Grip On Senate Dems

Showing their growing desperation, several liberal activist groups are out with a new letter attempting to pressure Senate Democrats into opposing Judge Gorsuch

March 6, 2017

Showing their growing desperation, several liberal activist groups are out with a new letter attempting to pressure Senate Democrats into opposing Judge Gorsuch, but as we have seen in recent weeks, many Democrats have defied Senator Schumer and party leadership’s strategy of total opposition to the Gorsuch nomination.

As we show below, the letter’s claims are wildly out-of-step with those Democrats calling for an up-or-down votepraising Judge Gorsuch’s qualifications, and urging fair treatment of the Supreme Court nominee.

How out of touch are the cadre of liberal groups that signed on to this letter this morning? Their foolish arguments have already been debunked by Senate Democrats, liberal pundits, and fact checkers:

FALLACY #1: “Judge Gorsuch is not a mainstream nominee.”

FACT #1 FROM RACHEL MADDOW: It seems like the choice of Judge Gorsuch is a relatively mainstream choice that you might expect from any Republican President.” (1/31/17)
FALLACY #2: “This includes an independent judiciary and a legislative branch willing to stand up to an out-of-control president. There is zero evidence that Judge Gorsuch will be an independent check on this runaway and dangerous administration.”

FACT #2 FROM SEN. KING: Whatever else you can say about him, my sense from his record is, he’s exceedingly independent.” (2/6/17)
FALLACY #3: “Because of this, we call on Democratic senators to immediately make clear your opposition to this nominee and insist that Gorsuch’s nomination, like previous nominees to the Supreme Court, will require 60 votes.”

FACT #3 FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: “Democrats Persist With The Slippery Claim Of A ’60-Vote Standard’ For Supreme Court Nominees” (WaPo, 2/22/17)
FALLACY #4: “Judge Gorsuch’s record is clear – so clear, in fact, that we already know he is an unacceptable nominee for the Supreme Court.” 

FACT #4 FROM DEMOCRAT SEN. DURBIN: “The base wants me to reject him out of hand,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the body’s No. 2 Democrat, who will meet with Judge Gorsuch on Tuesday. “I don’t think that serves the country well.” (NYT, 2/13/17)
THE ONE THING THEY GET RIGHT: “Democrats have failed to demonstrate a strong, unified resistance to this nominee…”

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