Sen. Harry Reid has made no secret that he is looking to politicize Justice Scalia’s death:

“Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and several other Democrats, for instance, want Obama to pick someone to pressure Senate Republicans — someone who they would ordinarily support but are only opposing now because it’s an election year.”

Reid wants the American people to think he’s acting out of principle though. Last night on Hardball, Harry Reid claimed that he’s always been in favor of a President’s Supreme Court nominee’s receiving a vote in the Senate:

Chris Matthews: “Are you being consistent?” Senator Reid: “Oh yeah.” Matthews: “You’ve always said vote?” Senator. Reid: “I’ve always, I’ve been very firm.”

Yet in 2005, Reid was singing a very different tune. When the President was a Republican, Reid said unambiguously on the floor of the U.S. Senate that the Constitution did not guarantee a hypothetical Bush nominee a Senate vote:

“The duties of the United States Senate are set forth in the Constitution of the United States. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential nominees ‘an up or down vote.’ It says appointments shall be made with the Advice and Consent of the Senate. That is very different than saying that every nominee receives a vote.”

Just like Sen. Chuck Schumer’s 2007 comments, Reid’s 2005 comments lay bare how political Democrats are treating this issue. For Reid, this fight has nothing to do with high-minded constitutional principles, just stacking the Supreme Court with another far-left Obama justice.