Reagan in 1988: Senate's "Obligation" to Fill Supreme Court Vacancy in Election Year

.

.
By MARC McDONALD

Maybe this wasn't news to many progressives, but until I saw MoveOn.org's recent email about this, it was news to me. In 1988, Ronald Reagan (as shown in the video above) stated clearly that it is the Senate's "obligation" to work to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year.

Kudos to MoveOn.org for drawing attention to this story. But I will point out that it's pointless to try to sway the Limbaugh/Fox News crowd about all this. These people are always kissing Reagan's ass and claiming that he would have supported this issue or that issue. But in reality, the "Ronald Reagan" character that is often conjured up by today's GOP is nothing more than a mirage that has little in common with the real Gipper.

The real Reagan supported things like gun control. Unlike today's "my way or the highway" zealots like Ted Cruz, Reagan actually occasionally worked with the Democrats. By the standards of the Tea Party and Cruz, in fact, Reagan was a moderate. (However, having said that, I still believe Reagan was a terrible president and a disaster for America).

Unlike today's GOP, Reagan urged the Senate in 1988 to work to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year. Not that this fact will change the minds of any of today's Republicans. Hell, they're still pissed off that the Negro Muslim Marxist is even in the White House in the first place. Unlike Dems (who didn't often agree with Reagan, but accepted him as the U.S. president), today's GOP has never even really accepted that Obama is a U.S. citizen, much less president of the United States.

MoveOn.org has called attention to Reagan's words. It'd be nice if the mainstream media would now give this story the airtime it deserves.
__________________________________________________________
On another note, I watched the GOP debate tonight. It was pretty much a ho-hum debate that didn't really change my views on any of the candidates. Ted Cruz is still a heartless reptile and Marco Rubio is still a smug SOB. Compared to these two slugs, Donald Trump is actually a likeable guy. Hell, I'd vote for the Donald if I had to make a choice between the three of them.

I sometimes wonder if the typical angry Trump supporters that pack his meetings by the thousands even really fully grasp Trump's positions. I mean, here's a guy who's actually in favor of Affirmative Action (and no, I'm not talking about some obscure quote from 1985. I'm talking about what he said on the issue only a few months ago). And the Donald has also savaged the Iraq War and Dubya's decision to invade so harshly that it's hard to dislike the guy, especially for those of us who strongly opposed the war. It does take guts to speak positions like these (and his promise to not slash Social Security and Medicare) on a GOP debate stage.