Is Justice Stevens’ retirement really a bad thing for Democrats?

10 Apr, 2010 by TrogloPundit

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Ed Rollins — former Reagan advisor — thinks maybe so, but I’m not so sure. He writes:

Justice John Paul Stevens’ widely anticipated announcement Friday morning of his retirement after 35 years on the court, gives the president and his party another challenge going into the fall elections.

Who the president nominates and how ferocious the confirmation battle becomes, could become a giant distraction to the many embattled senators (mostly Democrats) running for re-election this year.

Or it could become a giant distraction for those embattled Democrat senators.

It adds an enormous burden to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s re-election efforts, uphill at best already.

Or it removes some even bigger burdens.

And it certainly adds a burden to get other legislative items through the Congress this fall.

Unless, of course, congressional Democrats would just as soon not have to tackle Cap & Trade, immigration “reform,” and other such electorate-turning liberalisms right on top of ObamaCare.

Seems to me Democrats would welcome a fight like this one. Especially Democrats in the House, who can just sit back and enjoy their temporary media anonymity while their less-fortunate Senate brethren fling knives hither and yon.

At the very least, a SCOTUS nomination fight isn’t a big-taxing, deficit-on-steroids liberal power grab, the end result of which leaves average Americans ever more at the mercy of Washington bureaucrats. Democrats love that kind of thing – the American electorate doesn’t. A SCOTUS nomination gives them an excuse to lay it aside for a while.

And, sure, we can make the argument that President Obama’s nominee is a “living breathing document” liberal who gets up every morning wondering what the Constitution might say today — if, of course, that’s the kind of nominee we get — but the electorate has heard that argument before. That’s just the same-ol’ same-ol’ partisan bickering, with little real advantage for either side.

All things considered, Stevens’ retirement now looks like a better position, tactically, for today’s Democrats.

(Posted by The TrogloPundit)