Sen McCaskill to Dem Donors: Please Don't Make Me Filibuster Gorsuch

The Dems are really out of control. The party has been hijacked by the left and in the process, it's gone mad. So here you have Senator McCaskill, hardly a conservative voice, trying to explain the common sense consequences of going to the mattresses on Gorsuch.

Republicans need eight Democratic votes to obtain the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and confirm Gorsuch. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has called for a filibuster of Gorsuch, but McCaskill predicted that if Democrats refuse to confirm Gorsuch then Republicans would likely look to eliminate the rule and reduce the number of votes needed for confirmation to 51.

“The Gorsuch situation is really hard. There are going to be people in this room that are going to say, ‘No, no, no. You cannot vote for Gorsuch,’ ” McCaskill said in the recording. “Let’s assume for the purposes of this discussion that we turn down Gorsuch, that there are not eight Democrats that vote to confirm him and therefore there’s not enough to put him on the Supreme Court. What then?”

She pointed to the list of potential nominees that Trump released before the election to galvanize conservative support. “By the way, Gorsuch was one of the better ones,” McCaskill quipped.

“So they pick another one off the list and then they bring it over to the Senate and we say no, no, no, this one’s worse. And there’s not enough votes to confirm him. They’re not going to let us do that too long before they move it to 51 votes,” she said.

Democrats eliminated the filibuster for most appointments in 2013 when they controlled the Senate, but left the rule intact for Supreme Court justices.

McCaskill made a distinction between using the filibuster to block Gorsuch, who would replace Scalia, arguably the court’s most conservative justice during his tenure, and using it to block a nominee if one of the court’s more liberal or centrist justices dies or retires.

“So they move it to 51 votes and they confirm either Gorsuch or they confirm the one after Gorsuch,” she continued. “They go on the Supreme Court and then, God forbid, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies, or (Anthony) Kennedy retires or (Stephen) Breyer has a stroke or is no longer able to serve. Then we’re not talking about Scalia for Scalia, which is what Gorsuch is, we’re talking about Scalia for somebody on the court who shares our values.

Translation, Gorsuch is a trap that Democrats are eagerly walking into. He's well liked and he's replacing a conservative justice. There will never be a better time for Republicans to use the nuclear option. And that opens the door to anyone. When even Senator Graham is telling you that a filibuster will be disastrous, the message is really clear. It leaves the GOP with three options. To nominate Merrick Garland, leave the seat open for a Dem to fill or go nuclear. And not even Senate Republicans are likely to pick option one. Option two is not sustainable.

McCaskill doesn't mention her own political prospects. But that's why the GOP leaked the tape. They're perfectly happy if she gets primaried by the deranged left. Because the Dems have lost their minds and there may be no talking them off the cliff.