By Nancy Smith Sunshine State News
Sen. Nelson, can you finally tell us clueless voters where you stand on Brett Kavanaugh?
All but a handful of senators have declared themselves on President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Why haven’t you?
I know it’s a tough one, Senator, but come on. You’ve turned a simple question into a dance.
I can understand your dilemma — on the one hand, afraid to risk waking up more of the Republican base by voting against a selection they clearly admire, and on the other, afraid of invoking the wrath of Democratic Party boss Chuck Schumer and your wealthiest donors.
But, Bill: You’ve got to stop saying different things at different times. Do the right thing for voters. Give them the truth.
You rejected Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s first SCOTUS nominee in April 2017. And 14 months later you declared yourself against any and all of the president’s potential nominees to replace Justice Kennedy, even before you knew who they were. So you’re against Kavanaugh, right?
Oops, not really, you said. I’ve changed my mind. I’ll make my decision on Judge Kavanaugh after I sit down with the man in a fair interview.
But last week, Bill, you went and dodged a New York Times reporter’s Kavanaugh questions by claiming you were losing your voice. The old sore throat dodge, Bill?
Lucky for you, laryngitis didn’t affect your hands, because you went directly from sore-throat-can’t-talk to the keyboard, tapping out a fundraising email attacking Kavanaugh as a “right wing extremist.”
“If you want to stop McConnell’s plans to put another right-wing extremist on the Supreme Court, gut affordable health care and dismantle Medicare,” you wrote in your July 16 panhandling email, “you need to give right now to make sure Democrats take back the Senate by winning in Florida.”
The Washington Examiner took you to the woodshed for the absence of honesty on an important issue of the day, Bill. And who can blame them?
Said the Examiner opinion piece, “If Nelson wants to oppose Kavanaugh, he has every right to do so. But don’t dodge questions from reporters before tipping your hand when talking to donors.”
It all gave Chris Pack, droll spokesperson for the Senate Leadership Fund, a chance to weigh in on the Kavanaugh shuffle. He called this “the latest chapter in Nelson’s increasingly erratic and forgetful behavior” — and produced a list of examples:
- Supporting offshore drilling before opposing it
- Feigning outrage over the separation of children from illegal immigrants despite voting for the bill that authorized the federal government to shelter unaccompanied immigrant children in federal facilities
- Throwing a tantrum over the cancellation of August recess despite previously calling for the cancellation of August recess
- Not knowing what ZTE is after writing to President Trump on ZTE.
Pack thinks if Nelson isn’t going to rest his brain in retirement, his staff “should stop leaving the poor man unsupervised.”
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith