RBG:RIP (Replace Immediately Please)

In Washington DC hypocrisy is often referred to as an “art form”. We have been conditioned to believe this word means to say one thing and do another, but that is not true.

Hypocrisy, as defined in DC, is on full display in the aftermath of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, but it’s better known as politics.

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary hypocrisy is defined as; “pretending to be what one is not, or to feel what one does not.; esp., a pretense of virtue, piety, etc.”

By this definition we can conclude a majority of politicians are hypocrites as they constantly pretend to be virtuous, and just as often claim to feel the same way regular Americans do on a wide variety of issues. As we know they are not broadly virtuous and most of them can’t feel anything.

In 2016 Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi demanded a hearing for Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, while Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham objected due to an upcoming election. Are any of them being hypocritical now? Based on the definition of the word the answer is no. They are being political, and that is often worse.

Any suggestion that the upcoming election should be a barrier to a nomination is a political consideration. There have been twenty-nine supreme court vacancies occurring in election years. In all twenty-nine instances president’s have made nominations to fill those vacancies.

Ask yourself does a sitting president have the constitutional power to nominate a supreme court justice irrespective of timing? The answer is an unequivocal yes.

Should a constitutionally mandated process be delayed by political calculations? The answer is an unequivocal no.

In 2016, and now in 2020 the resistance is based on party affiliation, not logic.

That Democrats and Republicans find their roles reversed since 2016 proves that in politicians’ minds the only change necessary to move from one side of this argument to the other is based on whose name appears on the White House mailbox. Forget hypocrisy, this is political.

Democrats are arguing that 45 days from an election is too compressed a period for this process to occur, and that in an election year it should not even be considered. This election year objection is diametrically opposed to their stance in 2016.