An important debate off to a ridiculous start

[truebluefan]

Republicans are in an unenviable position. They’ve started with a problematic conclusion – President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee must be defeated at all costs, regardless of any other consideration – and now face the challenge of working backwards to come up with a coherent rationale to defend this position.

And given the brazenly partisan tantrum GOP lawmakers and candidates are throwing, that challenge is quite daunting. Their first argument – high court vacancies in presidential election years are routinely held until after Election Day – was quickly discredited.

Which has pushed some Republicans to get more creative. ThinkProgress noted yesterday that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), hot on the heels of his failed presidential bid, broke new rhetorical ground on a conservative radio show in Kentucky.

“The president has said he has the power basically to create immigration law out of nothing,” Paul said. “He says he has the power to basically cripple entire industries like coal without ever having been given that power by Congress. So see, we have a constitutional debate on whose powers is it, the president or Congress? And I think the president sort of has a conflict of interest here in appointing somebody while we’re trying to decide whether or not he’s usurped power.”

Read more http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/important-debate-ridiculous-start?cid=sm_fb_maddow