McSally Blasts Dems for Hijacking Barrett Hearing: 'They're Playing Games'
Republican Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona has lambasted her colleagues across the aisle for “using” the Supreme Court nomination of 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett “as a platform” from which to move the political needle.
“Look, the Democrats,” McSally said, “they’re playing games. They wouldn’t even come to the hearing, or to [the Senate Judiciary Committee] today to vote, because they’re just trying to derail or throw sand in the gears. They’re using it as a platform for campaigning.”
“They are setting the groundwork to try and really discredit the court, so that they can pack the court should they gain power. We need everybody listening to understand this: They’re going to pack the court. They’ve started it in the hearings. They’re doing it in their press briefings,” she added.
“This is their excuse.”
The remarks came Thursday during a remote appearance on The Western Journal’s video podcast, “WJ Live,” recorded and aired following a 12-0 Senate Judiciary Committee vote to forward Barrett’s nomination to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote.
None of the body’s Democratic members were present, boycotting the motion over widely publicized disagreements with the Republican Senate majority over whether or not to take up the nomination so close to the 2020 presidential election.
President Donald Trump nominated Barrett just four weeks ago on Sept. 26 — a mere eight days after the death of Democrat-appointed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
With a 6-3 conservative court majority in the balance, however, the resulting national discourse and confirmation process has been anything but peaceable, with Democratic senators and left-wing pundits implicitly or explicitly labeling the judge everything from a religious extremist and a racist to “a shameless, cynical careerist.”
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McSally, however, has been one of the Barrett’s most fervent supporters on the Hill, referring to the judge as a “gift to our country,” according to The Arizona Republic.
“She is an inspiration to me. She’s a rock star,” McSally reiterated Wednesday to The Western Journal. “She validated in person everything that she showed America in those hearings last week.”
“Every school child and every adult in America should have tuned in — not to listen to how the Democrats were behaving, but to listen to her answers, her unflappable answers and how it was just a lesson on the Constitution, a lesson in the role of a judge,” she added.
✔️ I’m a strong YES on confirming Judge Barrett to the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/n6mL6bUSh4
— Martha McSally (@SenMcSallyAZ) October 20, 2020
McSally also highlighted Democratic character attacks on Barrett as ironic and definitionally anti-feminist, given the judge’s laundry list of accomplishments in the legal profession and in the home.
The senator said she was familiar with such attacks, having been celebrated by the establishment media as a “pioneering, rock star woman” during her time as the first female Air Force fighter pilot to see combat, but widely assailed since stepping into the ring as a conservative political figure.
“The media loved me … until I became a Republican candidate for Congress and then all of a sudden they were not interested,” McSally said. “You see the same thing with Judge Barrett.”
“She’s risen to the top of her field. She’s brilliant. She’s well respected across the spectrum by all those who clerked with her, all her fellow professors at Notre Dame. You’ve got liberals writing glowing reviews of her. She’s a scholar. She’s a jurist,” McSally continued. “She’s a mother of seven with two adopted from Haiti and one [with] special needs.”
“They should be celebrating this. But, of course, because she’s got this judicial philosophy they don’t agree with and because she’s a woman of faith, they’re coming after her,” the senator added.
“I think America can see right through this. She is a role model for everyone and she’s going to be on the court. We’re going to vote on her on Monday.”
Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whose grace and incredible command of the law are as evident in person as they were during her confirmation hearings. I look forward to voting in favor of her historic confirmation. pic.twitter.com/m4uheFusM8
— Martha McSally (@SenMcSallyAZ) October 21, 2020
Up for re-election on Nov. 3, McSally currently trails Democratic challenger Mark Kelly by a 5.6 percentage point margin in the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
McSally seemed unphased Thursday. Her polling margins already shrinking, the senator told The Western Journal she believed the Barrett confirmation would offer Republicans a boost on Election Day, allowing the party to maintain its loose grip on the Senate.
“The Democrats are going to be continuing to do delay tactic votes,” McSally said. “So we’re all hands on deck to bat all those down and make sure that we get her across the finish line.”
“My opponent, in our debate — I was surprised to get him to take a position on anything — he actually said he would vote ‘no’ on Amy Coney Barrett before any hearing, not meeting with her. So that just really showed his true colors — that he would be a rubber stamp for [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the left, who just want to put activist judges on the bench,” the senator said.
“It’s important for the voters who haven’t put in their vote yet to make sure they understand that this is also what’s at stake here.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
