What Was He Thinking?!

I like Sen. Schumer. I have met him on numerous occasions in both personal and professional settings. He's a nice guy in person. That said, what the heck was he thinking saying something like this:

Senate Judiciary Committee member Chuck Schumer got busy plotting away on the cellphone aboard a Washington, DC-New York Amtrak -- plotting Democrat strategy for the upcoming Supreme Court battle.

Schumer promised a fight over whoever the President’s nominee was: “It's not about an individual judge… It's about how it affects the overall makeup of the court.”

The chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was overheard on a long cellphone conversation with an unknown political ally, and the DRUDGE REPORT was there!

Schumer proudly declared: “We are contemplating how we are going to go to war over this.”

Schumer went on to say how hard it was to predict how a Supreme Court justice would turn out: “Even William Rehnquist is more moderate than they expected. The only ones that resulted how they predicted were [Antonin] Scalia and [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg. So most of the time they've gotten their picks wrong, and that's what we want to do to them again.”

Let's assume arguendo that every word he said was true. He's accurate about the various nominees have voted through the years and that if the Democrats hold out for a 'moderate,' that the nominee will likely swing liberal over time (or right away as Souter's decisions have gone). Yet, his tone and actual comments can easily be spun as yet another example of Democratic party obstructionism and/or pandering to interest groups rather than the needs of the nation.

You can think these things in private, but say 'em out loud and you could be in for a reckoning. We know that the GOP is going to do their best to put forth a nominee who they will find acceptable and will battle with the DNC to get the candidate confirmed. We know that filibustering, cloture, and rules changes are all part of the debate. Sen. Schumer's words will be seen as fighting words for GOPers - who know that Schumer is a powerful voice on the Judiciary committee. So it can't be good for the DNC to see Schumer's words in the press since it could make their job even more difficult.

Also, since there's also the possiblity that he knows that the GOP is going to get their candidate confirmed and that he's only putting on a show of trying to do battle. It's a battle his party can't win, but he's doing the best to put on a brave face.

Either way, his comments make for interesting fodder going forward. What they don't do is actually add anything substantive to the debate.