Conservative Network’s Anchor Invokes Ronald Reagan To Challenge GOP Presidential Candidate
Marco Rubio is one of a great many conservatives who are not only demanding President Barack Obama be denied his constitutional responsibility to fill the now empty seat that was held by the late Antonin Scalia, but is falsely claiming precedent to support his desire to hold the nomination for himself.
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Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Rubio was challenged by anchor and host Chris Wallace, who even invoked Ronald Reagan to poke holes in Rubio’s argument.
Wallace first referred to Rubio’s statement from the Saturday night GOP debate:Â
“I do not believe the president should appoint someone,” Rubio said. “It’s not unprecedented in fact, it’s been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice.”
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“Now, Senator,” Wallace chastised, “when you say ‘lame duck,’ President Obama has been a lame duck since he was re-elected in 2012,” Wallace mockingly said. “Are you saying that no president can appoint someone to the Supreme Court in their second term?”
A defiant Rubio dug in.
“Well, I’m not saying it’s illegal. He most certainly has the power to nominate someone. The Senate has already said, and Mitch McConnell last night was very clear. We are not moving forward on Supreme Court nominee until after this election.”
Then Wallace played the Reagan card:
“But Ronald Reagan named Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court in November of his seventh year. And Kennedy was actually confirmed in Reagan’s eighth year. So, are you saying somehow that November is OK but three months later is over the line?, Wallace said, almost incredulously.”
Rubio, a bit shaken, responded.
“Yes. Again, I mean, I don’t – it doesn’t really matter what they’ve done, Reagan did in ’87. It was ’87 whether he nominated him.  Obviously, it was early in the year. This is November, October, September of last year where the president had more than a year left in office than perhaps this will be a different discussion,” Rubio said, drawing a meaningless line in the sand.
“But he now has basically about 11 months and 10 1/2 months left in office,” Rubio said, stumbling, forgetting that President Obama actually has over 11 months left in office. “We have an election coming up. There will be a debate over what the Supreme Court justices should be like. And voters are going weigh in in November and they’re going to elect a new president,” he said, revealing the GOP’s real game plan: using the Supreme Court nomination as a tool to drive conservatives to the polls.Â
Watch above.
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Image: Screenshot via Fox News Sunday