Right Side of the Rainbow

Mitch McConnell’s selection as Senate Republican leader was the one happy moment in the otherwise doleful GOP leadership elections. Here’s one reason why:

The Senate’s next Republican leader issued a veiled threat to block action on legislation if Democrats refuse to allow confirmation votes on President Bush’s troubled judicial nominations.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become minority leader Jan. 4, told the conservative Federalist Society Friday not to feel bad about the Senate election results because Republicans will hold 49 seats in a body that requires 60 votes to end a filibuster and bring legislation or presidential nominees to a final vote.

If the “Democrats want our cooperation, they’ll give the president’s judicial nominees an up-or-down vote,” McConnell said.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, incoming GOP leader: Don’t let the smile fool you.

Sen. McConnell, whom I revere for his unrelenting opposition to speech-suppressing “campaign finance reform,” is a political street brawler who doesn’t shrink from a fight. His hardy style will contrast sharply with the milktoast manner of outgoing Republican leader Bill Frist.

What’s more, with McConnell in charge, even Sen. Trent Lott may yet be of use to Republican principles. Although I deplore his election as minority whip, Lott is a master parliamentarian and eager flesh presser. If McConnell can keep Lott’s appetite for pork in check, the two of them could make the GOP proud.

As note elsewhere, McConnell has now made confirmation of the president’s judicial nominees the sine qua non of Republican cooperation in the Senate. This is both substantively correct and politically shrewd. The GOP has long and rightly insisted that judges respect their modest role in our constitutional order, and that the president’s judicial nominees receive up-or-down votes. These views not only unite Republicans of every ideological hue, they are also shared by a solid majority of the American people.

Raise the colors.

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