Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. smiles while answering a reporter's question at a news conference following a closed-door policy meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. The Senate will take no action on anyone President Barack Obama nominates to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, Senator McConnell said as nearly all Republicans rallied behind his calls to leave the seat vacant for the next president to fill. His announcement came after Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee ruled out any hearing for an Obama pick. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats say Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has guided his Republicans into a political dead end with his unbending edict that President Barack Obama's successor should fill the Supreme Court vacancy and replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
The six-term Kentucky Republican has abysmal public approval ratings nationwide. Polling suggests independent voters side with Obama on the issue. Editorial boards insist the president should fill the vacancy now.
But McConnell, the architect and face of the GOP strategy to block Obama's upcoming pick, appears entirely comfortable, even as he upends Senate precedent by denying even a hearing to a nominee.
And anybody who's observed McConnell over the years knows he's not changing his mind.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, joined by, from second for left are, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, following a closed-door policy meeting. Senate Republicans, most vocally McConnell, are facing a high-stakes political showdown with President Barack Obama sparked by the recent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans controlling the Senate - which must confirm any Obama appointee before the individual is seated on the court - say that the decision is too important to be determined by a lame-duck president. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Associated Press