As Washington Post White House correspondent Seung Min Kim reports, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is among a group of nine male Republican Senators who will meet on Tuesday with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
What’s interesting about this list is who was NOT awarded a secret decoder ring to access the special meeting with Barrett. Of the eight white guys and a Ted Cruz, Gardner is the only Senator whose seat is in danger of flipping in 2020. Not on the list: Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, Montana Sen. Steve Daines, and Georgia Sen. David Perdue, to name a few.
The nine Senate Republicans who will meet with Amy Coney Barrett tomorrow, per senior admin official: McConnell, Cruz, Graham, Grassley, Rick Scott, Crapo, Lee, Gardner and Thune
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 28, 2020
There are probably a few different ways to interpret this news, but the most obvious for Gardner is that he is essentially admitting that he’s not going to win in November. If there was a political upside with being in this particular club, then McSally, Ernst, and the gang would be included. And Tillis and Ernst are actually members of the Senate Judiciary Committee; there’s a much more logical reason for them to be attending instead of Gardner, who doesn’t sit on a relevant committee immediately related to the SCOTUS confirmation process.
Gardner knows full well that this kind of meeting absolutely does NOT help him with Colorado voters, but he’s doing it anyway. These are the actions of a politician with nothing to lose win.
McConnell and Thune are the Senate leadership.
Graham, Grassley, Crapo, Cruz, & Lee are Senate Judiciary.
That leaves Rick Scott and Cory Gardner … neither is particularly known as a Senate power tactician, and I can't think of any common background, committee assignment, or political ties that make them stand out for the meet and greet. Maybe the Rs wanted to show a full range in diversity by hair styles?
I'm wondering if the Dems did not make a tactical error in refusing the "courtesy visits." 47 Democrats spending 20 minutes each with Barrett will eat up `16 hours of time hopefully delaying the confirmation process.
There's a lot of reasons why refusing the visits is dumb, R&R. It looks churlish. As you noted, it would use up time. Democrats are passing up the chance they might pick up a tidbit or two about the nominee that could be useful.
Who's the dumbass who thought of it?
Frankly, refusing the visits is a significant abdication of the Senators' duty to advise and consent. Plus, maybe it's actually worth talking to her to suss out some of her lesser known views and give one the ammunition for a more thorough and successful grilling at a confirmation hearing. If nothing else, make her have to talk.
I'm sure Gardner is going to be all over these issues. The dude's going to be thorough for sure.
The most thoroughest whoever thoroughed, I'm sure
You assume the administration would have the nominee meet with the minority in the first place. They don't need a single one of their votes, so why bother?
McConnell might bother just to show how unreasonable the minority party is in refusing to even meet with her. Posturing and finger pointing….
Most of them had opportunity to meet her or consider her committee appearance 3.5 years ago when she was nominated and confirmed for the 7th Circuit Court.
The likelihood of a 20 minute courtesy call surfacing something unknown is, by my guess, inconsequential.
The amount of time used would be irrelevant… Meetings would all have to happen before hearings start on the 12th, so all that would be precluded is prep time for Barrett (which isn't likely to be needed, frankly). Meanwhile, it will pull Senators back to Washington and away from whatever campaigning they are doing on their own behalf (12 of them) or for others.