Breaking News
Obama Is Too Petty To Attend Scalia’s Funeral
- President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will not be attending Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's Funeral on Saturday.
- Obama will instead visit the Supreme Court on Friday to pay his “respects”
- Scalia's death has widened the already considerable political gap between the two parties.
President Barack Obama will not attend Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral on Saturday, the White House said, adding that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden will be at the services.
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama instead will go to the Supreme Court on Friday “to pay their respects to Justice Scalia” while the justice lies in repose in the Great Hall, press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday.
The most recent member of the Supreme Court to die was Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2005. In that instance, President George W. Bush not only attended the funeral, he also eulogized Rehnquist, who had been nominated to the court by Richard Nixon.
Scalia’s death ripped open a political seam when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell almost immediately issued a statement calling for Scalia’s replacement to be delayed until the next president is in office. Obama has promised to nominate someone before the election.
At another point in the briefing, Earnest remarked that Obama “regrets” his own decision as a senator to filibuster against President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, in 2006. But, he said, the situation was different.
“The president considered the qualifications and world view and credentials and record of the individual that President Bush put forward and then-Sen. Obama raised some objections,” Earnest said. “And what the president regrets is that Senate Democrats didn’t focus more on making an effective public case about those substantive suggestions.”
Obama was pressed about his support of the filibuster against Alito during a press conference on Tuesday, responding that it’s not a parallel to today. “I think what’s fair to say is that how judicial nominations have evolved over time is not historically the fault of any single party,” he said. Obama also threw in, “What is also true is Justice Alito is on the bench right now.”
Nick Gass contributed to this report.
3 Comments
Just take a look at any country ruled by & populated by blacks & your answer is a no brainer.
Partisanship has left our country more divided now than during the Civil War. Even if Obama and the first Lady attended the funeral the political capital would last about one news cycle before the status quo of partisan bickering would begin again. Let’s face reality. The death of Judge Scalia just added fuel to the fire of the ongoing partisanship which keeps our country frozen. And even if President Obama attended Scalia’s funeral , there are conservatives who would still rip him. Obama bashing isn’t going to stop whether President Obama attends Scalia’s funeral or not. At Republican debates t a standard formula has emerged-first candidates bash each other, then bash,Obama, then bash Hillary and then maybe have an actual debate on matters of substance. Just what the heck does it mean to be a conservative in this election cycle? The only thing uniting the Republican party these days is hate for Obama, hate for Hillary, and the candidates hate for each other. Didn’t Mr. Ryan have to summon his inner BraveHeart to “unite the clans?” But Networks love it. Ratings are high, they can charge advertisers top dollar. How many of the Republican Presidential candidates plan on taking a break from their mudslinging in SC to attend either the viewing or the funeral? Politics is dirty but mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz ( the two leaders in polls) are engaged in a race to the bottom in SC as far as dirty politics go. The Republican party is a mess, the Democratic Party is a mess. The two Party system is broken. A functioning democracy is based on compromise and that’s been missing for sometime. Our elected leaders in Congress choose to bicker rather than lead. Seven years to get a fully funded transportation bill. That can was kicked down the road 23 TIMES.
By not showing up for ANY occasion is obama’s way of saying “up your’s “. This guy is a real dirtbag. Everything he say’s has an element of Socialism or Communism included.