Senator Pat Toomey Has More And More To Worry About

This, from The Tribune-Review, bares the headline:

Poll: U.S. Senate race tied in Pa.; Toomey's court stance hurting him

And it opens with:

Pennsylvania's high-stakes U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Pat Toomey and Democratic nominee Katie McGinty is very tight, a poll released Wednesday shows.

Toomey's position on filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court could be a major reason why.

“Pennsylvanians say there's no time like the present for the Senate to consider (President Obama's nominee) Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. (Toomey) says wait until after the election, and the numbers clearly show that could hurt him,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Ah...if only Pat Toomey did his job.

But he didn't and now he's committed to obstructing any sort of Senate action on the nomination of Judge Merrick so now he's stuck with it.

Boo-frickin'-hoo.

It was only a month or so ago that Quinnipiac found Toomey leading McGinty by 11 points.  But here's a bigger take-away: In that same poll, they found this:

Voters approve 48 - 30 percent of the president's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court and say 57 - 37 percent the U.S. Senate should consider Garland's nomination now, rather than wait until there is a new president. [Emphasis added.]

So Toomey's stuck himself with a position that puts him at odds with a majority of his constituents and this month, the number's not changed.

Again, boo-frickin'-hoo.

And now to the biggest take-away, the biggest example of Toomey's political hypocrisy.  From The Huffingtonpost:

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election this year, appealed to GOP leaders Wednesday to confirm two of his judicial nominees by skipping over those of other senators who have been waiting longer.

Nobody really liked that.

Toomey, who’s been getting clobbered by Democrats for his role in blocking a vote on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, urged Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to hold votes for Pennsylvania federal district court nominees Marilyn Horan and Susan Baxter. They are two of 11 judicial nominees ready to be confirmed, but the Senate is barely moving because of McConnell, who is loath to allow votes on any more Obama nominees.

But what's the problem?

The problem with his request is that eight other district court nominees are in line ahead of his, and traditionally, the Senate confirms them in the order that they arrive from the Judiciary Committee. That means Toomey was asking to make all of those nominees — including those from GOP states like Tennessee and Nebraska, and those that would fill judicial emergencies — wait longer because, well, he’s running for re-election and could use some good press back home.

So I guess that Senator Toomey does not think that, given the closeness of the election (polls show they're effectively tied), the voters of Pennsylvania should have a voice in deciding on the future of these two judicial nominees - he doesn't think that the decision for them to go forward should wait until after the election.

How's that for hypocrisy?

Yea, Pat's got a lot to worry about.

Boo-frickin'-hoo.