Calmes: GOP, spare us the bothsides-ism when it comes to the Pelosi attack on the Supreme Court: Senate Democrats are trying to claim that the conservative majority can’t be trusted even on the most routine and consequential matters: The Senate is considering a move to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood — one of the most significant fights of the Trump era — and Senate Democrats are attacking Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican, for holding a vote before House Democrats have a chance to hold hearings: One reason Grassley allowed his vote to go forward was that he was expecting a hearing, and House Democrats have not scheduled anything. Democrats are making an issue out of this; Grassley and Republicans are claiming Democrats are trying to distract them from other more pressing issues, as if they don’t already have enough to deal with. The Senate vote will set up the 2018 elections because voters are more interested in who is running for the Senate than in a ruling of the court that will have a chilling effect on women’s access to abortion and a far greater impact on the lives of working families. Democrats are pushing the Senate to get behind the effort to stop the Trump-era Affordable Care Act, which would mean millions of low-income Americans lose health insurance, not just some in the states that are trying to replace the Affordable Care Act with state-by-state laws. The Democrats are trying to distract Republicans from other issues. If they care more about blocking the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, they could use the abortion vote as an issue. Republicans have better things to worry about.
“When they said it was about the Supreme Court, it was because they actually thought it was important,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn). “They were very clear: if we don’t do what you’re telling us, we’re going to lose the Supreme Court. That’s what really caught me off guard.” It was a big surprise: Even Republicans thought the Senate would go along with their demand that the Supreme Court stay out of the abortion battle. That’s why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decided not to bring it to a vote because he didn’t care to. That�
