The Senate voted Wednesday night to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general. Over the vicious partisanship of Democrats like Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sessions, as expected, rode to victory, capping a contentious debate that left some Democrats and all Republicans seething.
The votes included all 52 Republicans in the 52-47 vote. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat to back Sessions. He also comes from a coal state that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump.
The Republicans broke into riotous applause as the Democrats silently strolled out of the Senate Chamber. It was never a question that Sessions would be confirmed. But as the Democrats have been doing under the guidance of their embittered leader Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), they are expending their political capital on losing causes. Their blockage of almost anything with Trump’s name on it is using up their public credibility as a viable opposition party.
However, not all Democrats are without political manners. A handful of Democratic senators including the aforementioned Manchin, Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-W.Va) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) had the class to walk over and shake their former colleague’s hand after the vote. To everyone’s surprise, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), actually hugged him, even though he voted against him.
The fight culminated with 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gaining her photo-op for the far left by reading a letter that Coretta Scott King had written in 1986 that accused Sessions, a U.S. attorney at the time, of using the power of his office to prevent blacks from voting. It was objected to by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and she was prevented from speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Defeated Democrats met with the anxious press outside the Senate Chambers and predictably defended their criticism of Sessions’ record on issues of race and civil rights. It was the politically correct thing to do considering their almost-powerless shadow these days in Washington. What better at that awkward juncture than to pull the proverbial race card?
The fiery words in the last days of the debate were surprising to many. The reality is Sessions is well-liked personally by many senators. The opposition appeared to be a political commercial for the 2020 presidential election, and Warren and Booker were the stars.
The entire ordeal was a decided contest before the confirmation hearings even began and the Democrats knew it. But under the questionable leadership of a non-calculating Schumer, it was decided there would be a floor fight with many Democrats reluctant to cross paths with the New York senator this early in the Trump era. The question is why would Schumer waste political capital on a done deal?
It certainly didn’t score any points with Americans who didn’t vote for Hillary. It was a smash hit with the far left “progressives” that helped the party lose the last election.
