Praise for McConnell

Last week conservative grass-roots leaders sent Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his leadership team a dramatic letter calling for them to abandon their posts.

“You and the rest of your leadership team were given the majority because you pledged to stop the steady flow of illegal immigration. You’ve done nothing. You pledged to reduce the size of this oppressive federal government. You have done nothing. You pledged to reduce, and ultimately eliminate the out-of-control deficit spending that is bankrupting America. You have done nothing. You promised to repeal Obamacare, ‘root and branch.’ You’ve done nothing. You promised tax reform. You’ve done nothing,” they wrote.

{mosads}“It is time for you and your leadership team to step aside for new leadership that is committed to the promises made to the American people. America is too good for you to lead it.”

The failure on ObamaCare is justifiably an enraging one. After all, grass-roots conservatives worked through IRS persecution and media smears to win historic elections on this very issue. Americans were promised for nearly a decade that if Republicans were put into power, the horrors of the left’s government takeover of health care would finally come to an end.

But to say McConnell has done “nothing” to further a conservative agenda is not only unfair but also untrue. I’ll brace for the “establishment” label to be hurled my way, despite my own rallying with tea party groups.

Without Mitch McConnell, Merrick Garland would likely be sitting on the Supreme Court, not President Trump’s choice of Neil Gorsuch.

When Antonin Scalia passed away in February 2016, panic on the right began to set in. President Obama was still in the Oval Office and a presidential election with Hillary Clinton as the predicted winner was looming.

Just one month later, Obama held a Rose Garden ceremony and nominated Merrick Garland, a DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge.

“I also know that because of Justice Scalia’s outsized role on the court and in American law and the fact that Americans are closely divided on a number of issues before the Court, it is tempting to make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divided politics, the squabbling that’s going on in the news every day,” Obama said. “But to go down that path would be wrong.”

Politico ran a headline about how the conservative run at the Court was officially over. Progressive groups cheered while conservatives wept.

Then, a stalemate ensued. Mitch McConnell invoked the “Biden Rule,” which meant no Supreme Court nominee would be considered in the Senate during a contentious presidential election year. It was his duty to honor the American people and their vote before confirming a lifelong nomination. In a savvy political move, he listened to Obama’s advice and allowed voters to choose who they wanted to nominate the next Supreme Court justice. It saved Republicans and Democrats from yet another political debate during an already combative campaign.

“The Senate will continue to observe the Biden Rule so that the American people have a voice in this momentous decision,” McConnell said.

The left went nuts. Republicans were accused of everything from playing politics, obstructing President Obama and even anti-Semitism.

Obama argued Garland deserved a hearing “for Democracy’s sake.” Editorial boards across the country called his stalled nomination “the Senate shame.”

McConnell didn’t budge.

When the Access Hollywood tape was released as an October surprise, revealing President Trump speaking in grotesque fashion about how to grab women, a new drumbeat started. Hillary was inevitably going to win and many Republican argued they should move to confirm Garland, a perceived left-leaning moderate by some, before Madam President had her choice of radicals to put on the court. The offer was tempting. Trump was down in the polls and Election Day was closing in.

Still, McConnell remained steady and stoic, the answer was no.

Through enormous political pressure from the left and the right, Mitch McConnell stuck to a principle he said he would abide by no matter what the outcome on Election Day 2016. Now Neil Gorsuch, rather than Merrick Garland, sits on the Supreme Court. A conservative court lives on.

Yesterday at the White House President Trump and McConnell put their differences aside and detailed the number of appointments made to federal courts around the country.

“The single-most significant thing this president has done to change America is the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. But it’s not just the Supreme Court. There are a lot of vacancies at both the circuit court and district court level, as the president has indicated, of young, conservative —and when we say conservative about a judge, what we’re talking about here are, the kind of the people the president is appointing to the courts believe that the role of a judge is to try to rule based upon what the law says, not what they hoped the outcome would be,” McConnell said. “Those are the kind of people the president is sending up to the Senate to be confirmed. Many of them, as he pointed out, are younger and will be on the bench for a long time, and have a great deal to do with what kind of country we’re going to have far into the future.”

Slam him for ObamaCare and sure, tax reform too. Question his ability to lead and remain in his position, fine. But McConnell deserves credit for solidifying a conservative legacy through the courts for generations to come.

Pavlich is the editor for Townhall.com and a Fox News contributor.