POLITICO: Teabagistan Is Ready To “Pounce” If Republicans Cave On SCOTUS Nomination Hearing

Via Politico:

There are plenty of plausible reasons why Republicans might eventually fold in the standoff over the Supreme Court: Overwhelming public opinion, a Democratic pressure campaign, and vulnerable GOP senators trying to save their jobs, to name a few. But there’s another even more persuasive reason they won’t: The wrath of the right wing.

The activist right has been galvanized by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s quick and forceful insistence that the Senate will not take up a high court nominee for the rest of Barack Obama’s presidency, spending millions already to defend the GOP position with likely lots more to come. Tea party groups that have dissed McConnell for years as an establishment sellout are singing his praises.

It’s safe to say all of that would end the instant Republicans agreed to take up Merrick Garland’s nomination. And the fire would turn inward at the worst possible moment for Republicans, as the party is scrambling to save its narrow Senate majority in November.

The conservative Judicial Crisis Network vowed a “robust” campaign against Moran to change his mind. The Tea Party Patriots threatened to back a primary challenger against the first-term senator. It’s easy enough to imagine the entire Senate GOP getting the same treatment.

The JCN has already spent $4 million on ads, both bucking up McConnell and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and going after Democrats from red states. The deep-pocketed group says it has the resources to keep it up as long as needed.

The Judicial Crisis Network used to be the Judicial Confirmation Network. And then Obama was elected.