Judge Napolitano reveals to Alan Colmes that Obama's SCOTUS pick is political and divisive, but admittedly brilliant. Also, Hillary's legal battles are far from over.

March 23, 2016

Alan Colmes is the indefatigable liberal at Fox News who has the thankless job of defending progressive values and truth in the lion's den of conservative infotainment. Hey, somebody's gotta do it, right?

His weekly head-to-head segment called Versus allows him to spar with an opponent with much more conservative opinions. Generally his opponents are much more outlandish (i.e. Frank Gaffney) than this week's sit-down.

Judge Andrew Napolitano is occasionally the voice of reason when compared with ultra radical neocons like Sean Hannity. His opinion on Indiana's RFRA law was surprisingly in tune with progressive positions. The judge's biggest weakness is his obsession with the destruction of Hillary Clinton through her 'legal' troubles, and this brings him right back in lock step with the rest of the reality-distorters at Fox "News." In this interview, he revealed the truth about what Republicans fear most about President Obama's SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland, and it makes sense.

Garland himself is not controversial, quite the contrary, he's far less progressive than most Democrats would prefer. The issue for Republicans is because of the timing of this vacancy. It coincides with an election year where there are six or seven Republican Senators who are considered vulnerable and their defeat would return the Senate back to Democratic control. McConnell is stalling for reasons other than his obstreperous disregard for protocol when it comes to President Obama. He's trying to protect his own job as Majority Leader.

NAPOLITANO: But these are not ordinary times. These are times in which Republicans have decided they're going to keep this seat vacant until a Republican, they think, succeeds Barack Obama and that person, whoever it might be, will nominate another Antonin Scalia.

COLMES: Didn't Barack Obama walk the final mile and beyond to try to heal, to bring them together to nominate somebody?...I mean to me, I find it the opposite of divisive.

NAPOLITANO: ... and I think by nominating someone so appealing to the Republicans, his goal is to cause this to become a campaign issue in about six or seven Senate campaigns where sitting Republican Senators are weak, running against Democrats who are strong and will find this position indefensible.

COLMES: You're saying he's playing politics?

NAPOLITANO: Yes.

COLMES: But isn't it a brilliant move to try to get one more person on the court? *crosstalk*

NAPOLITANO: Yes *crosstalk* ...I don't think he wants Merrick Garland on the court.

COLMES: You're kidding? He doesn't want Merrick Garland on the Court?

NAPOLITANO: ... Judge Garland is a tool for the President to torment the Republicans in the Senate, a perfectly legitimate tool

COLMES: He's doing it to torment them?

NAPOLITANO: He's doing it to torment them politically, to pick them off so that Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or whomever succeeds him, because I think Hillary's going to have a lot of legal problems.

Suddenly the facade of rational discussion is lifted and the tone of the judge's voice becomes much more agitated and anxious. His motives

I think that the FBI is going to invite Hillary in for an interview. If she goes, she will contradict the record, if she doesn't go, they will leak that she refused to talk to them. I think the evidence of her guilt is well-known and well-documented.

He's banking on the FBI to ride in and save the day. Napolitano believes the Feds are beyond furious at this point with Hillary Clinton, because she really hasn't been investigated all that thoroughly, right? The FBI is especially bitter about how General Petraeus' was censured and they are waiting to drop the hammer on the Democratic front runner at the worst time for Democrats. He's certain of her guilt and admonishes Democrats for not vetting her enough. Meanwhile, they have a Canadian National as their second in line for the GOP nomination, but that has been hushed by the mainstream media for reasons unknown at this point.

You heard correctly, the judge really said Joe Biden, even after Biden wholeheartedly rejected a run at POTUS. Napolitano would prefer Bernie Sanders, especially his Civil Libertarian positions, but to no avail. At the last minute, he predicts that the Democrats will pull this shocking switcheroo and rally behind Biden.

Maybe Judge Napolitano is tasked with diverting national attention from the mayhem of the Cleveland RNC this summer by projecting their frightful predictions of a brokered convention back upon the Democratic Party? He equates the GOP's conundrum with that of Democrats, who are not at all in the same pickle. This sounds to me like desperate, wishful thinking.

One thing's for certain, we've heard that the GOP establishment hopes for a savior to swoop in and save the party from the Trump pestilence. The White Horse Prophecy, a.k.a. Willard R-Money and/or his former running mate, Speaker Paul Ryan, have both come up as possibilities, exposing the party's slim pickings when it comes to viable candidates.

Colmes asked about the possibility of a GOP nominee naming Napolitano to the High Court. He said he'd never really even considered that possibility as a reality, because he's never been approached by anyone considering him for the position. Time permitted no follow up questions on the matter. Considering someone like Harriet Miers was approached for the job, it seems surprising that Napolitano has never been asked.

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