Sunday Roundup

This week, the political fallout of Justice Scalia's death continued. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wasted no time declaring that, even with eleven months left in Obama's presidency, "this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president." President Obama pledged to fulfill his "constitutional responsibilities" by making a nomination, and called on the Senate to "fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote." Jeb Bush broke with Republican orthodoxy and said he would "probably nominate" someone, and John Kasich said he'd nominate someone if he were president (while saying Obama, who is the president, shouldn't). What's amazing isn't only how dysfunctional our system has become, but how openly that dysfunction is now proclaimed. And how much we've come to accept it as the new normal. And that seems likely to continue, until we make our leaders pay a price for not actually leading.