Opinion/Letter: Messner missed his first opportunity to demonstrate courage

Sept. 22 -- To the Editor:

In a Portsmouth Herald op-ed of September 17, Republican nominee for the US Senate for NH, Bryant Messner, criticizes Senator Jeanne Shaheen for her lack of bipartisanship. Messner argues that the people of NH need “a Senator who won’t let party loyalty get in the way of serving the people they represent.” He presents himself as someone of “political courage” and one “who will help our nation heal.”

In his first opportunity to demonstrate political courage and bipartisanship, Mr. Messner chose instead to support his party’s push to confirm a replacement for Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 46 days before Election Day. Compare this approach to how Republicans blocked President Obama’s nomination to replace Antonin Scalia 238 days before Election Day in 2016, arguing in favor of letting voters have input into such an important decision. Apparently, that input is only required when the other party is making the nomination in an election year.

PolitiFact points out that “The Ginsburg vacancy is the second closest to an election in Supreme Court history.” In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln waited to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice Taney 27 days before Election Day. The Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln. To quote Candidate Messner “So much for bipartisanship.”

Michael Shea

Portsmouth