Former state GOP chair Hutchison says Cantwell has been napping

It didn’t take long for Sen. Maria Cantwell to question President Trump’s pick for the next Supreme Court justice.

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Shortly after Judge Brett Kavanaugh was officially named by the president, Cantwell tweeted some “monumental questions.”

“I’m anxious to hear what President Trump’s #SupremeCourt nominee has to say,” she tweeted. “Is the president able to pardon himself? Do you believe in the emoluments clause? What do you think of the Mueller investigation? These are monumental questions. #WhatsAtStake”

Cantwell’s well-known opponent this election, former Washington state GOP Chair Susan Hutchison, told AM 770 KTTH’s Jason Rantz that the concerns Cantwell and others on the left have brought up are “just red herrings” to cause fear among their voter base.

“They know the blue wave has dissipated and they are looking for anything that will rev up their base so they’ll get out and vote,” Hutchison explained.

When it comes to the Supreme Court, according to Hutchison, the difference between herself and Cantwell, a Democrat who has served as senator since 2001, is that she wants justices who interpret the Constitution. Cantwell and like-minded politicians want to see justices as “basically legislators” who see the Constitution as an “old document which needs to be “reinterpreted continually” based on each generation. Republicans, Hutchison says, want justices who “respect the rule of law” and interpret the Constitution.

It’s a “huge divide” between the Republicans and “new Democrats,” Hutchison added.

Judge Kavanaugh was selected by the president from a short list of finalists that also included Raymond Kethledge, Amy Coney Barrett, and Thomas Hardiman. The 53-year-old judge has served on the Washington DC court of appeals since 2006. He worked for President George W. Bush’s administration, and also served on Kenneth Starr’s independent council that investigated President Bill Clinton.

Former state Attorney General Rob McKenna said the pick wasn’t a surprise, as Kavanaugh will be a political advantage for Trump.

Cantwell is waking up from her nap

Sen. Cantwell is facing more than 20 challengers. This is about the time she is waking up from her “five-year nap,” Hutchison told Rantz.

“Every term, she disappears for about five years and then kind of shows up in the final year to campaign, which is just such an insult to the voters. So we’re seeing her sort of perk up and realize she’s got a campaign to run. This is not going to be an easy one for her and we’re going to fight and challenger her all along the way.”

Listen to the entire conversation here.

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