The Senate today confirmed William Barr as Attorney General of the United States. Barr will be sworn in this afternoon. The swearing in may have occurred by the time this post goes up.
The vote was 54-45. Three Democrats voted to confirm Barr. The three are Joe Manchin, Doug Jones, and Kyrsten Sinema. Rand Paul voted against confirming Barr.
Barr served as Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush. Then, the Senate confirmed him by a voice vote after he cleared the Judiciary Committee by a unanimous vote.
Barr hasn’t changed, the times have.
The only surprising vote was cast by Sen. Sinema. During her campaign for the Senate last fall, I argued that she’s a faux moderate. I also dubbed her a “hippy-dippy” based on her outrageous conduct in the early 2000s.
But Sinema’s conduct since joining the Senate suggests I might well have been wrong. It’s not just her vote to confirm Barr. Sinema declined to wear white for President Trump’s state of the union address, thus eschewing the ridiculous stunt Democratic women pulled.
Not only that, Sinema stood and applauded President Trump when he praised the passage last May of the “right to try” law, which bypasses drug regulators in order to give gravely-ill patients access to experimental medications.
This was too much for Sinema’s fellow freshman Senator Jackie Rosen. Rosen stood up and said something to her colleague. Some believe Rosen told Sinema to “watch your ass.” Maybe. In any event, Rosen’s comment did not appear to be at all friendly.
We’ll see how Sinema votes on substantive legislation. But she’s to be commended for voting to confirm Barr.
Unlike Manchin and Jones, Sinema does not come from a deep red state. Thus, like her decision not wear red, her vote should be viewed as a refusal mindlessly to follow the left-liberal crowd.
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