By Greta Hallberg, Columnist
They say all's fair in love and war.
Politics, especially in an open-seat presidential election, may be a mashup of both.
The love comes with your candidate, the person you back whole-heartedly and want to see succeed. And the war? All of the negativity makes that part pretty obvious.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died last weekend at age 79. He was a sitting justice, which means there is now an open seat up for appointment by the president.
His death is a big deal. He has a record as a fiery conservative whose dissenting opinions had the power to ruin liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's day.
His death has huge political ramifications for the highest court. He leaves the balance of the court at a near tie, with four liberal justices, three conservative justices and Justice Kennedy, a moderate conservative who tends to be the swing vote in most decisions. The next justice nominated to the court could completely shift the ideological balance of the Supreme Court.
I'm going to be honest here, I got the notification from POLITICO that Scalia died while at Brick Street. Drink in hand, I tuned out the blaring music and chatting friends to let the magnitude of the news sink in.
But I hadn't even finished my drink when my phone buzzed again, this time with political actors in Washington immediately making his death an election issue.
Sen. Mitch McConnell thinks the nomination of a new justice should wait until after the presidential election.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president," said McConnell, the Republican majority leader.
Senators and Congresspeople on both sides of the aisle added their comments on the constitutionality of Obama appointing a justice to fill Scalia's spot. McConnell basically said the Senate will not even hold hearings on Obama's appointments to approve the nomination.
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Meanwhile, the president argued that since he was voted into office in 2012, it is his duty to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court.
This political fighting is nothing new in Washington. But immediately following the death of a prominent Supreme Court justice? I'm absolutely disgusted.
Yes, this appointment has huge political ramifications. Yes, it is going to be an election issue. But mere hours after the news of the death becomes public? That just makes everyone look bad.
Regardless of where you fall politically, Antonin Scalia is a human being.
It is our duty as Americans and as humans to mourn the demise of a prominent figure, not turn it into ammo against the opposite party. Out of respect for his probably shocked family, give them time and space to breathe before hurtling insults and issuing statements about the death of their loved one.
The media is, of course, partially to blame for covering these statements in close proximity to his death. But it's politicians and their complete disregard for the sensitivity of a death in the family that makes me question the values of those leading our country.
In the wake of a shocking and, yes, impactful death, we should remember we are humans first and respond with love before turning it into an act of war.
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