Senator Sheldon Whitehouse blasted his fellow Judiciary Committee member, Senator John Cornyn, with a bizarre rebuke. He criticized Cornyn’s opposition to Obamacare during his opening statement Monday. Instead of delivering a rational statement about Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, he lodged a surprise attack on Cornyn.

It comes as no surprise that any Republican senator is opposed to many parts of Obamacare. The hearing was performance theatre for Senate Democrats as they tried to paint a dismal future for American health care and health insurance based on the Trump administration’s lawsuit against ACA now in the Supreme Court. Since the Democrats rammed through Obamacare on a strictly partisan vote, Republicans have run on a promise to scrap the legislation. Senator Whitehouse chose to focus an attack on Senator Cornyn because Cornyn is from Texas, apparently. And, Whitehouse included David Koch in his rant, because, of course, he did. He references the district judge who ruled against Obamacare in Texas.

There’s a promise to big donors that must be kept. When David Koch ran for vice president, he campaigned on getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Imagine his fury when Obamacare passed. His groups are spending millions right now on this nomination. Republicans in Congress tried and failed to repeal the ACA more than 70 times. It’s in the Republican party platform for justices to reverse the ACA decision. Trump has over and over said this is his reason. And now we’re in this mad rush to meet the November 10th argument deadline. And colleagues pretend this isn’t about the ACA. Right. The travel of the ACA case leads to one senator’s doorstep. In a Politico article yesterday, the senior senator from Texas tried to say that this rushed process isn’t targeting the ACA. Look at the record. The district judge in Texas who struck down the ACA in the case now headed for the Court is a former aide to the senator, who’s become what the Texas Tribune called “the favorite” for Texas Republicans seeking big judicial wins, like torpedoing the ACA. The senior senator from Texas introduced in committee a circuit court judge who wrote the decision on appeals striking down the ACA. Senator Cornyn has filed brief after brief arguing for striking down the ACA. He led the failed Senate charge to repeal the ACA in 2017. He said, “I’ve introduced and co-sponsored 27 bills to repeal or defund Obamacare, and voted to do so at every opportunity,” and now, talking about socialized medicine, the old Republican battle cry against Medicare, Senator Cornyn and all of our colleagues on this committee are pushing to get this nominee on by November 10th, the time needed to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Please don’t tell us this isn’t about the Affordable Care Act. From Cornyn judge to Cornyn judge to this nominee, hop, hop, hop. When Texans lose their ACA health care protections, hop, hop, to see whose doorstep that sits on.

“Cornyn judge” is an odd term. And, what is up with the “hop, hop, hop” silliness? Remember during the Kavanaugh hearings when Whitehouse was obsessed with his high school and college social calendars? He obsessed about the teenage slang used by Kavanaugh’s circle of friends. Does the word “boof” ring a bell from back then? Good heavens. Whitehouse oddly tries to shred Cornyn with bunny rabbit language now.

Senator Cornyn had a distinguished career in Texas before becoming a U.S. Senator. He was the Texas Attorney General and Judge of the Texas 37th Judicial District Court. As an attorney Cornyn fought government waste and corruption by investigating fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims – perhaps that part of his legacy in Texas is what Whitehouse is angry about. It makes no sense to be outraged that a former state attorney general and judge introduced a circuit court judge to the committee. The dots Whitehouse tries to connect (hop, hop, hop) that somehow Cornyn is corrupt and beholden to big donors (Koch) is no more relevant than the contributions of, say, George Soros, to Democrat politicians.

A brief history of how the ACA lawsuit now on the SCOTUS docket arrived there:

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Fort Worth struck down the law in 2018, but his ruling was put on hold while appeals continued. O’Connor was a staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee, before being named a judge by President George W. Bush in 2007.

Late last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed O’Connor, ruling that the law was unconstitutional without the tax-backed mandate serving as its backbone. The 2-1 ruling, written by Judge Jennifer Elrod, returned the case to O’Connor to determine if the tax penalty for those to do not purchase insurance, eliminated by Congress in 2017, could be severed from the law, preserving the rest of the Affordable Care Act.

Liberals enjoyed Whitehouse’s weird attack on Cornyn.

Sheldon Whitehouse is now explaining the big money (think Koch Brothers) behind these nominees like Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh and that the mad rush to push Barrett through is really about overturning the ACA for big money interests. He is completely correct.

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) October 12, 2020

A liberal woman employed by NBC enjoyed the “hop, hop, hop” wording.

hop, hop, hop

it looks like some senators weren't anticipating the opposition using this in ways that be painful just before the election….

— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) October 12, 2020

Is that the best Whitehouse had to offer during such an important hearing? Apparently so. He says that Republicans are “rushing” ACB’s nomination to pay back wealthy donors who want Obamacare repealed. Too bad he couldn’t find a high school yearbook from David Koch’s school career. It is hardly earth-shattering news that Cornyn has professional relationships with judges who may rule against Obamacare, especially in Texas. Boof!

Cornyn’s spokeswoman cites the hypocrisy of Whitehouse’s unhinged rant. He has acknowledged Cornyn’s ability to work on bipartisan issues in the past.

Asked for comment, Cornyn spokeswoman Libby Sharp said, “Sen. Whitehouse has called Sen. Cornyn a ‘bridge’ on bipartisan policy issues, including their signature criminal justice reform law. This bizarre spectacle makes pretty clear how far D.C. Democrats are willing to go just to win an election.”

The odd personal attack on Cornyn points to the Democrats’ hopes of turning the Senate back to Democrat control. Senator Cornyn is up for re-election. His Democrat challenger is not a good candidate, though, and she is down about 8 points according to the latest average at Real Clear Politics.