You know, even at the height of the run-up to the Civil War I’m reasonably sure most members of Congress tried to keep the wheels of government turning. Not now.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested Friday to a conservative radio host that President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees are going nowhere fast — unless they’re blessed by a Republican.

“Well, so far, the only judges we’ve confirmed have been federal district judges that have been signed off on by Republican senators,” the Kentucky Republican said in an appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s show.

Will that continue for the remainder of Obama’s presidency?

“I think that’s highly likely, yeah,” McConnell said.

In McConnell’s five months running the Senate, just four judicial nominees have received floor votes—all were U.S. district court judges, three in Texas and one in Utah. All were pre-approved by Republican senators, and all were easily confirmed by the Republican-led chamber.

Why? Well, Jonathan Bernstein of Bloomberg has an idea, and I think I agree with him.

There’s simply no precedent for the Senate flat-out refusing to act on (most) nominations. It means poor government, mismanagement, justice delayed — and therefore justice denied.

This isn’t about the specific nominees. Mostly, this is just an expression of contempt for the man in the Oval Office — and, really, contempt for the Constitution and the senators’ oath of office.

Mitch McConnell really doesn’t care about good government. I think he cares about the Republican Party’s continuation of power in order to funnel government largess to its backers. In fact, old Mitch reminds me of Sepp Blatter of FIFA; “as corrupt as I need to be to keep getting me and my team elected.”