Fred Barnes: “No longer will ‘blue slips‘ be allowed to deny a nominee a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and vote on confirmation. In the past, senators have sometimes barred a nominee from their state by refusing to return their slip to the committee, thus preventing a hearing and confirmation.”

“The majority — that is, Republicans — will treat a blue slip ‘as simply notification of how you’re going to vote, not as an opportunity to blackball,’ McConnell told me. The use of blue slips, he noted, is not a Senate rule and has ‘been honored in the breach over the years.’ Now it won’t be honored at all.”

Said McConnell: “Regardless of what tactics are used by Democrats, the judges are going to be confirmed.”

Rick Hasen: “This is a serious escalation in the judicial wars.”

Politico: “If any believers in the Myth remain after the brutal week McConnell just endured, which capped off an unbelievably brutal eight months, they should take this challenge: Name one major legislative accomplishment to McConnell’s credit over the more than 30 years he has been in the Senate. (Last minute deals don’t count.)”

“You can’t do it: Unlike former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (my former boss) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, McConnell has never authored a single piece of major legislation that became law, nor has he successfully shepherded a single major bill to passage as leader. Reid, Pelosi and former President Barack Obama were all party to the last-minute deals, but they all have a trove of historic accomplishments to show for their leadership: insuring millions of Americans through the Affordable Care Act, reforming the post-crash financial system with Dodd-Frank and ending the Iraq war, for starters. McConnell has nothing.”

“His failure to log even a single major achievement is without precedent in recent American history.”

Washington Post: “The Kentucky Republican had to abandon, again, an effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act amid an uprising from the more moderate wing of the GOP caucus. Then he learned that one of his most influential Republican chairman would not run for reelection next year, setting up a potentially divisive race to succeed the senator.”

“Finally, before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, McConnell suffered the final indignity: His preferred candidate in Alabama, Sen. Luther Strange (R), lost the GOP nomination in embarrassing fashion to a conservative insurgent who vowed that his victory would send a message that McConnell and his allies should ‘run scared for a while.'”

Mike Allen: “The Republican establishment is so weak that even when it has Trump on its side, as it did in Alabama, is can’t beat the Trumpers.”

Politico: “For Mitch McConnell, Tuesday was about as bad as it could get.”

Politico: “He’s been battered by President Trump and had his vaunted legislative acumen called into question. Now, Mitch McConnell has a chance to put his cruel summer behind him. Over the next week, the Senate majority leader will try one last time to rescind the Democratic health care law. At the same time, he’s put his political reputation on the line in Alabama, where his chosen candidate, incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, faces off against anti-establishment Roy Moore in a special Senate election on Tuesday.”

“The typically cautious McConnell is taking huge gambles in both cases, and will emerge as a hero or goat within the GOP depending on how it all turns out. … McConnell will need everything to break his way to come out on top. Moore is leading in the polls and McConnell currently lacks the votes to repeal Obamacare.”

“No matter how much President Donald Trump taunts Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader’s position is secure, thanks largely to a powerful super PAC that has plowed millions into Senate campaigns, ensuring the loyalty of his Republican caucus,” McClatchy reports.

“The Senate Leadership Fund, one of two outside groups run by McConnell loyalists, spent nearly $86 million in the November 2016 election to benefit Republicans. That made it the third largest outside spender, trailing only the super PACS that backed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential primary contender Jeb Bush.”