Rather than attack Gorsuch for lack of qualifications  --  an attack that would correctly be viewed as silly even by today's new, low standards  --  the opposition has attacked him for being out of the "mainstream."  And it's true that Gorsuch is out of the "mainstream" if, by "mainstream," one means the race-obsessed, grievance-mongering, cry-bully, government-uber-alles culture that now reigns in a segment of our politics, and in academia and entertainment.  But if "mainstream" means the kind of thinking exemplified by Chief Justice Roberts, whom I expect Gorsuch most closely to resemble, then the attack on him as out of the mainstream is just as nonsensical as it has sounded these last few days.

But I digress.  Gorsuch is going to be confirmed; the only question is how.  Given the Democrats' consternation, there are only two realistic courses.  One would be for the Democrats to acknowledge Gorsuch's excellence, accept that they don't pick the nominee, and either abstain or vote to confirm him (this is, for the most part, what the Republicans did with Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan).  That would be the best thing for the country and, in the long run, for the Democratic Party.  It would also preserve the filibuster, a controversial artifact not without its downsides, but also not without its virtues in encouraging deliberation and at least some attempt at reaching consensus.

The other  --  the one that's actually going to happen  --  is this:  The Democrats continue to be furious about Trump's surprise election and mount The Resistance; they dig in even by opposing an obviously qualified candidate (and the best they're going to get for the next four years); the public correctly sees that this is just dead-end partisanship; Leader McConnell, understanding the public mood and the importance of the Court (and being able to count to 52), abolishes the filibuster, using the model graciously provided by his Democratic predecessor, Harry Reid; and the filibuster goes bye-bye.

At that point, the Democrats will have lost  --  or, more correctly, will have kicked away  --  the opportunity to block a more dyed-in-the-wool conservative of the sort that is now sure to be on the table for any vacancies over the next few years that come up when Justices Ginsburg, Kennedy and/or Breyer leave the Court.  And filling any of those slots with a hard core conservative (not that I would oppose it, mind you), is going to be far more consequential for the direction of American law than filling the seat of Antonin Scalia with a mainstream conservative like Neil Gorsuch.  Far more consequential  --  and now, courtesy of Sen. Schmuer's tantrum, far easier.

It could be only a matter of hours before the Republicans re-take the mantle of "Stupid Party," but for now, the Democrats have it all to themselves.  This is what happens when petulance displaces judgment.