CLEVELAND, Ohio -- So much for the Senate being the wise, mature and deliberative body of the U.S. Congress. So much for the Senate being the adults and the House being the teenagers.

For the second time in four years, the Senate nuked itself over judicial confirmations. Democrat obstructionists forced the hand of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to invoke the "nuclear option" to bust the Democrats' filibuster of Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, which happened Friday, with a simple majority,54 to 45 vote.

In 2013, then Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, invoked the "nuclear option" to confirm President Obama's nominees to lower courts. The Senate rules are now changed to end debate for both lower court and SCOTUS nominees with a simple majority.

There were three certainties in the Gorsuch confirmation debate -- Gorsuch would be confirmed, one way or another. The Democrats obstruction was both retribution for Merrick Garland not being given a hearing, and pandering to the far-left, many of whom, didn't turnout to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's refrain was, "It doesn't have to be this way. When a nominee doesn't get enough votes for confirmation, the answer is not to change the rules, it is to change the nominee."

Who did Schumer think Trump would nominate in place of Gorsuch? Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?

Schumer, Obama, Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein, then Senator John Kerry and the rest of the Democrats in the Senate in 2006, had no problem unanimously confirming Gorsuch when he was nominated to the lower court.

Senator John McCain blasted the process before, during and after the votes.

McCain said whoever said the "nuclear option" would be good for the Senate was a "Stupid idiot."

"Whoever said that is a stupid idiot who hasn't been here and seen what I've been through and how we've been able to avoid that on several occasions -- they're stupid and have deceived their voters because they're so stupid.

I would like to meet that idiot, I'd like to meet the numskull that would say that. That after 200 years, at least 100 years of this tradition, where the Senate has functioned pretty well, they think it would be a good idea to blow it up."

McCain called the rules change Thursday a "a bad day for democracy" and expressed his dismay at having to vote for it.

"Today's vote to eliminate the 60-vote threshold on the Supreme Court nominations represent a regrettable setback for the institution of the United States. I fear today's action will irreparably damage the uniqueness of the Senate, an long with it, any hope of restoring meaningful bipartisanship.

The Democrats' unprecedented, partisan filibuster of the nomination of Judge Gorsuch unfortunately left me with no other choice than to vote to change the rules and allow Judge Gorsuch to be confirmed by a simple majority. I did so with great reluctance -- not because I have any doubts that Judge Gorsuch will be an excellent Supreme Court Justice, but because of the further damage, perhaps permanent, I fear it will do to the Senate.

I think it will clearly lead to more extreme appointments on both sides, and I think it's a terrible mistake the we will regret for many, many years to come. We're on a slippery slope, no matter what they tell you. We went from the judges to Supreme Court justice. What's next?"

Democrats will likely regret forcing McConnell's hand when the next seats come open on the Supreme Court. There likely could be more than one in the remaining years of Trump's term.

The Gorsuch nomination was one of Trump's better decisions. His presidency will now have a lasting legacy, after a shaky start.

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