How many times have Democrats gotten away with defeating a conservative judge because he’s conservative? Not many in recent memory. But when Democrats put forth a judge who just might be, oh I don’t know, on the left, that’s reason enough to kill his nomination. The particular irony in this case is that this guy was defeated for, among other things, criticizing a conservative judge for being too conservative. So what did the Republicans do? They claimed his criticism of a conservative judge made him too liberal and they could never permit a liberal judge on the court, even though the conservative judge was confirmed.

See what happens? The only way to not be unfairly biased is to support everything the Republicans ask for. And if you shed light on the fact that what the Republicans are asking for is far too extreme, then you’re the extremist for challenging extremism. It’s the same argument the religious right loves to use against civil rights advocates: We’re intolerant because we won’t tolerate their intolerance. So the only way to be tolerant, in their view, is to shut up and abet their own intolerance.

And in the end, their judge wins and our judge loses. Why do Democrats in the Senate always play fair when the Republicans always play foul?