Agree with both of these. Garland was a fine pick, Gorsuch is a fine pick ,if you pretty much choose a guy/gal with a good record of being a judge, hard to eff up a SCOTUS pick. It's unfortunate repubs made it so political the last round, and forcing the dems to do the same here. But overall don't really see that much of an issue. It didn't kill the repubs, it won't kill the dems.
Here is why it could kill the dems.
First, there are way more single-issue Republican voters when it comes to Supreme Court nominees. Roe v. Wade is a huuuuge deal to conservatives. They could come out in droves during mid terms if Democrats stonewall a solid candidate for two years.
Second, there was a clear end in sight for Republicans. A year is a pretty long time, but Democrats would be looking at two years minimum of keeping the court at 8, which is probably unheard of (have not fact checked this).
Third, it's distracting. Republicans and Drumpf WANT this fight. Stonewalling a good Supreme Court nominee to fill a super conservative justice's seat is about the only way Democrats can look bad during a Drumpf presidency. It makes Democrats easy to paint as petty, vindictive, and spiteful, which is pretty much the platform Drumpf used to get elected in the first place.
Meh, I'm absolutely fine with them fighting tooth and nail to show backbone, like I said, it clearly didn't kill the repubs to cause a ruckus, it wont kill the dems to do the same.
Additionally, even if he's pretty right, he's replacing a pretty right person, so (this one) isn't going to drastically change decisions in SCOTUS. Merrick would potentially have, cause it would be trading a righty for a middle guy.
Finally, there are plenty of distractions, this one at least matters more than other things, it affects the government more long term than any other decision. Especially given how young he is.
Overall, let them throw a giant tantrum, it's not going to debase them that much, if it does, it is to people who already think they dems are.
If the cheetoh chose some crazy dude that plenty of people were pre freaking out about, like a Bannon or some crap, then you throw a giant ass fight. Trying to block a mostly qualified guy, no matter their leaning, is ultimately theatre, and the repubs just happened to win that last session cause they thought they had the next prez, which turned out true. Even if what they did was a giant ass hissy fit then, it ultimately worked. If trump had lost, it would be them who would have lost a giant amount of credibility. So w/e