Democrats were outraged when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate would not consider any Obama nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. We were amazed ourselves, but not remotely outraged. The surprise was that Republicans had at last decided to play for keeps, the way Democrats have long done.

As is his wont, President Obama responded by giving the nation a self-serving lecture about constitutional proprieties. His courtiers cried out that Republican obstruction was unprecedented, even though it wasn’t. They even hinted at racism as a motive. In other words, this ersatz drama has been par for the course.