Just a few hours after President Trump announced Denver native Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court nominee, the Democrats had their marching orders on how and why to obstruct his confirmation at all costs.

The playbook from the New York Times was offered under this headline:

WHY DEMOCRATS SHOULD OPPOSE NEIL GORSUCH

The purpose is payback, the strategy is bullying, and the theory is hypocritical beyond measure.

Democrats are instructed to refer to this seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia as “stolen.”

When people hear the name “Neil Gorsuch,” as qualified as he may be, they should associate him with a constitutionally damaging power grab.

The presumption should be that Gorsuch does not deserve confirmation, because the process that led to his nomination was illegitimate.

What about Gorsuch’s actual qualifications to serve on the bench? Democrats need not bother themselves with advice and consent, aggressive partisan obstructionism is the goal.

There is only one reason a Democrat should dare to even consider voting in favor of Gorsuch and that is “if they decide it’s in their own political interest to do so,” the Times advises.

So there it is. The reason Democrats will pretend that Gorsuch is not qualified to serve on the bench of the Supreme Court, is because it is not in their political self-interest to approve him.