On Oct. 30, Charles Pickering became the fourth nominee of George W. Bush to be scuttled by the Senate without a vote from the floor. Employing a rarely used Senate procedure — a filibuster — to keep Pickering and the three others from going to the floor for a vote, Democrats of the Judiciary Committee justified their action as an attempt to stop Bush from packing the court with “extremist right-wing idealogues.”

What determines a qualified judge? A positive rating from the American Bar Association is declared to be the “gold standard” in respect to the qualification of federal judges. Both Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen received “well qualified” ratings from the ABA.

The politicization of this process is a recent phenomenon. In 1987, President Reagan nominated an extremely qualified but conservative justice named Robert Bork to a Supreme Court that was split 4-4 along ideological lines. Bork had the highest rating of the ABA. The machinations of the left quickly kicked into gear to pressure the Democrats in Congress to block Bork. When asked about the Bork nomination, Ted Kennedy said “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, children could not be taught about evolution.” Bork was defeated.

The same tactics were used against Clarence Thomas but were narrowly unsuccessful. The Democratic National Committee claims on its Web site that confirming Bush’s judges will be catastrophic. Free speech, religious freedom, civil rights and women’s rights would be a thing of the past.

This brings us to the fundamental problem of the Democratic Party: They are enslaved by their devotion to any and all left wing interest groups. They are forced to attempt to scare people with labels like radical and extremist.

What does it mean to be a Democrat? Ask a Republican and he might tell you “high taxes, big government, reckless spending, abortion and gay rights” Ask a Democrat the same about a Republican, and he’ll probably give you a variation of Ted Kennedy’s answer.

The Republicans I know don’t want women performing their own abortions and they don’t want Constitutional protections thrown away. They are decent people who feel the framers of the Constitution intended the role of central government to be small and that people are better equipped to handle problems in the private sector than through government programs.

The people Bush nominated aren’t extremists, just people who happen to disagree with the left wing. The real extremists are the rank and file of the Democratic Party who are willing to sacrifice whatever is left of their credibility at the altar of blocking Bush and his nominees.