Is "Gorsuch getting disheartened" just a ploy?

Donald Trump's Twitter rampages might be the best thing to ever happen to Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court hopes.
The White House denies it, but according to Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, Gorsuch told him in a private meeting that he's "disheartened" by Donald Trump's attacks on the judiciary.
Blumenthal told the story of what happened during an appearance on CNN.
"I said to Judge Gorsuch that I find the attacks on the judiciary absolutely abhorrent and unacceptable and I asked him to express his criticism and to condemn these kinds of public attacks on an independent judiciary. and at that point after some back-and-forth he did say that he found them to be disheartening and demoralizing".
Former New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte - who's helping Trump move Gorsuch through the confirmation process - seemed to confirm Gorsuch's remarks in a statement she released this morning.
Ayotte said that "[Gorsuch] finds any criticism of a judge's integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing."
Hearing stuff like this is probably reassuring to a lot of liberals.
The idea that Trump's Supreme Court pick will stick up to him when Trump gets out of control sounds a lot better than the rubber stamp a lot of them probably expected.
But are Democrats being played?
Is all this "Gorsuch getting disheartened" talk actually just a way for Republicans to normalize someone who's in reality a very dangerous ideologue?
Comments
Believe that Norman Goldman, the energetic and articulate ex lawyer turned talk show host refers to the supreme court as "politicians in black robes".
So when the right wins the congress and the presidency, why should they care what the left thinks?
ct

But push come to shove, the Federalist Society fascists still want the next Scalia on the bench.

We need a coup on the DNC and make it the ProgressiveNC. Corporates either get in line or leave the party.

They are not that sophisticated

Why do you waste our time talking about Republicans this and Democrats that when there's no difference between them and any other compounded components of the Corpocratic Empire. The only opposing socio-economic forces we have are The People and The System. I love the people but I hate the system. I should think we'd all be getting a little sick of hating our brothers and sisters by now. What's it been now? 2000 years. Please keep it simple. Human=Good. Corporate=Evil Demonize the hell out anybody that tries to divide The People . Dividers=Haters. Haters=Evil

We can all thank McConnell for the Gorsuch abomination. I've never seen a public servant get away with more anti democracy treachery than Turtleman has. His obstruction has cost the taxpayers untold millions, and the economy untold billions. Thanks Kentucky!
Yes....Gorsuch and the Fascists are just trying to soften up the democrats into accepting the unacceptable.....as if they need to be made any softer.
Given that it's the 21st century, Gorsuch isn't fit to serve in any branch of government, let alone the judicial.

I say republicans stole a nomination and should be punished for their crime by not having any nominee of Trump's confirmed by any democrat or independent unless he nominates Merrick Garland. In order to beat anyone at a game you have to be playing the same game.
What is Gorsuch's answer on how the Republicans treated Merrick Garland?

It's a stolen Supreme Court seat just like it was a stolen election. That's all Republicans are good at; they certainly don't know how to govern in the best interests of the people. Lying, cheating, and stealing is their most valuable skill-set to cling to power, because they know that most people don't agree with their policies that favor the few over the many. If voting was mandatory, the Republican Party would be a minority party forever, with the support of only the right-wing fringe -- maybe a fourth of the electorate on a good day if they're lucky.
The Democrats need to prove they have a spine. They would be fools not to filibuster Gorsuch, especially after McTurtle refused to hold hearings on Garland for a whole year, and McCain and other low-life cohorts threatened to block anyone Hillary might have nominated for as long as she held office. They have no compunction whatsoever for breaking protocol. Why should Democrats?
So let them nuke the damn filibuster, and strip the last pathetic vestige of power the Democrats have left. Then, when Republican's idiotic policies inevitably implode, they won't be able to keep blaming their own horrendous screw-ups on Democrats, at least with a straight face anyway. Their ineptitude and hypocrisy will be laid bare.
Democrats should just let Republicans hang themselves, and start framing their own vision for a better future. That way, people will have a clear choice in 2018 and 2020 and should have had enough of the crazy by then.

McConnell, with advice from Joe Biden, was brilliant in holding off any senate discussion of Garland. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Hopefully two more to go.
To those who think the republicans are not smart enough? Who is running the WH, Senate, House, and 33 Governorships?
After a long bout with mental illness, the democrat party has committed suicide. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local tiny volin manufacturer.

Dianereynolds: It was late June of 92, four months before the election, when Biden spoke out. There was no vacancy on the Supreme Court at the time, only the speculation of one.
So your point about "smart republicans" lmao....is that the democrats are too stupid to commit interstate crosscheck election fraud, and too patriotic to obstuct democracy for eight years.??????
I can only imagine all the whining and crying you foxmerized teabaggers would be doing if Hillary or Bernie were president and connected at the hip with Putin.

Legend, I hope that to be a line of questioning during his confirmation hearing. Like: Mr. Gorsuch, do you hold true that the constitution says that the senate must hold a confirmation hearing for any supreme court nominee that the president nominates? Then: Even if the nominee was nominated by a previous president but had not yet had a confirmation hearing when the administration changed? I could go on. I hope they put him in the hot seat for a while on this line of questioning before not giving him an affirmative vote.

2950-10k,
Your attempted defense of Biden is laughable and you know it. If the Democrats had been in power and done the same thing you would be cheering them on. Right now all you have is disparaging remarks about Trump, his wife, and children.
If a Democrat were elected? I am positive I would not have donned a penis hat and stood out in the cold screaming obscenities, and I certainly would not run around breaking windows, shouting at a member of the presidents family while on an airplane, or calling department stores that I never bought from anyway with a threatened boycott unless they dropped a clothing line. I struggle to remember hordes of crazies running around with their hair on fire after Obama won either term. Fringe groups yes. Wacky tea partiers? Yes. Tens of thousands? No, and neither did you.
Most conservatives don't have time for this shit. They have work to do and families to feed.
You see, most conservatives just lick their wounds, go to work, and hope the working class American will eventually understand the Democrats and Republicans are both crooks, hence Trump wins the presidency.
The leftie/socialist concern over the "Russians" is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Grow up. We have far more to worry about than the "Russians".
I am sure you will all calm down as soon as a socially suitable excuse for your overwhelming loss in 2016 becomes acceptable to your masses. Hillary, the Russians, hackers, voter fraud, voter suppression, etc. I believe there are now over a hundred theories. Pick one, stick to it, and take a four year nap.
Would I be pissed is Sanders were president. Yes. He was bat shit crazy and would have got nothing through any congress but he could have had a future in the hair products industry.. Hillary Clinton, no. She was as self serving and crooked as any who have held the office and in my opinion, far worse for the country in the long haul.
Just to be clear, I voted Trump just for the judge appointments. The buck stops there.

Wow, cantankerous ol' Granny Di must have forgotten to take her regimen of psychotic medication this morning; she sounds a little unhinged. For someone who constantly hurls accusations of anger, hate, and name-calling, she is sure full of anger, hate, and name-calling.
Although, as usual, she is wrong on facts, history, analysis, and prognosis, and offers no credible sources to back up her vivid, wild and crazy, opinionated delusions. Oh, and it's totally fine with Republican PINO's (patriot in name only) that a ruthless foreign dictator and geopolitical, potential military rival interfered with our elections. What the hell; the ends justify the means; "winning" at all costs is everything! Right?
Wrong.
Of course, most everyone on this forum, with the exception of her fellow swamp trolls, is already well aware of the "alternative facts" and the alternate universe that the clan of trolls inhabit.
Sad.
Right-wing dementia is a terrible affliction to face in one's twilight years. At least, wistful thoughts of a dirty old man grabby ... whatever ... can still put a smile on a baggy old face while drifting off to La La Land, where Pervert Trump's scale of babes might even rate "wrinkles" (his word) somewhere on the positive side of his predatory desires.
Yeah, don't "don" your "penis hat" quite yet, granny; that's really not what the "Donald" likes to grab. Then again, who knows what might be in the alleged "pee tapes" of his alleged sojourns to alleged Russian whore houses...
And good luck with that whole buck-stopping, religious-whacko judge thing ... and the three so-called "equal" branches of government.
Gorsuch will be appointed to SCOTUS one way or another. Democrats haven't got the horsepower in the Senate to block his appointment and if they try, the R's will simply "nuke" them. I see no logical reason the Republicans would feel the need to resort to reverse psychology to get their way. The greater danger, I think, is that Trump will withdraw his nomination (in a characteristic fit of pique) and install a true "rubber stamp" justice. I haven't studied Gorsuch's record, but he appears to be highly regarded both in terms of his intellect and his other bonafides such as education. Maybe the Dems could do worse. Does anyone remember Justice Sandra Day Oconner, the Reagan appointee? She was supposed to be a solid conservative bet, but she turned out to be surprisingly independent. We might just get lucky with Gorsuch, and I think we could do much worse.