The Wall Street Journal is keeping score on judges, and the numbers put to the lie the Democrats' promise to treat Bush's nominees like Clinton's were treated -- only better.

The promise:

In a letter to us in June, Mr. Reid said Senate Democrats would "treat President Bush's judicial nominees with more respect than President Clinton's received from a Republican Senate."

The numbers:

In President Clinton's final two years of office, a Republican Senate confirmed 15 circuit court judges and 57 district court judges. Merely to match that record, Senate Democrats will need to confirm five more circuit court nominees and nine more district court nominees when they return for a session that will only last a few weeks.

More numbers:

According to the Committee for Justice, the average number of days from nomination to confirmation for circuit court nominees has risen to 348 days during the Bush Administration from an average of 238 days under President Clinton. Nominations by Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan made it through in an average of 69 days each.

If I were the Republicans, I'd look to do everything possible to make sure Democrats have a miserable time running the Senate for every lie they tell.

And don't expect the rest of the mainstream media to show the slightest interest in this sort of obstructionism except to praise Democrats for standing up against President Bush.