No one thinks that harping on Mitch McConnell's hypocrisy will change Mitch McConnell's mind. Everyone understands that McConnell is shameless. But using his words against him is still useful for several reasons.

1) It helps the media cover the story the right way.

Reporters don't like to take sides on issues where there is a legitimate debate. But hypocrisy is easy to judge, especially in this case, and reporting it isn't seen as taking sides.

2) Some persuadable voters do care about hypocrisy. Not many, but some.

There are voters who like to think that, no matter who wins or loses, it's a fair game. They are put off by rank hypocrisy. It's why so many politicians twist themselves into pretzels to justify position changes.

3) An important audience for the hypocrisy argument is actually Senate Dems. They need to see that Congressional Republicans are beyond saving, and that the other side simply does not have a shared commitment to "letting the process play out" or whatever.

4) Lastly (and I do mean lastly), this hypocrisy argument is the cover that the tiny handful of potential Senate Republican defectors needs to actually break with McConnell on this. They can't say they don't want a conservative justice (they do!). They need a reason to vote no.

Anyway, no one is saying that the only thing we need to do is point out the Republican hypocrisy. No one thinks that'll magically stop them. But, yes, it is useful--even necessary--to throw their words back in their face.,