You believe if Garland had received approval the same basic thing wouldn't be happening now? I don't.
Well for one thing, it would have filled the spot later given to Neil Gorsuch, meaning Trump would have had only one pick. Which now gives us Kavanaugh and higher stakes for a court (quite possibly) overpacked by partisans.
Here's a clue from the politic site Bustle, about what Grouch said about Garland in 2002:
Neil Gorsuch Speaks Out About Merrick Garland For The First Time
Gorsuch wrote a column praising Garland as an "impressive" judge who was "grossly mistreated" by the Senate for having the courage to rule on "hot-button" issues. So, where does he stand now that he's the beneficiary of that kind of mistreatment? He isn't as straightforward about his views now — at least when it comes to partisan political matters — as he was back then.
There is a cumulative effect to various obstructionist tacks.
I agree with statement from ahhell "While this probably feeds the oppositions some, this sort of thing has been ratcheting up for decades. "
But that is the whole point. As it got ratcheted up it became more and more skewed to a process that may be overly political. On the other hand, Obama got to pick Kagan (2010) and Sotomayor (2009) while Bill Clinton gave us Ginsburg (1993). So perhaps the process isn't totally ... borked. And after all Roberts (Bush 2005) turned out to be at least somewhat moderate on social issues (if not campaign finance issues).
I could easily have gotten a few details wrong here; I hope not, but my point is that arguably the process has deteriorated in a way to potentially distort the court's makeup for decades to come. (Though I'm not sure I completely agree; justices often show a feisty, independent streak once they're enrobed).
While you may agree with ahhell about the "ratcheting up," I believe he was talking about Republicans doing the ratcheting to the detriment of a more civil, or at least bipartisan, approach in earlier decades. Though I agree that it has been politicized for decades, not some nice collegial gathering of senators modesty providing advice and consent, and that Dems have certainly contributed to this (Thomas, George HW Bush, 1990).