the media does this thing where they accept as a given that all Republicans are going to go along with whatever the authoritarian regime wants while at the same time assiduously avoiding language that directly identifies those same Republicans as walking in lock step with neo-Nazis

I think if you watch the entire series you will realize Rory would very clearly steer the Earth into a metaphorical ditch. Possibly a literal one.

I'm sorry to tell you this but she's every bit as awful as Lorelai. They are both pampered fail daughters.

It's funny looking back on that show and realizing Sookie is the only character that doesn't suck shit

When people see that the way you do politics is you consistently say one thing and then do something else, or show a willingness to alter what you say you're for to chase polling, what they perceive is that the only thing you believe in is that you should be in office. Nobody likes that.

This is why *clearly believing in something and being very visible about being willing to fight for it* is SO IMPORTANT. Doing "politics" is not what people hate. They hate when pols seem to only ever "do politics" but never do it as part of a fight *for something they seem to genuinely believe*

Apparently for at least a critical mass of Senate Dems, their expensive consultants were telling them otherwise

Force GOP to end the filibuster; cause reg people to associate holiday airline disruption with Trump & the GOP; to name just a couple examples.

Again, if your theory is there was ZERO opportunity to win, you should be furious that Dems shut down the govt for a month for NOTHING

I think part of the problem is there's a fundamental imbalance between the parties in how capable they are of convincing people that material hardships are the fault of the other side. Dems (1) had to know that before starting this and (2) don't seem to have a plan to deal with that imbalance