Republicans lose the messaging war

Byron York in the Washington Examiner: "Fighting the government-closing Democratic filibuster."

If they do press on, if they do keep the government closed, Democrats will be acting with confidence that comes from a number of polls that show more people blame Republicans for the shutdown than blame the Democrats, who actually caused the impasse. Two polls out just before the election, one from the Washington Post and the other from NBC News, both found that more people blamed Republicans for the shutdown than blamed Democrats.

That seems odd, given the plain facts of the case: Democrats are filibustering the government-opening bill. But it makes more sense after looking at media coverage of the standoff. In a new report, the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters studied broadcast newscasts for October and noted that “the big three broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) have hammered both congressional Republicans and President Trump with a wall of negative shutdown coverage, while largely shielding Democrats from blame for the now-historic gridlock.”

This is maddening.  Of course the mainstream media was going to cover for the Democrats!  Have Republicans forgotten all the alternative media skills that won the last election?  Go on podcasts, flood social media, hold daily press briefings.  For heaven's sake, stop depending on the media to play fair.