GOP Mistakes Help Democrats Remain United

Washington Post: “So far, the Democrats’ strategy of refusing to meet Republican demands — which is not without risk — appears to be working… The Democrats’ strategy has been made easier by the fact that the GOP went into the shutdown with no prospect of succeeding in its demand to gut the Affordable Care Act and with no fallback plan.”

“In setting that as the condition for keeping the government open, Republicans crossed a line that many Democrats believed made this showdown different from previous eleventh-hour negotiations over spending bills and the debt ceiling. Those earlier cliffhangers centered largely on budget issues.”