heres the thing: bragman's take is dumb and wrong, as usual, but the other problem is while dems pass message bills *they don't talk about them*. not in any sustained, consistent way. they talk about them after they pass them, then they slip off into the night. https://twitter.com/Wilson__Valdez/status/1343747797145833475

democrats have a serious aversion to marketing, especially marketing their own work when theyve done the right thing. there's a shared belief that the press will just pick it up and voters will somehow get the message. this doesn't work.

by contrast, republicans know voters dont buy their schtick, and they nonetheless relentlessly market it. it helps that they have propaganda networks like fox, but this does not excuse democrats systemic refusal to even try to market their stuff. which is often popular!

and we know democrats can market stuff, because during a presidential election, theyre pretty unified and repetitive about marketing stuff -- their candidate. the problem is they see elections as the exception, not the rule. in the modern world of politics always be marketing.