You forgot NBC-BS, CBS-BS, ABC-BS, CNN-BS, PMS-NBC-BS, not to mention the political comedian/pundits Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and Bill Maher. For those of you who DON'T live in bright red areas of the country, these outlets, along with their print partners, have done nothing but blame the Republicans in general and Tea Partiers in particular for the last 2 1/2 weeks of "massive government shutdowns".
Not to mention the gearing up of how the Wascally Wepublicans are going to force the entire world economy to collapse tonight when the overspending cap isn't increased by 60 ba-zillion dollars. Someone I know was convinced that the sun won't come up on Friday, the oceans will cover the entire continent and all senior citizens (she is one) will be left destitute overnight because the overspending limit isn't raised.
You are absolutely right on the money. Defund was not an option. Nor a good idea. We took a hit. We will recover. We NEED to win in 2014 and ‘16. NEED.