One thing Dems have long been bad at is distinguishing between people whose vote might be gettable and people who would cut off their legs before voting for a Democrat. Congressional offices get spooked when there's some faux controversy being pushed by talk radio and they get lots of mean phone calls, but people who listen to right wing talk radio and get upset by faux controversies are the people who are least likely to vote Dem and therefore people Dems should generally ignore.
Shockingly, people who hate Dems and will never vote for them don't like HCR.
