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Republicans do it all the time, jump on any Democrat's perceived weakness that they share. Make a big deal of it, hang it around the Dem's neck, it takes the sting out of the arrows when (if) they are ever pointed at them.
They are rarely pointed at them because you then get the tit for tat argument, "those Democrats are so petty".
They are very shrewd and play the game too well for Democrats most of the time.
The Democrats need to take up the expression of General Nathan Bedford Forrest “Get there firstest with the mostest.”