"Republicans publicized it widely, when it was Democrats doing the filis."

When it was concerning the appointment of judges- which I suppose you are aware of the various aspects of this issue & I don't need to re-hash something that has endless been rehashed here.

"Democrats treat it more as a natural function of the minority party in congress - which is what it is."

It is a natural function of the senate and most people are aware of this. It a part of something that the leadership is responsible for managing- and appear the Dem leadership is doing a terrible job of doing this. One could say they are completely ignoring it, and seem to be heading toward a situation of completely shutting down the government- something the Rep leadership did and almost got as low a public opinion as what is the current approval of Dem lend Congess. In other words they are currently at the lowest and appear to be trying to get even lower- if that is even possible.