This might very well be the
stupidest article written on the day that Senate Republicans forced a vote to allow any employer to take away coverage for any preventive health service for their employees, on the basis of vague, unspecified and undefined "moral" objections.
The title: "Is Bipartisanship Back? Don’t Count on It."
Has bipartisanship suddenly arrived in Washington?
Not likely.
After months of frosty relations between the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill, President Obama invited the four leaders of the House and Senate for a closed-door luncheon on Wednesday that members of both parties hailed as a step in the right direction. [...]
And yet, both sides acknowledged afterward that little of substance had changed in terms of the disagreements on issues like energy, jobs and the economy. Despite the imagery, neither side emerged with any announcements to make on long-stalled legislation or difficult philosophical stalemates.
Then there's a lengthy lament for "bipartisanship's" newest martyr, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who announced her retirement this week. (In one particularly
poignant interview with Andrea Mitchell this week, Snowe whined about how the health care reform bill was "crafted behind closed doors," without the possibility of amendments. She seems to be forgetting that most of the time she was the one behind the closed doors with Democrats, while they continuously appeased her in an attempt to get her vote.)
What is not in this story? The little part about how the Republican party has been hijacked by an insane cadre of nihilists who Do. Not. Want. To. Govern. There is no "difficult philosophical stalemate." There's a party that wants to blow government to smithereens while forcing America to relive the first half of the 20th century, and another party that seems to be watching them, baffled and uncertain how to deal with them, trying to cobble together some kind of governing agenda.
No, now is absolutely not the time for bipartisanship, but it might be time for people like Michael D. Shear, New York Times Caucus blog contributor, to point out that one of the "sides" in this national debate is completely whacko. Finally. What more is it going to take? Redebating slavery?