I hear the usual pundits and Republican politicians, post-re-election, saying that Obama and his fellow Democrats need to work better with Republicans.
Ha.
OK, Republicans, listen up. And listen up, too, you supposedly nonpartisan media people like Bob Schieffer (sorry Bob, but it drove me crazy hearing you on election night saying things like the reason Obama won is because of how his campaign "cleverly" defined Romney so negatively - as if the Obama team forced Romney to call himself "severely conservative" and forced him to call 47 percent of the electorate irresponsible. The man painted his own unflattering portrait.)
You want to PROVE you are serious about bipartisanship? You want to prove Republicans can really work across the aisle to solve problems?
OK then, Republicans: start using the adjective "Democratic". That's all. I want to hear you say "Democratic Party" instead of "Democrat Party". Dem-o-cra-TIC.
And Bob Schieffer, next time you're "interviewing" John McCain or Lindsey Graham or whoever else is supposed to represent a fair-minded, reach-across-the-aisle Republican, and they say "Democrat Party" or refer to their "Democrat colleagues," you go ahead and point out that if Republicans can't even bring themselves to use proper English usage and say "DEMOCRATIC", then how can anyone believe they are serious about finding bipartisan solutions? You say that, Bob, and I'll believe you're serious about bipartisanship.
Do you recall how Mitt Romney boasted over and over again about how well he worked with a "Democrat Legislature" in Massachusetts? Yeah, right.
Maybe you don't understand this, Bob Schieffer, so let me explain it this way.
If someone said "I get along well with my Jew neighbors" - that doesn't actually sound respectful, does it?
It sounds awful. Not because "Jew" isn't a word, of course. But it's, you know, a noun. And even though MANY nouns work OK as adjectives, there are SOME nouns that don't work well at all as adjectives. They grate. They sound ignorant. Disrespectful. Mean. Even if the user is somehow unaware of this.
You get it now, right? So from now on, call out your Republican guests on "Face the Nation" when they use "Democrat" as an adjective. And then I'll believe you're serious.
And when the Republicans stop doing it, I'll believe they're serious.