Those were the days...

 

Why should the Republicans be wary?

Isn't this what they want? A president who listens?

Obama calls health care summit with Republicans

Steve Benen explains:

So what's there to talk about on Feb. 25? If the summit is really about striking a new compromise, this would seemingly be pointless. But if the summit is about delving into these plans, exploring what is and isn't in the proposal, and making it clear for all to see that Republican ideas have been considered -- and in several instances, embraced -- the gathering has the potential to change public attitudes and score a key public-relations victory.

Indeed, I can imagine a scenario in which the president spells all of this out explicitly -- writing out which provisions are included that make Dems happy, which provisions are included (and excluded) that make Republicans happy, and declaring the whole package a triumph of bipartisan compromise. The GOP will still almost certainly balk, but the result will give Democrats cover and put Republican intransigence on full display.

Oh look... GOP cool to Obama call for two-party health talks

Gee... Don't the Republicans WANT to be bipartisan?

Bipartisanship no longer means cooperation

It means the GOP has squeezed out any moderates and now is a party of rabid wingnuts who can't possibly sign or even touch anything that has Democratic cooties on it and are so committed to sabotaging anything the Democrats might actually get done, that now we can only kinda sorta share ideas.

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly:

Bills that pass with bipartisan support have traditionally meant one party reaching out to moderates from the other party to put together a reasonably good-sized majority. If the usual Senate majority has around 53 members or so, finding some moderates from the other side of the aisle meant passing a bill with as many as 60 votes. It reflected a fairly broad base of support for the legislation.

Under the current circumstances, though, the expectations for the majority are skewed -- Republicans have almost entirely excised moderates from their ranks, and voters have handed Democrats a huge majority. If the governing party passes a bill with 60 votes, all of a sudden, we're told, that's not good enough anymore. In reality, it's a distorted standard -- it's not the Democrats' fault Republicans have become too conservative, failed at governing, and were punished by voters.

It's probably a mistake for the White House to try to change and/or parse the meaning of the word "bipartisan." But it's an even bigger mistake for the political world to hold the Democratic majority to skewed and unreasonable standards.

Yelling loudly in the echo chamber

Doesn't make what you say the truth. It just makes you deaf.

Frank Rich about the Republicans on Capitol Hill:

...Overdosing on this culture can be fatal. Because Republicans are isolated in that parallel universe and believe all the noise in its echo chamber, they are now as out of touch with reality as the “inevitable” Clinton campaign was before it got clobbered in Iowa. The G.O.P. doesn’t recognize that it emerged from the stimulus battle even worse off than when it started. That obliviousness gives the president the opening to win more ambitious policy victories than last week’s. Having checked the box on attempted bipartisanship, Obama can now move in for the kill.

Tire rims and anthrax

Not sure if Rachel Ray has a recipe for this....

John Cole:

I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.