Doing Two Things At Once? Here's a Thought

From approximately the first third of Obama's campaign, I've been concerned about the "bipartisan" strategy. Now, with the appointment of Judd Gregg, I'm more concerned, and the reason is because bipartisanship takes two. Otherwise it's a fool's errand.

Judd Gregg wants to abolish the Commerce department. Fine with me, but I also want our trade agreements renegotiated from a bona fide liberal economic perspective. He's not the guy for that.

Judd Gregg supports the stimulus bill but won't vote for it. Some support. How does that translate into proper behavior for a Cabinet officer? It looks like making a fool of the President to me.

McCain repaid Obama's gentlemanly overtures with back-stabbing. The GOP stonewalled him in the House. Cheney is speaking publicly to undermine him on domestic security. How is this "bipartisan"?

It isn't. This is the party that called "bipartisanship" another word for date rape. Google on Grover Norquist if you don't believe me.

This is the party that has one constituency: Far-Right white men. These geezers and their warped offspring have been hanging around like cockroaches since the New Deal, and they're not going to go away now, not when we look to be on the verge of rolling out a Second New Deal. Not when women's rights are in the ascendant for the first time in 30 years. Not when GLBT people appear to be at the door of the House of Humanity for the first time ever. Not when there's a Black man and a Black woman in the White House. Not when Planned Parenthood can get on with the job it was created to do. Not when three SCOTUS Justices are in the works. Oh I don't think so.

I hope that Obama can do two things at once. I hope he can talk "bipartisanship" while he's kicking their teeth down their throats.

Nailing the Left

This is the only time in this life or the next that I'll agree with Grover Norquist. From Sourcewatch, this about about and from that arch-Right corruptionist, co-architect of the today's predatory GOP:

Norquist is famous for his widely quoted comment that he wants to shrink government 'down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.' Norquist largely rejects relativism and is comfortable assigning the labels of 'good' and 'bad'. The pledge of 'no new taxes' that so many Republican legislators signed was his project. He holds regular meetings for conservative leaders in which strategy is discussed. He once commented, "We [the Right] play for keeps; they [the Left] play for lunch."

So it seems.