Media Version of Bipartisanship

Oh my. Carrie Budoff at the right-leaning Politico sums up what the MSM believes to be true bipartisanship in Washington:

If President Barack Obama really wanted to show he’s serious about winning over Republicans on health care reform, he could offer up some key concessions at Thursday’s summit, like caps on malpractice awards or allowing insurers to sell across state lines.

And if Republicans wanted to reciprocate, they could at least acknowledge the congressional scorekeepers are right — the Democratic plans cut the deficit in the long term and rein in health care costs.

But that would assume either side is willing to do this.

Huh? If President Obama wants to be truly bipartisan he has to give concessions but if Republicans want to be bipartisan all they have to do is acknowledge the truth? Why don't Republicans also have to concede something? How does Democrats giving up proposals while Republicans simply acknowledging the Dem bill is cheaper amount to bipartisanship? It doesn't.

President Obama's framework he brought to the table yesterday was full of concessions. His plan was a document that borrowed from both the senate and house bills and contained no fewer than 9 Republican proposals. It also included some ideas directly from the president. By taking bits and pieces from the senate and house bills, Obama conceded the parts in them that he did not include in his framework. And what did the Republicans do? They hid behind the Boehner house bill that failed miserably in the house pulling not one item from it. Their framework for the summit was their plan in full or nothing at all. That's ridiculous.

President Obama's party is the majority governing party of the American government. The majority party does not have to make concessions. Yet that is where we are left in this whole rotten debate. Democrats, with huge majorities and a president that got more votes than anyone in history, have to concede items while the party that was tossed out in droves and has the lowest approval ratings in the country simply only has to admit that they are lying when they tell people the Democratic plan will raise premiums. Unless that happens it's not true bipartisanship? God help us all.