Bipartisanship, Washington style

Democratic leaders have sent a letter to the president asking him to stop what they allege are personal attacks aimed at the new Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, by the Republican National Committee. The letter states, "We urge you to keep your word about being a uniter and publicly halt these counterproductive attacks so that we are able to work together in a bipartisan manner and debate issues on the merits." The article mentions that Reid remarked that Bush had told him he was not behind the comments, but the article also notes that Reid commented that "Bush could not credibly claim he wasn't behind attacks circulated by a party apparatus under his control."

Meanwhile, incoming Democratic national Committee chairman Howard Dean stated in New York recently that "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for." This Los Angeles Times story also states that "With the expected selection Saturday of firebrand Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Sen. John F. Kerry's rapid reemergence as a Bush critic, and the sharp congressional challenges to Cabinet nominees Alberto R. Gonzales and Condoleezza Rice, Democrats are consistently choosing confrontation over conciliation in their early responses to Bush in his second term."

Apparently, then, Democrats view working in a "bipartisan manner" as requiring Republicans to be conciliatory while Democrats are free to "choos[e] confrontation over conciliation."

For the record, I have been critical of Senator Reid's statements concerning Justice Thomas. I doubt that the RNC even knows my name, and I certainly have not received any "talking points" about the senator. I just thought his statements about Justice Thomas were ill-advised and wrong, and said so.