GOOD TO KNOW BUSH HAS DECIDED TO TAKE A BIPARTISAN APPROACH... JUDGES DON'T COUNT?

To Bush, whom no one has ever accused of being overly educated, "bipartisan" has always meant that his opponents buy into his agenda. That's why easily corrupted and venal Democrats like Joe Lieberman and Henry Cuellar have long been Bush's favorite Dems. They're his kind of "bipartisans."

Today both the L.A. Times and the New York Times have stories about Bush's bipartisanship in action. Forget for a moment that minutes after he lied to the American public about respecting the election results and working to get along with the new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate he dragged up the much-rejected Bolton again as a UN ambassador. Bush may be lame but he certainly isn't so lame that he has forgotten how members of both parties-- not Lieberman, of course-- have expressed contempt for the anti-UN reactionary being named UN Ambassador. But, like I said, forget that one.

What the 2 Timeses are talking about today are Bush's extremist judicial nominations. The L.A. Times gets right to the point: "Bush irked Senate Democrats on Wednesday by resubmitting the names of six judicial nominees whom they had stalled before the election as too conservative for the bench." Just to rub a little salt on the wound, Bush also nominated far right maniac, James Rogan-- a defeated Glendale congressman and one of the most partisan hate-mongers in the GOP lynch mob that went after President Clinton. "Several Senate Democrats were angered by the news that Bush wanted approval of some controversial nominees... 'Democrats have asked the president to be bipartisan, but this is a clear slap in the face at our request,' said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who is likely to become chairman of the judiciary committee in January, accused Bush of 'choosing partisanship over progress and division over unity, at the expense of a fair and independent judiciary.'"

Neil Lewis' story in the NY Times makes the same points. "At least four of the nominations have been declared dead on arrival in the Senate by Democrats who have consistently opposed them as unacceptable. All six nominations will remain before the Senate through the lame-duck session of Congress and then will expire." Apparently Bush is looking for confrontation and not cooperation and seeks to create a record of Democrats not approving his initiatives. I think we'll be seeing plenty of this now that Bush has requested that Rove stay on as his chief domestic advisor.