BIPARTISANSHIP ISN'T A BAD THING-- UNLESS THE TERMS ARE SET BY SOMEONE AS VENAL AS GEORGE BUSH... OR RAHM EMANUEL

When Trent Lott and John Doolittle were whining last year about how people like them couldn't be expected to eat at a Baja Fresh, the kind of place they expected lobbyists to wine and dine them at was a nice private upstairs room at the Monocle. But these day's there's a new don in town, just as elitist and corrupt as the old ones-- and as much as he may talk about lachs and pastrami and bagels at delis for the folks back home in Chicago-- Monocle's is Rahm Emanuel's kind of power scene. Today's Chicago Tribune has the story about Emanuel's idea of bipartisanship at the famed lobbyist eatery with a gaggle of Republicans.

Like most of the drivel written about the former ballet dancer, this one is filled with self-serving nonsense straight from Emanuel's press shop: "the architect of the Democratic effort to throw Republicans out of the majority last year. Oh, what a novel idea! Too bad no one ever thought of winning elections before. And not a mention of the fact that Emanuel's efforts were so misplaced and off-target that Democrats won despite him, not because of him! "The renowned political street fighter shelved the shiv for a salad fork," (he's so tough, like The Hammer, just like The Hammer-- at least in his own mind) "putting on his best manners for an evening of crab cakes, steak and red wine." Oh you mean he doesn't always act like this? They don't teach nice manners in ballet school? And no mention of the fact that he's FAR tougher on grassroots and anti-war progressives in his own party than he's ever been on Republicans (not counting Mark Foley, of course).

The guest list remains a secret although among the attendees were Republican congressmen Mike Castle (DE), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Fred Upton (MI), Ray LaHood (IL), Zach Wamp (TN)...

The make nice dinner was supposedly to mend fences between the Democrats and the Republicans so the House would function better. "After 12 years of Republican rule, Democrats say they want to reach across the aisle, treat the minority fairly and work together for the common good. Of course, that's what Newt Gingrich said when he became House speaker in 1995. Instead, Republicans pursued a policy of only bringing bills to the floor that could win 'a majority of the majority,' a strategy that effectively shut out Democrats from participating in the business of writing laws. Now Democrats say they want to do things differently."

Apparently dinner-with-Rahm is a fad for Republicans now, and far right loons Mike Pence (IN) and Jeff Flake (AZ) are trying to organize one too. These two, known for a combination of wingnuttery and the kind of honesty in politics that is anathema to slime like Emanuel, don't have an invitation yet. The Emanuel press operation Trib did mention that Emanuel split the $800 check with LaHood (The Repug-in-charge) and that they left "an additional 20 percent tip. And LaHood added something else too: "Here Rahm is of the Jewish faith, and I am an Arab-American. Maybe between the two of us, if they put us in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, perhaps he and I could get it settled." No doubt if there was something in it for them, they could. In any case, I doubt I need to warn Republicans to watch out. They've just come through all the experience they need to know handle Rahm Emanuel, his political doppelganger Tom DeLay.


UPDATE: LIKE I'VE ALWAYS SAID-- EMANUEL'S A BUM

Emanuel was bragging how he never "went after" any of the guests at his fancy pow-wow the other night. Well last October we looked at Michigan's 6th CD and spoke with Kim Clark, the Democratic challenger, and I can vouch for Rahm on this one-- he didn't lift a finger to get rid of his Republican rubber stamp imbecile friend, Fred Upton. The DCCC did absolutely nothing to help Clark's campaign. This is definitely a district where Emanuel deserves the "architect" title. He was the architect of the retention of another Republican who should have been beaten. While he's out stuffing his face with $800 meals (plus 20% tip), who is actually trying to implement the 50 state strategy at the DCCC?