So, after the mid-term elections, both parties talked about a new effort for bipartisanship.  To facilitate that, President Obama invited leaders from both parties to the White House for the so-called Slurpee Summit.  Unfortunately, Republican leaders had “conflicts” with the original date.  (So what else is new?  Haven’t they had conflicts with everything President Obama has proposed since his inauguration?)

After the re-scheduled meeting, Republican leaders in the Senate almost immediately announced that they would block all legislation for the rest of the year until after a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts and a new Congressional budget.  In other words, “Don’t even think about bringing up a vote on the extension of unemployment benefits, the START treaty, DADT, the Dream Act or anything else unless we get our way!”

Great way to foster bipartisanship, don’t you think?

Yet when House Democrats scheduled a vote on extending the tax cuts for all but 2% of American taxpayers, the Republican leadership howled that Democrats have “undermined the tone of bipartisanship set in yesterday’s summit.”

I guess Republicans have forgotten the road to bipartisanship goes both ways.