The Mighty Wurlitzer Will Now Bray for 'Bipartisanship'

Although you heard no cries for bipartisanship during the last six years when the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency (and spent all their time cutting Democrats out of governing completely), now that Democrats have won the House and the Senate, the calls will come fast and furious. Bloggers call the corporate media 'The Mighty Wurlitzer' because they're the house organ for the Republican party. The organ has already begun to play the Republican theme songs. The Democrats must be bipartisan; you will hear this over and over again.

Don't be fooled. Listen to Glenn Greenwald of Unclaimed Territory:

The Bush meaning of "bipartisanship"

The President is going to include all sorts of flowery odes to the beauty of bipartisanship in his upcoming speech this afternoon -- much to the inevitable delight of the wise Washington pundit class, which will excitedly take him at his word and demand that Democrats "work with" the President rather than oppose and investigate him.

But what the Bush administration really means by "bipartisanship" -- as they are already making quite clear -- is that the Democrats in Congress do nothing to stand in their way and, most especially, that Democrats recognize that there will be no looking into what the Leader has done or subjecting his Decisions to any scrutiny. From Time's Mike Allen, today:

Advisers expect a battle royale over the balance of powers if Democrats use their new subpoena power to try to conduct what the White House is already calling "witch hunts." Bush and Vice President Cheney have made the expansion of executive power one of their hallmarks, and advisers say they do not plan to give up any of the ground they have won without a fight all the way to the Supreme Court. "We're going to have a fierce constitutional showdown over the boundaries of power between the executive and legislative branches," one adviser said. "The executive usually wins those battles, so we think we'll consolidate our gains."

To this administration, "witch hunts" means: refusing to allow them to rule in total secrecy and, instead, trying to find out what has really been going on in our Government.