Kevin McCarthy’s strange, new definition of ‘bipartisan’

[CatWoman]

After Friday’s House vote to fund the government but defund Obamacare, Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) made a bold claim.

“It wasn’t just a group of Republicans,” McCarthy said of the budget’s supporters. “It was a bipartisan vote.” McCarthy then repeated the statement for emphasis, urging all the reporters in the room to take note.

McCarthy’s justification was clear: Two conservative Democrats — Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina — voted for the bill, along with all but one Republican.

So, in the most technical of all senses, he was correct.

But if that’s the new standard for “bipartisanship” in Congress, then let’s apply McCarthy’s definition to a whole bunch of other divisive bills…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/09/20/kevin-mccarthys-strange-new-definition-of-bipartisan/

[dorkzilla]

1. Amy Kremer, Tea Party Express Chair, made the same stupid claim yesterday on Sharpton's show

I couldn't believe it...now I learn of the have said the same ridiculous thing.

[CatWoman]

2. if the situation wasn't so infuriating and just plain disgusting

their pretzel logic would be almost comical.

[dorkzilla]

3. And since no one on their side seems to bother fact checking...

There is a large portion of the population that thinks this is a fact.

Infuriating indeed.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Compromise=be reasonable, do it MY way...

[Igel]

5. That's the doing definition these days.

All but one person voting for a bill is from one party--that one person makes it "bipartisan."

Hell, I saw a bill referred to as "bipartisan" even though it passed on a straight party-line vote. Not one member of the other party voted for it. One provision was something that a member of that party had proposed--in a different context, with other language and provisions, and rejected by pretty much everybody else in his party. In the new context, even that one politician rejected "his own" provision. Yet the leading politicians decreed it "bipartisan." It was risible.

That was in the Senate. Since 2009.

By that definition, this bill's passage was wildly bipartisan. One of those re-defining of terms that I can't abide unless it's mixed with extreme sarcasm.

[66 dmhlt]

6. And the vote AGAINST it was ALSO "Bipartisan" since ...

One Republican voted against it.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Conservative Democrats......of course.

nt