'Bipartisanship Equals Date Rape'

Asked what he hopes students will read in future history books about his Administration, President Bush replied, "I hope they will read that our country and our politicians were able to discuss differences in a civil way; that there was not a lot of anger in the political process; that you and I might disagree, but we can respect each other when we disagree. So I hope I will be able to help change the tone in Washington so people respect each other."

This whole "change the tone" shtick was always hideously cynical, as Michael Tomasky has laid out in the American Prospect. So in a sense it's refreshing to hear it finally, gleefully turned on its head by Grover Norquist, a conservative who has the ear of the Bush Administration and is an old College Republican buddy of Karl Rove, the White House political strategist. Norquist contradicts the President, saying what we already know: Republicans are working to make political discourse uglier, not more civil. "We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals -- and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship," he tells the Denver Post. "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape."

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