At least according to the Republicans I have been seeing on the news programs today. On CNN earlier, and just now on Hardball on MSNBC, there were 2 Republican congressmen (Hey, media, where are the Democrats for balance?) talking about their meeting today with Obama on the stimulus bill. They liked him a great deal. But not the stimulus bill.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

They were very effusive about Obama, and his real desire to be bi-partisan. The problems with the bill are all caused by the evil Democrats in the Congress. They refuse to listen or do things the way the Republicans think things should be done.

So apparently, bi-partisan means, “Do it my way.” I always thought it meant, listen to both sides, be willing to compromise in areas you can, don’t compromise on foundations of your ideology. You know, things like, putting in large amounts of tax cuts into a stimulus package, despite the fact that the last round didn’t really work very well and they are not a core of Democratic policy.

The Republicans on the news networks kept implying, strongly, that if it were not for the congressional Democrats, Obama would gladly give them all the tax cuts they want. And drop all that stupid spending to create jobs.

This does not appear to me to be the reality we are living in. The elections last year seemed a pretty clear indication that the citizens of the USA are not real happy with the way the Republicans ran things when they were in charge, and they wanted something different. And Obama is giving us different.

I have a feeling that a chap named Montoya could give the congressional Republicans a small hint, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” On the other hand, I do not have much faith that they can take a hint.