I'm So Excited I Just Bipartisaned in My Pants!

In Passage of Jobs Measure, a Glimpse of Bipartisanship:

Five Republican senators broke ranks with their party on Monday to advance a $15 billion job-creation measure put forward by Democrats, a rare bipartisan breakthrough after months in which Republicans had held together to a remarkable degree in an effort to thwart President Obama's agenda.

..."Today, jobs triumphed over politics," said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California.

...Mr. Obama, who will be meeting with Republicans later this week on health care, praised the Senate action. ... "The American people want to see Washington put aside partisan differences and make progress on jobs, and today the Senate took one important step forward in doing that," he said.

..."I hope this is a beginning of a new day here in the Senate," [Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader] said after the vote.

Gag me with a teaspoon. Instead of genuflecting before the five stinking Republicans who voted for the bill for cloture to start debate on the bill, I'd rather see the Democrats, and especially the President, note how remarkable it is that more of the GOP didn't vote in favor, given that its centerpiece was tax cuts and credits for businesses, which is ostensibly a key conservative principle.

Besides [a $13 billion plan to give companies who hire unemployed Americans a payroll tax exemption on those employees through the end of this year, and a $1,000 tax credit to employers who keep new workers on the payroll for at least for 52 weeks], the bill would also extend a tax break, included in last year's stimulus package, to encourage business to make capital expenditures. The provision would allow businesses to write off up to $250,000 in capital investments in 2010 rather than depreciating the costs over time.

When Republicans won't vote for that shit en masse, it's not time to congratulate the few who will; it's time to call out the majority who won't as unprincipled obstructionists who don't stand for anything anymore, except pointless belligerence.

And maybe it's time to reconsider whether building legislation around desperate ploys to garner Republican support is really worth it for five fucking votes.