When the Beltway media is happy with bipartisanship, this is what it looks like:

You’re reading that “bipartisan” vote right: 1 f’ing Republican broke ranks. This is how Greenwald put it:

But this absurd praise underscores what the Washington power structure means when they speak of “bipartisanship” — it means having the Republican Party demand something, and then having enough Democrats agree to it to ensure it passes in essentially undiluted form.

…

In January, I compiled a list of the Great Bipartisan Compromises of the Bush era and demonstrated that they are characterized by one common attribute: namely, they are supported by almost all Republicans and then enough Democrats from a split caucus to ensure its passage.

That list is located here, and it’s a damning critique of the way Democrats and the Beltway media have approached bipartisanship. It’s a sham, meant to fool people into believing we’re getting good policy here. To be clear, this law is good for only the phone companies and the people in this administration. No one else benefits.

If this wasn’t clear, Greenwald highlights the following:

To The New York Times’ Eric Lichtblau, GOP House Whip Roy Blunt derided the telecom amnesty provision as nothing more than a “formality” which would inevitably lead to the immediate and automatic dismissal of all lawsuits against the telecoms, while Sen. Kit Bond taunted the Democrats for giving away even more than they had to in order to get a deal: “I think the White House got a better deal than they even had hoped to get.”

The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate is broken. This needs to stop, and we need “better Democrats” as Atrios puts it.

At least my rep, Rep. John Larson, was on the right side of this bill.