What do we mean by 'bipartisanship'?

Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, has not been my favorite person, often seeming to spout a more conservative point of view than Nancy Pelosi's more progressive politics. But quoted here on Politico he makes sense in talking about a working understanding of bipartisanship.

Responding to Repubicans whining about not having input on the economic recovery bill, he scorned the idea that they should be able to "write half of every bill." If that were the case, he said, speaking at a forum sponsored by Georgetown University and Politico, it would be "the kind of bipartisanship that would make elections irrelevant."

"It's a deeply elitist view if understood in that context," he added. "We're in the majority, so we have the power and responsibility to foster bipartisanship. But it takes two to tango."

Hoyer explained that “ultimately, the keys to bipartisanship are respect, decency, and fair input. What matters is listening attentively to our opponents, responding to them with facts, not emotion, and with arguments, not with talking points. What matters is never questioning the motives of the other side.”

The Democratic leader pointed to the $785 billion stimulus deal as an example of how the two parties find ways to work together.

"$785 billion was not a scientific number, but a political one," he said. "Three Republicans set that as the limit of what they would vote for."

“Several economists have said that this may not be enough. And they might be right, but this is what we could get.”

Like Obama says, "just keep talking to them with civility and rational thinking; maybe they'll come around."

Ralph