You can't force people to be bipartisan

I almost didn't read this CNN article. I thought it was just another, "Bush is saying the same old lies again," but after a while I decided to check it out:

Bush makes new retirement pitch

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- President Bush suggested Wednesday that lawmakers who oppose his proposal for a Social Security overhaul could face political problems as a result.

Excuse me? Apparently the whole article is about how Bush is going to punish people who oppose his ideas.

"But, Ted, Ted! I need some quotes! I don't want a summary. I want quotes! What did BUSH say?!"

"Now is the time to fix it, and I think there is a political price for not getting involved in the process."

"I think there is a political price for saying, `It's not a problem, I'm going to stay away from the table."'

"I believe there will be a bad political consequence for people who are unwilling to sit down and talk about the issue," Bush said in New Mexico last week.

Then at the end of the article, a quote from Chairman Charles Grassley, "the man assigned to put his Social Security ideas into a bill that can pass Congress."

"We got to turn up the heat on Washington, D.C., to see this as an issue and get a bipartisan agreement to get something done," Grassley said.

Um, excuse me?

The whole point of something being BIPARTISAN is that both sides AGREE with it. If you have to FORCE the other side to GIVE IN with threats of cutting them entirely out of the political process afterwards, then it's PARTISAN. You want it, they don't, and you're going to ignore them if they don't change their minds.

THAT'S NOT BIPARTISAN!