Following the passage of (admittedly tepid) healthcare reform, the Republicans are now saying that they won’t cooperate with the Democrats.

Of course, there was exactly 0% cooperation before, so we should not worry.

In any case, Bill Maher (at about 2:55 on the vid) says it with his characteristic aplomb:

New Rule: You can’t use the statement “there will be no cooperation for the rest of the year” as a threat if there was no cooperation in the first half of the year. Here’s a word the president should take out of his teleprompter: bipartisanship. People only care about that in theory, not in practice. The best thing that’s happened this year is when President Obama finally realized this and said, “Kiss my black ass, we’re going it alone, George W. Bush style.”

Two months ago, conservative Fred Barnes wrote, “The health care bill is dead with not the slightest prospect of resurrection.” Well, if it’s dead, you just got your ass kicked by a zombie named Nancy Pelosi. Seriously, the last time a Democrat showed balls like that John Edwards’ girlfriend was filming it. Make all the botox jokes and she-shops-too-much jokes you want, but this is the biggest political victory a woman has ever achieved in America. Yes, Nancy Pelosi likes nice clothes. So does Sarah Palin. The difference is Nancy Pelosi pays for hers.

This should be the policy on financial reform too.

The Democrats should break out the parts that they can demagogue, and dare the Republicans to vote against. Make the Republicans vote against the sound bites, just like the Republicans did to the Democrats.