Some online chit-chat engaged in by some FDL folk concerning David Broder’s latest words of wisdom:

Voice floating over from the other cubicle: Broder concern trolling the choices of Gates and Geithner.

Eli: Wait… I thought bipartisan Villager centrism was supposed to be a *good* thing? Did Broder just change the rules?

Phoenix Woman: Silly Eli. That rule only works for Republicans!

Of course, if Obama had gone and picked Jack Reed for SecDef and Nouriel Roubini for SecTreas, Broder would be whining about how the PE was being uppity — erm, exceeding his mandate by going too far left in a "center-right nation".

Eli: Republicans are required to be bipartisan and centrist? I was not aware of this.

VFOFTOC: Eli, by definition, whatever the Rs do is bi-partisan and centrist. It’s like a commandment or something.

PW: Exactly. That’s why it’s OK for media outlets to have stories and roundtables that only feature Republicans as sources or experts, whereas any story or show with a Democrat source or expert is "partisan" and any story or show that has (gasp!) MORE THAN ONE is, y’know, Communist or something.