Only on Fox: "Are Congressional Democrats killing spirit of bipartisanship?"

On the January 3 edition of Fox News Live, during a segment that featured Newsweek contributing editor Eleanor Clift and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) discussing the Democrats' "100 Hours" plan, the onscreen text read: "Are Congressional Democrats killing spirit of bipartisanship?" -- referring to the Democrats' reported intention of placing, as The New York Times reported, "limits on the ability of Republicans to offer alternatives" to their "100 Hours" legislative agenda.

Host Jane Skinner offered little to indicate that there currently exists a "spirit of bipartisanship" for the Democrats to "kill," aside from President Bush's January 3 Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for Democrats and Republicans to "come together to find ways to help make America a more secure, prosperous and hopeful society." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, although several media outlets have described Bush and congressional Republicans as adopting a "conciliatory" tone toward the new Democratic majority, the president and outgoing GOP Congress have engaged in what Democrats have characterized as partisan maneuvering in the aftermath of the elections. For example, Bush renominated several federal judicial candidates whom Senate Democrats have opposed, and congressional GOP leaders did not address several government spending bills in the last weeks of the 109th Congress, instead punting them to the new Democratic-led Congress.

—S.S.M.