President Obama served notice to Republicans tonight that bipartisanship only goes so far. He can play hardball as well as anyone.

So the president repeatedly used the politically verboten word "lie" to describe ... Republican lies. He said he would "call out" those who continued to misrepresent the health care plan. He got in their faces about "scare tactics" and set the record straight right in front of them, forcing the crow down their throats while they sat their fuming and shamed. He made it clear he would not forfeit his presidency on the altar of working well and playing nice with people bent on taking him down.

And then he did something truly remarkable: Perhaps inspired by the letter from Teddy, he laid out the liberal philosophy better than any Democratic president has in decades. The fact that millions of independents watched and heard the unfiltered message of liberalism from his bully pulpit made it all the more sweet. Americans love freedom, true, but we must also love our neighbor, our community and our country. Here was a Democratic president putting a bright light inside the concept of personal responsibility, alongside which the Republican version of that idea turns out to be nothing more than a selfish urge to avoid any responsibility at all.

Tonight, I saw Barack Obama as I saw him before the election. Did I hear everything I wanted to hear? Not by a long shot.  But I heard him put the Republicans on notice: Fuck with me again like you have on health care and I'll show you the meaning of fierce.