Unity does not mean capitulation

Predictably, the right has critiqued Joe Biden and the Democrats for talking about unity and then moving to pass his economic relief package with what is likely to be no Republican votes. Their complaint that its too expensive rings hollow when their administration increased the national debt by $3tn in its four years in office. When the 10 "moderate" GOP senators asked to talk to Biden to negotiate a smaller package it was clear that this was not a serious offer, and really just a stunt to make the GOP appear less intransigent and obstructionist than it really is. 

So no, unity doesn't mean wasting time on un-serious negotiations that were going nowhere, nor does it mean capitulating. And if one needed any more convincing that the GOP move was a public relations exercise, it is that there has been no followup offer from their side; they presented the President with offer so ridiculously below what he was proposing that it would have been difficult for him to entertain it as a serious proposal (which it evidently wasn't); and yet he had the good grace to meet with them for two hours. But true to form, the GOP isn't interested in compromise and presented their low-ball offer as a take-it-or-leave-it deal; which Biden, for obvious reasons, chose to leave.  One real benefit of Biden's 8 years in the VP's job is that he knows only too well the tricks in the GOP playbook. This isn't his first rodeo.      

And while we're on the subject of crass Republican behavior, those like Marco Rubio who purport to belong to the law and order party are all now brushing Trump's misbehavior under the rig and telling us we should be "moving on for the good of the nation". What happens to personal responsibility and holding people to account? The party whose position has been that ones actions cannot be excused by context?  Apparently that only applies to the left; those on the the right get a pass.  

And, Marco, complaining that the impeachment trial isn't creating any good paying jobs; well neither is your spending time on national TV complaining about the impeachment.