Instead of Actually Supporting Bipartisan Legislation, Biden Just Redefines 'Bipartisan' to Get Away with It
Top Biden administration advisers and one surrogate are attempting to redefine bipartisanship in order to make divisive President Joe Biden appear as though he is some sort of a unifying force for the country.
Biden is of course anything but a unifier. He and Democrats rammed through a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package last month, and most of that money will not go to COVID relief. Now, they’re aiming to pass a behemoth $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill. Naturally, the lion’s share of that partisan bill and its printed cash won’t go to infrastructure.
Other items on the Biden agenda are also anything but bipartisan. Gun control, immigration, climate change and this administration’s attack on American energy all come to mind, which poses a problem for the 78-year-old: He’s not yet extended that olive branch he promised. People are apparently beginning to take notice.
Biden’s advisers might have found a way, or so they think, to change the optics of his administration’s throwing unity to the wind. If they can simply change what it means to be bipartisan, then Biden retroactively becomes bipartisan. Many Democrats, the leftists the party attracts and their enablers have spent the last year — if not longer — redefining words and phrases in order to fit their narratives.
Why not go for it?
Last December, when Democratic lawmakers were not so subtle about their plans to explore packing the Supreme Court with left-wing activist judges, they were assisted by Dictionary.com, which actually updated that phrase to edit out the negative connotations with violating the judiciary.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary even updated its definition of what “sexual preference” means in response to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett last fall, National Review reported. Why? The old definition was almost certainly inconvenient with regard to telling a story different than the one leftists want people to hear.
The left again wants to use a linguistic sleight of hand maneuver, this time to portray Biden as a leader for all, The Washington Post reported. The left-wing paper slapped Democrats on the wrist for Biden’s so-far uncompromising presidency and unearthed some interesting quotes from people close to the White House.
“If you looked up ‘bipartisan’ in the dictionary, I think it would say support from Republicans and Democrats,” Anita Dunn, a Biden adviser, said. “It doesn’t say the Republicans have to be in Congress.”
[firefly_poll]
Isn’t that an exercise in mental gymnastics? But there’s more. Biden adviser Mike Donilon also attempted to rewrite what it means to work with others when speaking to The Post.
“The Biden definition of bipartisanship is an agenda that unifies the country and appeals across the political spectrum,” Donilon said. “I think it’s a pretty good definition to say you’re pursuing an agenda that will unite the country, that will bring Democrats and Republicans together across the country.”
“Presumably, if you have an agenda that is broadly popular with Democrats and Republicans across the country, then you should have elected representatives reflecting that,” the self-deceived adviser said.
Remember Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and the prior chief of staff for former President Barack Obama? He’s all-in on the push to make Biden appear as a great unifier.
“What’s become crystal clear is that Biden has redefined bipartisan,” Emanuel said. “It isn’t how many Republicans I’ve got. It’s about how many Republican voters or mayors and governors can I get to support my stuff. And Washington is slow to catch up to the Biden definition.”
Biden apparently looks at polling, and he’s been under the impression that he’s got support from droves of Republican voters.
But even The Post admitted that the Biden strategy of counting the support of Republican voters is disingenuous, or as the left-wing paper put it, Biden has “overstated” how many actual voters support him spending away the country’s future.
“Biden has at times overstated the level of GOP support for his policies. Across five national polls since late February, for example, between 54 percent and 73 percent of Republicans opposed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package,” The Post noted.
“But the bill enjoyed majority support from the public overall, and a CNN poll in March found that a majority of Republicans backed specific parts of it — including larger tax credits for families (73 percent), additional funding to help schools resume in-person classes (55 percent) and stimulus checks up to $1,400 to most families and individuals (55 percent).”
When a CNN poll is floated, you know you’ve heard enough. Biden is driving people away by refusing to work with Republicans in any meaningful way, and that’s something his administration must be aware of.
Leftist Democrats are back to attempting to be clever by subverting and undermining language. The simple solution here, obviously, would be to try their hands at actual bipartisanship — which would begin in either the House or the Senate.
Congress members generally never seem to have an issue with working together when the time comes for lawmakers to give themselves a pay raise. If they could channel that spirit of unity toward something on behalf of the American people, wouldn’t that be preferable to being deceptive?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
