They were speaking out of both sides of their mouth, per usual. They deserve no credit, they only acted when their actions would have no consequences.

Don't say that. That makes people reluctant to be adults and do what needs to be done. People deserve some recognition for, eventually, doing just that.

edit: Guys. By resorting to ad hominems and offering no incentive for changing one's mind, you are practically guaranteeing calcification and re-entrenchment. Are you happy that you contributed to the situation in a positive way?

Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.

Let them earn respect by demonstrating that they understand their wrongs and taking ongoing substantive action to change.

> offering no incentive for changing one's mind

What offers even less incentive is when someone knows they will never be held accountable.

Give them some credit when they give a mild amount of evidence that they have actually changed their ways. Doing the right thing in a single instance is not enough evidence.

Mitch: "I'm sorry baby, take me back. I promise I won't do it again."

I've been in abusive relationships, fuck a single apology, change materializes due to consequences. There need to be consequences first.

When the murderer stops stabbing his victim for a second to take a breath you dont commend him. These are adults. They are malicious. They are not trying to do the right thing, and deserve no commendation.

You don't appease Hitler, you stop him.

This is an OK attitude to young children, not adults.

And one day trump will finally be Presidential (TM)

Any one off act is meaningless. What matters is continued, persistent good behaviour. Once in a blue moon is just bad behaviour.

Your standards are too low, and encourages people with bad behaviour to not change. After all, you get accolades for doing one good thing in a sea of bad, but get admonished for one bad thing amidst a sea of good

You give recognition to a toddler when it learns how to use the toilet, not when grown men in positions of responsibility do the bare minimum it's expected of them

You mean, treat them like special snowflakes?

Look if you still fault them for doing the right thing why should they do the right thing? Give it a rest! Acknowledge that they have done the right thing now! People deserve credit for taking the correct moral stand unlike the terrorist group attacking Washington DC right now!

> moral stand

They're refusing to undermine the system from which their own legitimacy and power derives. There's nothing moral about it.

Agreed. We must allow for people to change their mind.

They had so many chances to do the right thing though. It still is good that they didn't go crazy hysterical like Trump and eventually accepted but I won't cut them any cookie for it.

I wasn't sure if McConnel finally found a conscious or if he was simply pissed off at Trump for spreading the "Stop the Steal" nonsense that likely suppressed a little bit of Republican turnout and lost them the Ossoff/Perdue race. That speech seemed carefully calculated to draw the maximum ire of the President.

I'm sorry, but WHY are you glad about that? If anything that infuriates me more. They have known about these threats for months if not years and decided to do nothing until actual violence was at their doorsteps.

But only when violence was on their literal doorsteps.