The Trouble with Harry

With one week to go, there's no sign that any liberal group will mount a challenge to the selection of Harry Reid as Senate Minority Leader.

E-mailing all 45 Democrats in the Senate got me a handful of pleasant form letters. I'm thinking about calling them next, since being a cog in the machinery of republic provides comfort in dark times.

Molly Ivins panned the selection of Reid this morning:

... let's get a battler from a safe blue state who doesn't have to worry about re-election all the time. I like Harry Reid, but Nevada is not blue and he's a little charismatically challenged.

Reid sounds like a solid red-state Democrat, but anyone who thinks he'll be a liberal bulwark against the Bush juggernaut should read his offical biography, which begins with admiring quotes from Trent Lott and Orrin Hatch and a photo of Reid gladhanding President Reagan.

A lot of people think that Reid's ability to dish out a parliamentary ass-kicking is all that matters. But if you share the view of James Carville and other mopey Democrats that the party needs a stronger message, the Minority Leader should be an articulate, unequivocal, and loud voice for our views.

Politics · 2004/11/09 · 1 COMMENT · Link

Comments

Starting to warm up to Reid. He might be strategic and fierce. He can use underhanded tactics to get around the filibuster problem.

Tough call though.

#1 · Alison · 2004/11/10