Apparently Harry Reid isn't intimidated by Alan Greenspan's mumbling, rambling, and dodging. Instead of hailing Greenspan as the all-knowing master of the economy, he choose to take him head on.
Reid ripped Greenspan during an interview on CNN's "Inside Politics." He said the Fed chairman has given President Bush a pass on deficits that have built up in the past four years and should be challenging Republicans on their fiscal policies, rather than promoting Bush's plan to introduce personal accounts into Social Security.
Pull up a chair and pass the popcorn.
For a decade, politicians on the left and the right have treated Alan Greenspan as if he were a sacred cow. No matter what nonsense he spewed in his latest visit to capitol hill, they all got down on their knees to praise the man. So is Reid impressed? Eh...
not so much.
I'm not a big Greenspan fan -- Alan Greenspan fan," Reid said when asked about the Fed chairman's testimony this week urging Congress to deal quickly with the financial problems facing Social Security and Medicare. "I voted against him the last two times. I think he's one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington."
Reid points out, quite rightly, that when Democrats were in charge, Greenspan acted like a deficit hawk, constantly harping on the budget. Then Democrats got the budget under control, Republicans came to power, and suddenly Greenspan can't find a bad thing to say about how the Republicans have mismanaged the accounts.
Why doesn't he respond to the Republicans and tell them the big problem here is the debt that this administration is created?" he said. "We had a $7 trillion-dollar surplus when Bush took office. Now we have a $3 or $4 trillion-dollar deficit. That's, in fact, what Greenspan should be telling people."
Have I mentioned before how proud I am of Harry Reid? This is a man who won't back away from a fight and who won't take guff from anybody. This is exactly the man we need leading the charge.
Go get 'em, Harry. We've got your back.