Every now and then we all jump up and down about what a great job Harry Reid is doing as Minority leader because of some solitary pronouncement he made. Just yesterday, Kos talked about the battle being "engaged" because Harry said of the Republicans: "If they don't get what they want, they attack whoever's around," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "Now they're after the courts, and I think it goes back to this arrogancy of power."
Tough eh? Karl Rove must be quaking.
That was yesterday. Here's Harry again as reported in today's NYTimes.
<<As interest groups stepped up their lobbying, the political parties continued maneuvering in advance of a potential Senate vote to bar the filibusters. Mr. Reid said he was willing to consider ways to avoid a floor fight.
"Let's just calm down and see where the American people are on this issue," he said.>>
Excuse me? Innocuous as it sounds this is the sort of thing that drives me nuts. Its drip, drip, drip. This from the man who had kind words for Scalia as Chief Justice. Drip.
Less than three weeks ago, he proudly announced: "I am pleased Senator Frist and I were able to pass the bill that protects the life of Terri Schiavo by allowing her parents to go to federal court. If the House Republicans refuse to pass our bipartisan bill, they bear responsibility for the consequences." Drip.
He must have thought that he would receive good marks from somewhere for taking such a stand. The burning question is who is he trying to impress?
Is he now saying that his reaction to the Republican's nuclear option depends on seeing where the American people are on the issue?
Is he saying, let's take a poll before we take a stand?
And what's this talk about wanting to avoid a fight? Hasn't the battle already been "engaged"?
And how come our fearless leader does not yet know or understand that trying to "avoid a fight" with the Republican zealots is the very thing that spurs them on?
And what about all the lofty words about the harm the nuclear option would do to our democracy, by turning the law inside out and make illegality legal, as one senator said? Was it all just talk, because in the end Harry has to get a permission slip from his pollster? What about what is right for the country? Indeed, what about conviction?
Clearly Harry Reid does not have a clue as to what he's up against with the Republicans. Naïve soul, he behaves as if politics is a giant PTA meeting, and he comforts himself with civics text bromides about the virtues of compromise and bipartisanship.
And what exactly would he be willing to trade off (to consider) to avoid a fight? Is there anything, any principle, that these people believe in so strongly, so implicitly, that they will not compromise on it? If they cannot defend the filibuster without reservations, then what will they stand up for? If the Republicans wanted to scrap say the Voting Rights act, would he say he's willing to consider ways to "avoid a fight"? Can they ever be counted upon to say: "NO. This is not right and we are not going to let you do that. Period."
These people have no sense of right & wrong. No conviction. And that, more than anything else is what hurts the Democrats and sets us all back.