In this world, there are Democrats, and then there is Senator Harry Reid.
The first, we have disagreements with, and it stops there. These are the Democrats we send birthday cards to.
The second is the kind that we dislike, and that's Harry Reid. These are the Democrats we avoid at all costs.
We learned yesterday that Mr. Reid will retire at the end of this term in 2016. His departure creates another open seat and probably an opportunity for a GOP candidate to win that election.
Let me say this about Senator Reid:
1) He will always be remembered for his cheap shot at Mitt Romney from the US Senate floor:
Reid suggested that Romney’s decision to withhold tax information would bar him from ever earning Senate confirmation to a Cabinet post. Then, Reid recalled a phone call his office received about a month ago from “a person who had invested with Bain Capital,” according to The Huffington Post.It does not get much lower than that! To my knowledge, the media never challenged him or demanded an explanation or apology. Wonder what the media's reaction would have been if a leading GOP senator had said something similar about President Obama...
Reid said the person told him: “Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years.”
“He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain,” Reid told HuffPo. “But obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?”
Neither Reid nor his aides would identify the alleged investor, HuffPo reported.
2) Senator Reid hurt Democrats in 2014. His decision to avoid votes on Obamacare probably killed Democrats in red states. They would have had a fighting chance if the majority leader had revised the law and permitted some amendments. The Obama White House warned the majority leader that the law would be significantly changed if it came up to a vote in an election year. He put the Obama agenda over his fellow senators.
My guess is that very few of these Democrats came around to say goodbye to the majority leader on their last day on the job.
My guess is that Senator Reid leaves Washington with very few friends. Frankly, he isn't a very nice person, nor someone who has made the U.S. Senate a nobler institution, as Charles C W Cooke wrote.
3) Senator Reid had a nasty mouth, as T. Beckett Adams reminded us today. He played the race card, called people "liars," said that the GOP wanted to poison people, and a few other charming things.
We wish Mr. Reid a happy retirement. He may have helped some of the Obama agenda with his tactics, but his legacy is a GOP majority, and a good chance that a GOP senator from Nevada will replace him.
P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.
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