Go Along to Get Along Harry

Harry Reid appears to be a really nice guy; soft spoken, polite, someone you’d like to have over to dinner. As Senate minority leader he has been about as effective as yesterday’s Ramen. He is simply the wrong man at the wrong time. When the nation stands at a dangerous crossroads, he seems to be to committed to disturbing the troubled waters of the Bush administration as little as possible.

The reasons Democrats gave for electing this quiet man in 2004 as minority leader, when the GOP were at the peak of their bitter partisanship, incivility, gross illegality and unconstitutionality, were suspect.
Reid was described as someone who worked well with the White House. In other words when a dangerous administration was going off the rails and a warrior was needed, an comrade and and a possible appeaser was selected. A Democratic Party serious about good government and who stongly suppported civil rights would never have made such a choice.

The other reason for fingering Reid is that he is supposedly a parliamentary expert. The fact that he often declined to use his purported expertise is puzzling.
Either it was a myth or something very unpleasant was happening. Only on a few occasions did Reid pull a parliamentary rabbit from his hat. These were big issues that he ignored; women’s reproductive rights, the economic security of Americans, criminality in high places, the survival of the US constitution, illegal war and war crimes, corporate interests over the interests of voters.
During his two years as minority leader he never exercised the filibuster, the most powerful tool a minority party has.

I’ll grant Reid the social security victory but I blame him, with good reason for the radicalizing of the Supreme Court, the shredding of the constitution, the war on poor and working Americans, fiscal irresponsibility, screwing seniors out of their drug benefit and helping Bush confirm almost all of the Iran Contra gang still capable of holding a pen.

In fact, almost none of the heinous Bush agenda would have passed into law without the help of the DINOs. Reid was either in the DINO camp or failed to marshal the troops even on something as egregious as suspending habeas corpus and immunity from war crimes. Ten Democrats thought a civil right that dates back to the Magna Carta should be put in the keeping of president who is a confessed criminal and that crimes against humanity should go unpunished.

Only when the electorate raised h--- did he made half hearted attempts to oppose the troglodytes that Bush routinely offered up for positions of power and trust. After promising voters that Democrats would save the Supreme Court, he endorsed corporatist and anti-abortion John Roberts for the Supreme Court and was unwilling or unable to maintain the Alito filibuster. He supported Rumsfeld re-upping, Chertoff (much more the villain in the New Orleans than the hapless, clueless Brown) and Gonzales.

He voted for war even when Senator Byrd warned that if the senate passed the authorization for the use of force that they may as well shut their doors and go home. He did not oppose the abusive and much abused Patriot Act 1 or 2.

He gave troubled GOP moderates who would have been willing to dis the White House in exchange for something good to take home to their constituents absolutely no reason to do so by failing to organize the rotating cadre of self interested Democrat sellouts who pushed Bush’s agenda over the hump. The deeply flawed trade agreements like CAFTA sailed through the senate; the draconian bankruptcy bill as did all of Bush’s drunken spending bills. He failed to come down hard on the Bush administrations losses in Iraq.

In an effort to combat his limp-wristed image, he tried to conflate his flaccid stand on issues with a real stand up guy, Harry Truman. His ludicrous outreach to the netroots “Give ‘em Hell Harry” inevitably forced a response from me, and very likely others who have been angry and discouraged by the supine behavior of the Senate Democrats.

The Democrats who elected him today as senate majority leader delivered a slap in the face to voters who overwhelmed a rigged election system to enable the Democrats to take over congress and change the way America does business.
I really question the wisdom and judgment of those who voted for him. We can hope I'm wrong but it doesn't look good.

Where Nancy Pelosi, who had her share of dropping the ball before Nov. 7th, has taken the bit in her teeth and pushed aside those who threaten a successful Democratic congress, Reid begins his ascendancy by pushing for a speedy confirmation for a highly questionable nominee, Robert Gates to fill Donald Rumsfeld’s bloody shoes.

Gates is all the things that Rumsfeld is and more. According to Robert Parry , who knows more about Iran Contra than anyone except the perps, Gates was involved in delaying releasing the hostages till after Carter was thrown out of office, deeply involved in the treasonous and criminal activities of Iran Contra itself, implicated in the arming of Iraq in 1986, cooked intelligence on Afghanistan, tried to remake the CIA as a tool of the White House instead of an independent information and advisory body. In the interests of pushing through his agenda in a GOP congress, Clinton mistakenly settled for a cursory investigation.
New information has come to light, some it from Iraq that shows that Gate’s answers were not candid.

Like Rumsfeld Gates is a Bush family crony and is in tight with Cheney.
Like Rumsfeld, he is inexperienced in military matters and was a supporter of Saddam’s. Like Donald he has a record of politicizing intelligence. We have all had a painful object lesson in what lack of saavy and independence can yield. We really don't to need to repeat this exercise.

Quick confirmation? No fully informed ethical member of congress of either party would recommend a rubber stamp for this nominee. The last time they rubber stamped this guy, he had the CIA agents going to selected think-tanks to better to mold their intelligence according to the White House line.
A rushed confirmation is a slap in the face to those serving in the military. They are the ones that have paid for triple sins of hubris, dishonesty and denial that are the trademarks of those too close to this White House.

Harry needs to go backbone camp or better yet step aside for a less active role in the new Democratic senate. I don’t know how much his lackluster performance is related to his health. He suffered a mild stroke a year or so ago. At best he is a socially conservative Democrat who doesn’t believe in making waves.
These are not the qualities needed to stop the Bush/Cheney juggernaut. Senate majority leader in these perilous times is not an honorary post. It's going to require real courage and stamina.

Step aside Harry. Give the job to someone who knows the difference between please and thank you and "giving 'em hell". You've had your turn and it's someone else brand new day.
Carol DW