Senate Democrats stand by Harry Reid

[ProSense]

Senate Democrats stand by Harry Reid

Senate Democrats lost their majority on Harry Reid’s watch. But they’re closing ranks around him anyway.

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After announcing he would again caucus with the Democrats next year and pull the party toward the center, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said in a telephone interview that he’d back Reid. So did Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), perhaps the most liberal member of the caucus.

“I am sympathetic to Harry’s politics. I think Harry is a progressive. For his entire political life, he has stood for working people,” Sanders said. “Running a caucus is a very difficult process, because you have to accommodate people like Joe Manchin who have conservative views … Harry has done a good job in maintaining unity.”

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So for all his caucus’ troubles, Reid will return to lead the Democrats for another term and no longer shoulder the blame for the Senate’s management. Instead, the onus will be on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his caucus to follow through on their pledge to open up the Senate floor in a way they claim Reid would not.

- more -

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C5BA1398-D850-470A-9F95-DFF9765292ED

Senate Democratic caucus: same as it ever was.

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. I fault Reid less than Obama, Pelosi or Wasserman-Schultz. n/t

[kentuck]

3. Except for all those bills on his desk..

And the division created by his obstruction. That's what all Repubs believed. I never heard any Democrats dispute it.

[True Blue Door]

5. What the fuck is there to fault Obama with in this election?

Other than being a black President without Republican permission?

[BlueCaliDem]

6. BINGO. That's the ONLY reason he should be faulted - he wasn't the color Republicans found

permissible for a president.

[BlueCaliDem]

7. I don't fault Reid or Obama or Pelosi. But I'm not a Republican so...

That said, Wasserman-Schultz as head of the DNC should be faulted as well as Steve Israel, head of the DCCC, for not using President Obama more in the campaigns and failed to inspire the Obama Coalition that gave him 51% of the vote in 2012.

They should be faulted for not having Democratic senators and congressmen tout the fast improving economy or that millions got health care because of ObamaCare, or that we're enjoying the longest stretch of job growth in this country under this president.

[MADem]

2. The Senate picks their own leadership. They KNOW who is capable, diligent, and a leader.

Good thing, too, because if it were left up to the voters, they'd be choosing people who would drive the party off a cliff.

[BlueCaliDem]

8. Yep. We will need Reid to counter McConnell. Reid knows the Senate rules like nobody's business,

and No-Lips-Mitch is a wily one when abusing senate rules. He can't be allowed to do that without a fight.

[MADem]

9. He is the toughest so-and-so behind closed doors, too.

Everyone thinks that quiet, soft-pitched voice is representative of his character. That couldn't be further from the truth. He's a snarling LION in sheep's clothing! And you are exactly right--he knows the rules like no one's business.

[Takket]

4. I lost any respect I had for Reid when

He caved to McConnell on the filibuster reforms.

[BlueCaliDem]

11. You don't know that. For all you know, Reid made an agreement with McConnell to lay off

removing the filibuster rule entirely in exchange for McConnell's agreement that, when he become Majority Leader - which wasn't an impossibility considering the American electorate's annoying Attention Deficit Disorder, as we've seen in last election - that he not kill the filibuster completely, either.

We'll see what happened behind closed doors when No-Lips-Mitch takes control of the Senate in January.

[UTUSN]

10. Repost from Nov 6:

Remembering DASCHLE kissing Shrub, I say thank you to Harry REID

Back when Shrub first took power and I think pre-9/11 when the media was tiptoeing with NO criticism of him, the t.v. was in the background and I heard somebody call Shrub a liar. I was pleasantly surprised and looked up to see who it was and it was Harry REID. Since then he has called out wingnuts of different shades of detestability, including Mittens over paying taxes, the KOCHes, LIMBOsevic, et al. Yes, the DASCHLE days were full of the fearful and timid Democrats afraid of being called "unpatriotic" and I sometimes defended DASCHLE for the difficulty of walking the line. But whatever else, Harry has at least spoken up.