Reid selected to be Senate Minority Leader

[Q]

Reid selected to be Senate Minority Leader

Durbin of Illinois elected to be second in charge

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 Posted: 10:44 AM EST (1544 GMT)


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats are changing management, their ranks reduced to a 74-year low and their longtime leader defeated for re-election back home.

Sen. Harry Reid, a soft-spoken Nevadan, is moving in as leader of the shrunken minority, while Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota moves out after a decade as the party's chief spokesman and strategist on the Senate floor.

Reid's ascension was preordained at Tuesday's meeting of Senate Democrats, their ranks smaller by four following the November 2 elections. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, in line to succeed Reid as the party's second-ranking Senate leader, was also unopposed.

Reid, 64, takes command of a party that will have only 44 seats when the new Congress convenes in January, fewer than at any time since Herbert Hoover sat in the White House, according to records on the Senate's Web site.

With the exception of abortion rights and gun control, both of which he opposes, Reid's recent voting record on major issues puts him in the mainstream of Senate Democrats.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/16/senate.democrats.ap/index.html

[MrUnderhill]

1. "their ranks smaller by four"???

Four??


Oh wait...

...were they still counting Zell Miller as a Democrat?


Ok.. four.

[Q]

3. I believe appointing Reid proves the party still doesn't 'get it'...

...wonder how long it will take before they wake up and realize that the Bush* GOP is out to destroy them?

[andyhappy]

5. republican light...

they don't get it.

[Q]

2. "...their ranks reduced to a 74-year low..."

- Fewer Dem seats since HOOVER sat in the White House?

- Geez...think it's time to try something different?

[elepet]

4. Who actually apponted him?

Did all the democratic senators vote? How does this thing work, and what are the duties of minority leader? How much power?
Anti abortion? does that mean he can keep the dems from filbustering a Bush appointee to the supreme court?

[placton]

6. I am on the verge of giving up being a Democrat

Here's how the Washington Post describes our NEW Tom Daschle:

"...the senators have signaled that it is more important to have a consummate legislative technician and vote counter at their helm in the 109th Congression will largely dictate the agenda."
***
Reid, a Mormon from tiny Searchlight, Nev., lacks Daschle's flair as a speaker and public figure and rarely goes on TV outside his home state. Moreover, he gets along well with Republican leaders and has parted company with most Democratic lawmakers on some prominent issues, such as his support for a constitutional ban on flag burning and his opposition to abortion in most cases..."
****
" "He has absolutely no fear," said Jimmy Ryan, a former Reid aide who now lobbies for Citigroup. "He knows when to call a vote, and when to let your members know it's time to walk the plank. . . . He's probably the best reader of human beings I've ever met."
***
Reid's first challenge is to help his fellow Democrats assess the election results and decide whether to soften their opposition to GOP initiatives such as putting conservatives on the federal bench or drilling for oil in Alaskan wilderness. Daschle's loss is credited largely to Republican John Thune's portrayal of him as "the chief obstructionist" to President Bush's agenda, a worrisome thought for Democrats seeking reelection in 2006.

"His immediate challenge is to preside over an internal soul-searching debate" on "just how much to obstruct," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the GOP whip. McConnell said he hoped the new Democratic caucus would be less confrontational than the last but added: "The duty of the opposition is to oppose." <...>

Reid declined to grant interviews on his new leadership position until this morning's caucus vote makes it official. But shortly after the election, he hinted to Nevada reporters that Senate Democrats will make few, if any, concessions despite their setbacks."

Yep, it's more of the same. The Dem Senators will give us the same pablum. Who could have imagined there was a WORSE choice than Daschle? But our folks in Washington found him.

[Q]

11. Funny...but Republicans prided themselves on being 'obstructionists'...

...during Clinton's two terms. Now many Dems think it's a bad idea to obstruct the agenda of the most secretive, destructive executive branch in history?

- Of course the GOPers don't want Democrats to get in the way of their RWing agenda. Looks like they got their way...again.

[high density]

7. I just watched Reid give a press conference on C-SPAN

I wasn't overly impressed... Then again it didn't seem like he could be any worse than Daschle.

At the press conference, a reporter asked him what he thought of Sen. Lincoln Chafee and he refused to answer the question. Does anybody understand what that was about?

[placton]

8. Chaffee said, before the election, he would not vote for W

He and the other moderates (yeah right) have been told to get out of the Republican party by several wingers.

[FubarFly]

9. Bleh.

Either our Democratic leadership still doesn't get it, or they are intentionally trying to dismantle the Party. Regardless,it's about to get much much worse for working class Americans.

A pro-coathanger Democrat as minority leader? Are you fucking kidding me?

[kentuck]

10. How is Reid similar to Daschle ?

They both come from Repu states and must mold their messge around their constituency, not their Party. They cannot speak as true Democrats, otherwise, they will lose. Although Reid is a good man, he was the wrong choice at this time, in my opinion.

[Q]

12. Notice that none of the more 'liberal' senators were even considered?

...It's because they have been effectively cut out of leadership roles by the New Democrats.

- We desperately need new leadership...those who will recognize that becoming more like the enemy of democracy will only lead to further loses.