tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post7695528078835312455..comments2024-03-28T10:28:28.343-05:00Comments on Althouse: Let's not laugh along with Jane Hamsher over Harry Reid's problems.Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-14063552706767585912009-01-09T14:53:00.000-06:002009-01-09T14:53:00.000-06:00Back in college my Political Science professors wa...Back in college my Political Science professors waxed nostalically on the legend of how congress worked so smoothly and effectively in the 1950's with the "greats" Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson running the House and Senate respectively. Statesmen, gentlemen, great bargainers, where business got done over "bourbon and branch water". Even if the legend is only half true, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are utter incompetents by comparison!<BR/><BR/>How does a modern Democratic Senate Major Leader change a lightbulb?<BR/><BR/>First he declares he won't; then he declares there is no lightbulb; then he declares he might; in the end, he screws it in halfway.<BR/><BR/>No matter what, he's still pretty dim!Nat Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02846647604550460931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-1568354942705115442009-01-09T08:05:00.000-06:002009-01-09T08:05:00.000-06:00I have been hoping that Reid would get his in more...I have been hoping that Reid would get his in more ways than one. But if the Left is for it that is going to take all the fun out of it.dave_WIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08802604601358940506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-38491165907249629492009-01-08T17:31:00.000-06:002009-01-08T17:31:00.000-06:00Simon whines: I don't understand why you have to i...Simon whines: <BR/><BR/><I>I don't understand why you have to insist on being such a total cunt to the person who has been so inexplicably generous to you in allowing you and your dribblings to remain.</I><BR/><BR/>Gee, nothing offensive there! <BR/><BR/>I don't understand why you need to insult people so much. You're a sad, bitter person clinging to a rigid ideology that you can't defend with reason so you quickly resort to insults. <BR/><BR/>As far as Ann, I've thrown some compliments her way over time, seek to point out, also, when I agree with her. And, I guess she just doesn't take the same censorious approach to disagreement that you do. <BR/><BR/>Besides, I'm good for her traffic.AlphaLiberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08711124490821422066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-84389315743831579432009-01-08T17:25:00.000-06:002009-01-08T17:25:00.000-06:00Jane's a babe!Jane's a babe!AlphaLiberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08711124490821422066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-68190731734620754672009-01-08T14:37:00.000-06:002009-01-08T14:37:00.000-06:00BTW, it's sort-of cool to hear mouse clicks reverb...BTW, it's sort-of cool to hear mouse clicks reverberating around the house. Maybe this is increasing my carbon footprint. I guess I should shut down the rooms I'm not in.Sprezzaturahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14859397164637821056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-44877520470110843342009-01-08T14:28:00.000-06:002009-01-08T14:28:00.000-06:00Of course, I'm in a glass house today, since I'm o...Of course, I'm in a glass house today, since I'm on a machine (connected to the dozen speakers around my house) w/o spell check, i.e. I haven't bothered putting on Firefox. But, if I were in congress, I'd definitely have spell check.Sprezzaturahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14859397164637821056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4488985454885693702009-01-08T14:25:00.000-06:002009-01-08T14:25:00.000-06:00Conyers also has flawsConyers <A HREF="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0109/Conyers_vs_Gupta.html#comments" REL="nofollow">also has flaws </A>Sprezzaturahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14859397164637821056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91733008695578626032009-01-08T14:22:00.000-06:002009-01-08T14:22:00.000-06:00Keep in mind that the GOP had a reasonably compete...<I>Keep in mind that the GOP had a reasonably competent Senate (*) Leader in Trent Lott at the start of Bush's term</I><BR/><BR/>Conservatives were long looking for an excuse to get rid of that hayseed, sh*t-for-brains Trent Lott. That is why he was so easily dumped. The Thurmond thing was just a convenient reason to dump him.Bender Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00089037605985975212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-81160512945704516042009-01-08T13:47:00.000-06:002009-01-08T13:47:00.000-06:00Keep in mind that the GOP had a reasonably compete...Keep in mind that the GOP had a reasonably competent Senate (*) Leader in Trent Lott at the start of Bush's term. He was deposed in a manufactured scandal. True, it was liberals barking about it, but the other side complaining is never enough. Lott found himself without support on his side, and that sunk him. The White House was more than happy to have the ineffectual Frist take over. <BR/><BR/>*Majority Leader at the start of the Bush term. Minority leader after Jeffords moved over. Lott would have been Majority Leader after the 2002 elections, were it not for the Thurmond birthday controversy.Peter Hohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06916196998855947137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-12170330864051260292009-01-08T13:45:00.000-06:002009-01-08T13:45:00.000-06:00EnigmatiCore said..."[Althouse said 'my fellow mod...EnigmatiCore said...<BR/>"<I>[Althouse said 'my fellow moderates and conservatives'] I thought you described yourself as a liberal?</I>"<BR/><BR/>Oh! I think we're seeing progress!<BR/><BR/>;)<BR/><BR/>I mean, if you're very smart, and you blog all the time, you're going to become less liberal. Someone smart will see that the liberal arguments are shallow and the unexamined assumptions begin to show up, and someone with a sense of decency who is exposed to how liberals actually behave via the leftosphere is going to be repulsed from all that. Don't you think?Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-9583093627250791642009-01-08T13:13:00.000-06:002009-01-08T13:13:00.000-06:00"my fellow moderates and conservatives"I thought y..."my fellow moderates and conservatives"<BR/><BR/>I thought you described yourself as a liberal?EnigmatiCorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00596092527748619763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-72924151733749730372009-01-08T11:12:00.000-06:002009-01-08T11:12:00.000-06:00Wow! He said habeas corpus and called it "ancient"...Wow! He said habeas corpus and called it "ancient"! That's well-reasoned, factual <I>and</I> humorous!Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66709485748031805902009-01-08T11:08:00.000-06:002009-01-08T11:08:00.000-06:00Shorter AL: waaaaaaaaaaah, Althouse won't blog abo...Shorter AL: waaaaaaaaaaah, Althouse won't blog about what I want her to blog about and reach the same prefab conclusions as me!!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaaaah! <A HREF="http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-new-bloggingheads-with-me-and-glenn.html#c3920013061056008900" REL="nofollow">I thought you'd promised us some well-reasoned, factual and humorous arguments</A>: can we get an ETA on those?<BR/><BR/>I don't understand why you have to insist on being such a total cunt to the person who has been so inexplicably generous to you in allowing you and your dribblings to remain.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-62019485044012524012009-01-08T10:52:00.000-06:002009-01-08T10:52:00.000-06:00Althouse: "...I think law is important..."Ha-ha. G...Althouse: <I>"...I think law is important..."</I><BR/><BR/>Ha-ha. Good one, Ann. <BR/><BR/>Maybe you do though, with some exceptions like when you're afraid, warrantless wiretapping, when a Republican President breaks the law, <A HREF="http://crooksandliars.com/2008/04/10/they-knew/" REL="nofollow">torture planned in detail by top Bush-Cheney officials</A>, denying the ancient writ of habeas corpus to scary brown people, abducting people off the streets and locking them up, GOP operatives blowing the cover of CIA agents working on WMD, over 100 people killed in US custody, etc, etc. <BR/><BR/>Other than THAT, yeah, you're all about the law. As long as you're not afraid of something else. <BR/><BR/>And that's my core Althouse objection. A law professor who embraces lawlessness and shredding the Constitution. Blows my mind, man.AlphaLiberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08711124490821422066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2175171721080444542009-01-08T10:25:00.000-06:002009-01-08T10:25:00.000-06:00This brings to mind on of the nuggets our friend M...This brings to mind on of the nuggets our friend Michael laid in an earlier thread ...<BR/><BR/>WAAAAAAA<BR/>WE LOST.<BR/><BR/>when what we're all saying is <BR/><BR/>HAHAHAHAHA<BR/>LOSERSDer Hahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05967487071137862252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-59170976236847315112009-01-08T10:11:00.000-06:002009-01-08T10:11:00.000-06:00Now what were we saying about Bush & Katrina &...Now what were we saying about Bush & Katrina & ineptitude?<BR/><BR/>And the Republican “culture of corruption”?<BR/><BR/>MSM is giving The One a pass on this & is not being that hard on ol' Harry, either. <BR/><BR/>BTW, with all that's going on, CNN this morning was taking Bush to task for not letting The one use Blair House RIGHT NOW! Watched in fascination for what seemed like five minutes, including an interview with some expert listing the number of rooms in the House & proving beyond a doubt that the strawberries were missing & The One could be accommodated in Blair House & Bush was a meanie.<BR/><BR/>What, Israel, Blogo, Reid, Russia/Ukraine? Nevermind. CNN; all the Republican bad news we can find or invent.From Inwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00555545963289759013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-78597714364237900702009-01-08T09:38:00.000-06:002009-01-08T09:38:00.000-06:00If the massively incompetent Illinois Republican p...If the massively incompetent Illinois Republican party can simply nominate a half way appealing candidate then the Republicans will pick up this Senate seat in 2011.<BR/><BR/>Harry Reid is a lawyer so what does he not understand about the rule of law and procedure.<BR/><BR/>His goal is understandable - keep the Illinois Senate seat in the Democrat column. The only reasonable option was to call for a special election and hope for the best.<BR/><BR/>Instead he contributed to the mess and almost guaranteed a Republican in the Senate from Illinois in 2011.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-16818770402330484332009-01-08T09:09:00.000-06:002009-01-08T09:09:00.000-06:00Henry, that was brilliant.Henry, that was brilliant.Darcyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05642443487136176511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-86705990563754791882009-01-08T09:06:00.000-06:002009-01-08T09:06:00.000-06:00MadisonMan said..."A new leader just has to be com...MadisonMan said...<BR/>"<I>A new leader just has to be competent. Is that too much to ask?</I>"<BR/><BR/>In this Senate? Yes. Watching this formerly august body, "the eye frequently does not discover a man of celebrity within its walls. Its members are almost all obscure individuals, whose names present no associations to the mind: they are mostly village-lawyers, men in trade, or even persons belonging to the lower classes of society." (If only <I>Democracy in America</I> had been more widely read before the submission of the Seventeenth Amendment for consideration, his diagnosis of the House might have prevented the ruin of the Senate.) And who do we find next in line after Reid? Why, it's the proverbial village-lawyer of whom Tocqueville wrote.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-21240024786147902342009-01-08T08:55:00.000-06:002009-01-08T08:55:00.000-06:00Let's wait and find out what senator elect Al Fran...Let's wait and find out what senator elect Al Franken has to say about this.AllenShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08848966772462502893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-48391608645352560332009-01-08T08:54:00.000-06:002009-01-08T08:54:00.000-06:00Richard Dolan: You knocked it out of the park. V...Richard Dolan: You knocked it out of the park. Very well said.MadisonManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01212179466758420208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-68590512791184619682009-01-08T08:50:00.000-06:002009-01-08T08:50:00.000-06:00You know, I do think Harry Reid is a dreadful lead...You know, I do think Harry Reid is a dreadful leader and a frequent source of embarrassment. But the conclusion isn't that a new leader has to be farther to the left (or to the right, for that matter). A new leader just has to be competent. Is that too much to ask?MadisonManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01212179466758420208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-85320087966466192372009-01-08T08:47:00.000-06:002009-01-08T08:47:00.000-06:00He's a hazard to Obama's agendaSure, Jane is worri...<I>He's a hazard to Obama's agenda</I><BR/><BR/>Sure, Jane is worried about a right-left thing.<BR/><BR/>But, is Reid more of a hazard to BHO's agenda or Jane's? For example, is she still pushing for Bush administration war crimes trials, or whatever it was. Seems like Reid helps BHO (and Senate Ds) be moderate, which may be why 1) Jane is upset, and 2) Reid is D Leader. <BR/><BR/>And anyway, didn't Reid emphatically and boldly state that he doesn't work for BHO, ipso facto, he will work for BHO.Sprezzaturahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14859397164637821056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-50796666736816572172009-01-08T08:46:00.000-06:002009-01-08T08:46:00.000-06:00It's hard not to laugh along with Hamsher (and...It's hard not to laugh along with Hamsher (and almost everyone else across the spectrum) at the way Reid & Co. have been played by Blago and Burris. But, while doing so, it bears remembering that a very self-interested bunch of pols picked Reid as their leader. All of those pols know Reid's obvious limitations, which were on full display in the Blago/Burris Show. Despite that, and despite whatever efforts a group of "leading Senate Democrats" might have made "to ease him out as Majority Leader last year," that same group kept him as their leader. <BR/><BR/>Hamsher and those like her may hate the idea of keeping the Dem Senate "centrally located" or of giving "Republicans some clout" (mostly so that Reps can share the blame when things inevitably go wrong), but it seems clear from their actions that the Dem Caucus in the Senate is taking a different tack. Unlike Hamsher, they're not political idiots, and know that governing is a very different exercise from campaigning to become the governing majority. I suspect many in the Dem Caucus agree that, in some ways, Reid is a "terrible leader" but, unlike Hamsher, also have decided that having him as leader helps them more than it hurts. Whether you agree with their political judgment or not, whether you think the Senate Dems have even a clue where the "center" could be found, the fact that they are keeping Reid tells you something important about trying to position themselves in the political center. <BR/><BR/>Ann looks at this and concludes: "So Jane's post doesn't make me say oh, ha ha, Harry Reid, what a fool. It makes me reconsider whether I want to continue knocking him around." Well, he deserves the knocking around. And the political judgment that makes the Dems want to keep him as leader is a far better guarantee of moderate and centrist policy results than any self-restraint in the blogger-knocking-around-fools department. <BR/><BR/>SO relax and enjoy the show.Richard Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12735773524374061429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-90509539125593756342009-01-08T08:39:00.000-06:002009-01-08T08:39:00.000-06:00Of course the party's going left. What did you thi...Of <I>course</I> the party's going left. What did you think would happen?KCFleminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00124201866124646626noreply@blogger.com