Quite A Bit, But Not Very Much
That’s Harry Reid’s assessment of what was accomplished, which I think is pretty accurate. It’s more of a sauteing than a grilling as Ray Suarez at PBS holds Reid’s feet to the friendly fire:
RAY SUAREZ: Well, at the beginning of this year, the Democrats returned to the majority after 12 years in the minority. You and Speaker Pelosi announced a very ambitious agenda. Now that one year has passed and you look back, how has it gone?
SEN. HARRY REID: Well, we’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit, but not very much, certainly not as much as I wanted to. I’m kind of frustrated, like the American people.
“Quite a bit, but not very much” is actually a pretty fair summation of how over the past year the Democratic leadership in Congress demonstrated its moral bankruptcy, strategic poverty and poor grasp of either political realities or facts on the ground with repeated efforts to undermine critical U.S. interests and U.S. troops in the field. I’d call that a masterful turn of phrase.
RAY SUAREZ: Well, earlier this week, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, was on the program. And he said, when asked the same question, “Regretfully, we’ve spent most of the year having repetitious Iraq votes and investigations of the administration. It seems like all that happened was the approval rating of Congress kept getting lower and lower.” SEN. HARRY REID: Well, Ray, if I were one of those people in one of those polls that said “What do you think of Congress?” I would vote with the people who said we’re not doing very well.Reid should be applauded for his candor. Now let’s have some courage with the conviction. Resign! Or, barring that, at least start flapping in the new political wind direction.
I think we have so much more to do. And as far as Iraq, we had a responsibility.
Past tense. That’s interesting.
Moving on, Reid on Walter Reed says everyone there is a Reid fan. Dems support the troops. There’s the usual boutique war shopping: Afghanistan is much more fashionable than Iraq as a place to fight al-Qaeda. Iraqi politics are a trainwreck, that’s why we need to bail and let the Iraqis run the place. Re surge however, Reid says without apparent embarrassment, you can’t have it both ways. Illustration of his point requires two ways:
RAY SUAREZ: One thing that’s changed a great deal since the beginning of the year is the number of American troops that are dying in Iraq and the rate at which they’re dying and being wounded. The increase in the number of American troops in the theater, by many accounts, is having its desired effect, and the day-to-day violence in Iraq is in decline. Does that change your approach to Iraq? Does it force a change on your body, the Senate, in how you respond to calls to change direction now?SEN. HARRY REID: Ray, you can’t have it both ways. The president said, “Let’s send some more troops over there, and that will give the Iraqis the time to take care of themselves.” We sent other troops over there, and there are a lot of reasons the surge certainly hasn’t hurt. It’s helped. I recognize that.
But also, on your radio program, public radio today, there was a story about the fact that one of the academics said — it was a long interview — that said, you know, the ethnic cleansing has taken place all over Iraq. There is not the conflict because there is separation. There’s segregation in effect.
Here’s Reid as a master of irony.
… I understand the Congress. I’ve been in Congress for quite a few years. I understand the only way you can get things done is working together. I’ve always felt that. It hasn’t been the last couple of weeks; it’s been always.
Here’s more on his deep understanding of Congress.
RAY SUAREZ: So do you think the coming year is going to be much different from the year that’s just transpired?
SEN. HARRY REID: I hope so. I hope so for a number of reasons. One is that I think the Republicans are going to see that marching in tune with the president has not been helpful to them.
It’s not Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, talking now. It’s any pundit that you talk to. We’re going to pick up Senate seats. If the election were held today, we would pick up four seats. That would bring us up to 55.
Yeah, well, the election is not being held today, and the pundits, like the Democrats, thought George Bush was a lame duck a year ago. Marching in tune with the president has put Congressional Republicans on the same side as the majority of Americans who think things are going well in Iraq and would like to win there.
Meanwhile, Captains Quarters notes, lame duck Bush is going to ruin Congress’ Christmas.
Topics: pols
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:01 am on Saturday, December 22, 2007
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