Harry Reid And The Floppy Red Shoes

This is one for the archives. The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Harry Reid's hometown paper, is calling Harry Reid a clown for his inept, irresponsible behavior and statements. They are scathing in this editorial.

The Democratic strategy to use the ongoing violence in Iraq to their political advantage in the run-up to the 2008 elections requires some skill and nuance. But it's growing harder to believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — Nevada's own — actually possesses those skills.

The Democratic strategy is anything but straightforward.

Sen. Reid and his colleagues know there is much political hay to be made by criticizing President Bush's planning and conduct of the post-war occupation. But they also know that while "cut our losses and pull out" plays well in Democratic caucuses, it failed in the Connecticut general election in 2006, when Sen. Joseph Lieberman and his anti-surrender stance handily defeated end-the-war candidate Ned Lamont — even though Sen. Lieberman had to run as an independent to pull it off.

That's the kind of "poll" that really counts.

Thus, the Democrats' careful strategy requires them to appear to oppose Mr. Bush's ongoing occupation of Iraq (to please their pacifist base), without taking any concrete, "binding" actions to change the status quo.

Enter Sen. Reid, flopping around in big red shoes like Bozo the Clown.

A few weeks ago, Sen. Reid said on a major weekend talk show that he favored a firm deadline for withdrawal of all forces from Iraq. When members of his own caucus said, "What? First we've heard," the senator went into damage control mode — the kind that starts out with staffers explaining, "What the senator meant to say was …"

But last week he was back at it. As the Democratic House voted 215-199 Thursday to uphold legislation ordering troops out of Iraq next year, Sen. Reid appeared in public to declare the war in Iraq is "lost."

I have pointed out – repeatedly – that the American voters did not give the Democrats a mandate to lose a war. But the leadership of Reid and Pelosi have focused on that to the exclusion of all of the rest of the reasons they were elected. This latest ineptitude from Reid will come back to haunt the Democrats in 2008 when the voters have to decide who to trust with national security. By acting to demoralize our troops while emboldening the enemies of this nation, Harry has gone a long way toward letting the voters know who can't be trusted.

The clown shoes will not help.

Other Links to this Post

1. Hyscience — April 23, 2007 @ 5:18 am

2. Freedoms Zone — April 23, 2007 @ 7:06 am

3. Blue Crab Boulevard » Stand. Fight. Win. — April 26, 2007 @ 10:09 am

4. Blue Crab Boulevard » Ouch — May 4, 2007 @ 8:07 am