Jane Hamsher -- "I want to play poker with Harry Reid"
A tip of the hat to Professor Reynolds for the snort-worthy post of the day. Thanks to the controversy that FireDog Lake caused during the Democrat primaries for John Edwards' failed campaign we did not ever go back to the site despite our pledge to watch the opposition. It is due to Professor Reynolds' link to Jane Hamsher's piece today that took us back there, and after reading it, I had to compose myself to write this. I was laughing so hard I was almost in tears. She has a very valid point. If this is how Senator Reid plays poker then we should ALL want to play against him:
I want to play poker with Harry Reid. Really I do.
Rather than call for a special election in Illinois, Reid sends a letter to Blagojevich signed by everyone in the Democratic caucus asking him to step down. They assert that they will not seat anyone he appoints.
Harumph.
Blago wipes his ass with it and appoints Burris anyway.
Burris holds a press conference and announces he will be in D.C. on Tuesday to be sworn in with the rest of the Senate. Bobby Rush plays the race card. Reid does not see the handwriting on the wall.
He counters by calling Secretary of State Jesse White, who has already said he won't sign Burris's certification, and encourages him. What White is doing is most certainly outside his legal authority -- the Secretary of State doesn't have veto power. But Reid not only gives White a high five, he tells him they'll use this to keep Burris from being seated.
Then he smugly chortles about how he'll manipulate Senate procedure and punt to the Rules Committee, and assures everyone that they will drag things out for months if necessary until Blago is impeached and his successor appoints someone else. And he does it in the press.
Upon reading this, Cornyn announces that Franken won't have a signed certification either, and the GOP will use it to keep him from being seated.
Reuters: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded to Republican threats and agreed on Monday not to immediately seat fellow Democrat Al Franken."
Blago laughs out loud. This is amateur night in Dixieland. He leaks to the press that he spoke with Reid before the election, and that Reid didn't think any of the African American candidates vying for the seat were "electable," while Tammy Duckworth was. He stirs up the potential jury pool and makes Reid look like an idiot -- the day before Reid is set to appear on Meet the Press.
Reid looks like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs on Meet the Press. Nobody knows how much Fitz has (not even Fitz, who is still trying to transcribe his tapes) or how much he'll need to reveal to prove his case, so Reid says he "doesn't remember" his conversation with Blago, but calls Blago a liar anyway. When asked if he supported Jesse Jackson Jr. for the Senate seat, he says he would support JJJ. And admits that there's "room to negotiate" on Burris.
As they say, go read it all. I showed this to Thomas and he is still chuckling over it. Ms. Hamsher pegs Harry Reid perfectly. It is as though every time the stakes are raised on him he folds like a house of cards. This man comes from Nevada where gambling is legal. One would think he would have attended a poker game or two in his time living there. After all, poker is not a hard game to understand, unless you are Harry Reid, apparently.
Governor Blagojevic has to be laughing himself silly because he has beaten the Democrats like a drum. He was threatened, in a roundabout way, once he was arrested. Democrats immediately turned on him. The state legislature moved to strip him of his appointment powers. They failed in that respect, but moved onto impeachment. Democrats in Washington, DC tried to cajole him out of office, and promised they would not seat anyone he appointed. Of course they missed the fact that they could not stop it thanks to that little amendment in the Constitution that allows a state chief executive to make an appointment to fill up a vacancy.
Harry Reid doubled down, opened his mouth, and inserted his foot. Every time he has bluffed, it has been called. If it was not Governor Blagojevic slapping him around, John Cornyn did when Senator Reid boasted he would seat Al Franken immediately.
Ante, bet, raise, check, raise, fold. That is the routine that Harry Reid has gone through repeatedly over the course of the last couple of weeks. No wonder why Jennifer Rubin asked Harry Reid how his first day in the new Congress went.
Marcie
I want to play poker with Harry Reid. Really I do.
Rather than call for a special election in Illinois, Reid sends a letter to Blagojevich signed by everyone in the Democratic caucus asking him to step down. They assert that they will not seat anyone he appoints.
Harumph.
Blago wipes his ass with it and appoints Burris anyway.
Burris holds a press conference and announces he will be in D.C. on Tuesday to be sworn in with the rest of the Senate. Bobby Rush plays the race card. Reid does not see the handwriting on the wall.
He counters by calling Secretary of State Jesse White, who has already said he won't sign Burris's certification, and encourages him. What White is doing is most certainly outside his legal authority -- the Secretary of State doesn't have veto power. But Reid not only gives White a high five, he tells him they'll use this to keep Burris from being seated.
Then he smugly chortles about how he'll manipulate Senate procedure and punt to the Rules Committee, and assures everyone that they will drag things out for months if necessary until Blago is impeached and his successor appoints someone else. And he does it in the press.
Upon reading this, Cornyn announces that Franken won't have a signed certification either, and the GOP will use it to keep him from being seated.
Reuters: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded to Republican threats and agreed on Monday not to immediately seat fellow Democrat Al Franken."
Blago laughs out loud. This is amateur night in Dixieland. He leaks to the press that he spoke with Reid before the election, and that Reid didn't think any of the African American candidates vying for the seat were "electable," while Tammy Duckworth was. He stirs up the potential jury pool and makes Reid look like an idiot -- the day before Reid is set to appear on Meet the Press.
Reid looks like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs on Meet the Press. Nobody knows how much Fitz has (not even Fitz, who is still trying to transcribe his tapes) or how much he'll need to reveal to prove his case, so Reid says he "doesn't remember" his conversation with Blago, but calls Blago a liar anyway. When asked if he supported Jesse Jackson Jr. for the Senate seat, he says he would support JJJ. And admits that there's "room to negotiate" on Burris.
As they say, go read it all. I showed this to Thomas and he is still chuckling over it. Ms. Hamsher pegs Harry Reid perfectly. It is as though every time the stakes are raised on him he folds like a house of cards. This man comes from Nevada where gambling is legal. One would think he would have attended a poker game or two in his time living there. After all, poker is not a hard game to understand, unless you are Harry Reid, apparently.
Governor Blagojevic has to be laughing himself silly because he has beaten the Democrats like a drum. He was threatened, in a roundabout way, once he was arrested. Democrats immediately turned on him. The state legislature moved to strip him of his appointment powers. They failed in that respect, but moved onto impeachment. Democrats in Washington, DC tried to cajole him out of office, and promised they would not seat anyone he appointed. Of course they missed the fact that they could not stop it thanks to that little amendment in the Constitution that allows a state chief executive to make an appointment to fill up a vacancy.
Harry Reid doubled down, opened his mouth, and inserted his foot. Every time he has bluffed, it has been called. If it was not Governor Blagojevic slapping him around, John Cornyn did when Senator Reid boasted he would seat Al Franken immediately.
Ante, bet, raise, check, raise, fold. That is the routine that Harry Reid has gone through repeatedly over the course of the last couple of weeks. No wonder why Jennifer Rubin asked Harry Reid how his first day in the new Congress went.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 12:51 PM
3 Comments:
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Harry Reid is in the senate because the voters in nevada wanted to get him the hell out of their state.
Nevada's got plenty of state revenues from the gambling taxes, so they don't depend on the federal teat like a lot of other states do. They couldn't care less if they sent Harry Reid or Paris Hilton to the senate.
It seems to me that the only thing important for the Senate Democrats is that there not be a special election, because that might elect a Republican right now in the face of this scandal. Their only reason to refuse to accept a Blagojevich appointment was to avoid seeming to be in bed with him, or a part of his scandals. By "opposing" Blago and then folding, the Democrats get the best possible outcome, with another Democratic senator guaranteed for two years, without even a delay for an election.
I'm not saying Reid planned all of this, since a normal ego would probably avoid some of the embarrassments to which he has subjected himself, but it's certainly possible. More likely, Reid opposed Burris knowing that whether or not he succeeded in keeping him out, that was the only way to avoid looking a part of a "culture of corruption."
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