Excellent AP article on Harry Reid

"I think he should be a commander in chief and not a campaigner in chief. This whole administration can't get out of the campaign mode," the Nevada Democrat said late Tuesday.

"Let them start governing a little bit. They are great at campaigns. Bush's brain, (White House chief of staff) Karl Rove, is a very good campaigner."

Reid, who has sharpened his criticism of Bush over the past month, said Bush's stubbornness is apparent not just in his refusal to budge on the war in Iraq "but on everything we do."

[. . . ]

"I made it as far as I have by not being a partisan, but right now I have a job to do," said Reid, who was elected to the Senate in 1987 after serving two terms in the House.

"It's hard for me to be always nagging ... I like to get along. As I've said, I'd rather dance than fight. But the American people have been pushed against a wall and I'm fighting for them," he said.

Reid recalls how Bush declared upon his first election in 2000 that he wanted to be "a uniter, not a divider."

"That's Orwellian because it has been just the opposite," the senator said.

(thanks to skadi at And, yes, I DO take it personally...)

Have you read the Reid Plan? I like it. It is an excellent plan. The plan is not final, which is unfortunate. I'm hoping that they will submit the final version shortly.

The question is, will it remain a piece of paper?

Just got this letter from Harry Reid, and believe Political Cortex could boost the numbers on his petition to bring our troops home from Iraq:

Last week I asked you to join me in telling George Bush that he must change the course in Iraq. So far, more than 110,000 of you have signed the petition and more are signing on every hour. Let's keep this momentum going.

Together we can tell George Bush right now: You can no longer mislead Congress and the American people. It's time for an Iraq success strategy that will bring our troops home.

If you haven't signed please do - and if you have ask your friends to sign by visiting:

http://giveemhellharry.com/ page/petition/iraq

Yesteday's maneuver by Harry Reid to force the Senate into closed session was characterized by the GOP leadership as a "stunt."

I disagree. That wasn't a stunt. THIS was a stunt....

Chimpy McFLightsuit in action

When Senator Reid pulled the Senate into a closed session, you could practically see the smoke coming from Bill Frist's ears.  The Republicans were caught absolutely flat-footed.

In a town where every third word is hyperbole, this time they really seemed angry.  Frist's immediate reaction was to call the whole thing "a stunt."

Know what?  He was right.

From the Washington Post (By Mark Wilson -- Getty Images)

Yee-hah! Harry Reid's masterful maneuver yesterday - besides its being a piece of glory in its own right - is, I hope, the beginning of something much, much bigger. Namely, that Democrats will finally, loudly and boldly, say:

Hell, yes, we're obstructionists. And proud of it.

Of course, Democrats have spent timid years struggling to duck this very label. But NOW - I say, NOW - is the time for the party to embrace "obstructionism," ask this term to the prom and marry it. With polls showing the majority of Americans think the country is "on the wrong track," it's time to flat-out say:

It's our constitutional duty to obstruct bad laws and bad policies that damage our country and its people.

"In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them."


- Sun Tzu

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him."


- Sun Tzu

If you've been keeping up with the news today, then you certainly know about the fact that Harry Reid invoked a rarely used parliamentary maneuver that effectively shut the Senate down today, in order to force Republicans into finally agreeing to truly investigate the manipulation of intelligence that they used to justify the War in Iraq.

Harry tells us why on his own blog (yes, his own blog):

This past weekend, we witnessed the indictment of I. Lewis Libby, the Vice President's Chief of Staff and a senior Advisor to President Bush. Libby is the first sitting White House staffer to be indicted in 135 years. This indictment raises very serious charges. It asserts this Administration engaged in actions that both harmed our national security and are morally repugnant.

The decision to place U.S. soldiers in harm's way is the most significant responsibility the Constitution invests in the Congress. The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really about: how the Administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions.

More on the flip

Bush has wasted little time in selecting another nominee for Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the Supreme Court (it's almost as if he has done this before).  This one is the fight we have been waiting for since 2000 when Bush promised to appoint another historical revisionist (aka strict constructionist) to the Court.

This time the papers already have their research done and many Senators already have an idea of what to think, the wingnuts are cheering and we have started urging our Senators to fight.

The real questions are 10? 41? 50? and 50?  Are there 10 Senators on committee who might turn him down?  Do we have 41 votes to maintain a filibuster?  Do they have 50 Senators to implement the Nuclear Option (+Cheney)?  And after that do they have the votes to pass Alito in an "upperdown" vote.

The Minority Leader doesn't pull any punches:

WASHINGTON - The Senate Democratic leader said Sunday that presidential adviser Karl Rove should resign because of his role in exposing an undercover CIA officer, and a veteran Republican senator said President Bush needs "new blood" in his White House. [...]

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he is disappointed that Bush and Cheney responded to the indictment by lauding Libby and suggested they should apologize for the leak that revealed the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame.

"First of all, the vice president issues this very terse statement praising Libby for all the great things he's done," Reid said. "Then we have the president come on camera a few minutes later calling him Scooter and what a great patriot he is. There has not been an apology to the American people for this obvious problem in the White House," Reid, D-Nev., told ABC's "This Week."