Give 'Em Hell, Harry II

harryreid
Originally uploaded by dangunderman.

I have not always been impressed with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. His rise to power coincided with Bush's victory, which at the time was attributed to the so-called "moral values" vote. In response, the Democrats, in their typical let's-show-the-people-what-we-really-stand-for way, named the pro-life Reid to lead them in the Senate. So the man's always had at least one strike against him in my scorebook.

I even named him Dickhead of the Week a few short months ago, until he got out Dickheaded by Frisky Frist, and I was forced to change winners.

But Harry's shown some fire of late. After what I considered to be a rocky start when dealing with the "nuclear option," he wrote Frisky an open letter, saying the closest thing to "Bring It On" a Democrat can pull off.

Harry's also become the first Democrat outside the Senate judiciary committee to say he'll vote "no" on Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Roberts. At this point, crusty liberal Ted Kennedy is the only other person on the record opposing Roberts. And Ted wouldn't be Ted if he didn't do the crusty liberal thing.

It appears the liberal lobbying groups have Harry's ear, and I find this to be the most heartening news. He came to his decision after meeting with the likes of NOW and NAACP, and others. Maybe liberal web activism does make an occasional difference.

Roberts will surely be confirmed, unless the currently unreleased memos get released and reveal him to be a member of the KKK, and Harry's stance may be symbolic only. But I like that he's laying the groundwork for the fight on the second Supreme Court nominee.

Now, Harry, I'd just ask that you follow through and really fight when the time comes. Be the balls of the Democratic Party. They've been shriveled for a long, long time.