Time for Harry Reid to Step Down

The time has come for Harry Reid to give up his position as Senate Majority Leader. His insipid and weak performance to date would be enough to justify his resignation but that is not the the primary reason for this call. The primary reason is his massive conflict of interests. Even by normal senate standards Reid is compromised to the point where he has to act against the best interests of both the party and the American electorate.

Harry is up for a very tough reelection battle in his home state of Nevada this cycle. To win this battle he is going to need an abundance of cash and goodwill. Here is the particular swamp that Reid tops up his campaign war chest from: These lists are based on 2005 – 2010 amounts.

Highest contributors:

MGM Mirage
Weitz & Luxenberg
Harrah’s Entertainment
Girardi & Keese
Station Casinos

Lots of Las Vegasy stuff in there – hardly the people most likely to be on board with either Obama’s stated objectives or the wishes of the American people at the time of the 2008 general election.

Highest contributors by industry:

Lawyers/Law Firms
Securities & Investments
Casinos/Gambling
Real Estate
Health Professionals

Securities and Investments, Casinos and Real Estate all in the top five – again hardly going to be calling Reid and telling him to push for universal health care.

Source – with $ amounts.

Now a politician has to do what a politician has to do to get to Washington and that varies hugely depending upon which part of the country they are representing I get that but the idea is that you don’t throw everyone who is not paying top dollar for your career under the bus, (unless of course your name is Leiberman, Bayh, Lincoln, Prior, or Nelson that is). This article shows that Reid knows exactly which calls are worth making and who he needs to keep sweet:

Late last year, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was losing members and taking fire from the White House — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Chamber President Tom Donohue to say “Keep your chin up.”

“That call was just to remind Donahue who his friends are,” said a source familiar with the conversation. “Reid didn’t ask for an endorsement [from the Chamber], but he wanted [Donahue] to know he was a friend of the Chamber.”

I grant you that this is from Politico so there are no named sources within a country mile of the article but it does ring true based on what we know about Reid.

so, Harry is worried about what the US Chamber of Commerce (USCoC) think about him? Now is the time to start getting angry – remember those blatant lies that the USCoC peddled for months during the health care debate? Not half truths or opinions but blatant lies stated as fact. Remember how they were quite happy to be used by the insurance industry as a front for their disinformation? I wonder how many progressives have received a friendly chewing the fat type call from Harry lately.

The Politico article then indulges in a little speculation and I think that they may be onto something which should really interest us.

At the same time, several GOP-aligned interest groups are weighing whether to target Reid to help Republicans regain control of the Senate — and risk burning bridges with the Senate’s most powerful man should he manage to hang onto his seat. Some are even weighing opposition to Reid against worry about what — or who — might come next. If Reid loses and the Democrats keep their majority, the next majority leader might be someone more liberal and partisan.

“A lot of these groups are scared to death of Chuck Schumer,” said one Nevada Republican official, referring to the Democrat from New York who many expect would compete with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for the majority leader spot if Reid loses. “They would rather have Sen. Reid as Senate majority leader than a more liberal alternative.”

This actually makes a lot of sense. If the GOP were to gain Reid’s seat at the next election it wouldn’t make much difference as far as the numbers game goes but it would mean that the Dems would have to pick a new Senate leader and the senate leader effectively gets to make the rules – think ending the filibuster for example.

A thought experiment – If there was no politician called Reid and his seat was currently in GOP hands the Democratic party and Obama’s and the majority of the American people’s wishes would be much more likely to succeed. I do realize that if Reid were to step down as Senate leader he would probably be political toast but his current position is completely untenable. We would be much better off with a slightly thinner majority and no Harry Reid.