My take: It was a power play between Reid & Kerry/Kennedy

[Jersey Devil]

Harry was clearly against a filibuster as recently as the middle of last week. Then Kerry/Kennedy tried to get it going and his message to them was: I am the leader and you may not bypass me. Thus, I am hanging you out to dry - and then Reid let everyone know it.

There is no other way, imo, that a minority leader in the Senate could have mustered less support unless he was the most incompetent to have ever held the office. Either way, we lose.

[Dave Sund]

1. And, in doing so, made himself look even weaker

He better come with it tomorrow night.

[0rganism]

2. In that case, he only compromised his own position by opposing cloture

If Reid REALLY wanted to screw them over like that, why would he support their filibuster? He could have painted Kerry & Kennedy as rogue mavericks, but instead he just made himself look weak and ineffective.

[Jersey Devil]

5. He had to oppose it as the minority leader

That doesn't mean he was really for it.

[0rganism]

8. Reid could have abstained

No, I don't think there's any grand plan at work here.

Reid is weak, and many of the Democratic senators are compromised beyond reclamation.

[Trevelyan]

3. I think you are right. So... what should we say to Reid and what can we

do to get a different Minority LEADER?

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. My take? We got screwed again.

That's all.

[rodeodance]

6. K and K had over half the dems on board. That counts for something.

[Mass]

9. And they had Durbin in their camp

Dont forget the media said that Durbin was strongly for the filibuster.

[Mind_your_head]

7. No, I didn't see that at all. However, we lost ~nay, the nation lost ~

SPECTACULARLY!

:cry:

[blm]

10. Or maybe it's about Ted Kennedy style Democrats vs Bill Clinton style Dems

Kennedy will compromise on some things only after putting up a fierce fight and possibly gaining some little things along the way. Clinton would prefer compromising on many things without tha rancor to gain SOME thing, no matter how little it is.

The only reason it is like this for either of them is because the GOP spent the last twenty years gaining near total control of the media. so they get to define pretty much EVERYTHING about the Democrats.

[AX10]

13. We do need our own media echo chamber.

[LittleClarkie]

11. There does seem to be an ego thing going in there

Where Reid will oppose someone if he perceives a challenge to his leadership. He appears to want everything to go to his game plan, his chess match. When someone wants to fight for an issue that doesn't go with his plan, he sort of slaps them down.

Early on, we'd hear about how Kerry wanted to fight harder, and Reid was angry with him for trying to take a leadership position when he's not the Minority Leader. Plenty of folks sided with Reid, and wanted Kerry to stop acting like he had something to prove, or like he was running for 2008 or whatever.

We've heard from Reid's staffers and Clinton's staffers how they're almost laughing at Kerry like he's some sort of doofus. How dare HE try to overshadow their respective bosses!

And someone here once said that they felt like there was a Kerry-Kennedy-Boxer wing of the party, and that Reid was not comfortable with them.

That said, I do like the way Reid fights on some issues.

The factionalism gets me down. You'd think we could hang together once in a blue moon.

[WildEyedLiberal]

12. That's exactly how I see it

And why I think Reid needs to go.

[KoKo]

14. Harry Reid HAS TO GO! I know than many DU'ers love the guy because

he seems so much better than Daschle who gave away the "Dem Party" when we had a MAJORITY...but he, like Pelosi are "weak and ineffectual voices for those of us who DEMAND CHANGE.

Status quo with bouts of "activism under pressure" is Reid and Pelosi's mantra. And they always come across as a little clueless and disorganized compared to the Repug MACHINE which will NOT GO AWAY with DeLay and Abramoff's piccadillos. They have recruited THOUSAND OF YOUNG REPUGS TRAINED BY THEM ..who are OUT THERE WORKING IN THE BACKGROUND~

We have nothing but "feckless, toadies" on our side who whine "they just didn't see it coming." :-(

[Innocent Smith]

15. I think he was against it today

I think that he reluctantly voted for it today and did nothing behind the scenes to advance it.

[seabeyond]

16. OR reid didnt believe in the filibuster move. kerry believed in the

filibuster move. so even though reid didnt believe in it, he let kerry and kennedy take it and he supported them with a filibuster vote, even though he didnt believe in it.

and that is the end of the story

[New Earth]

17. i swear this shit is like whiplash

months ago everyone was praising Reid for shutting down the Senate over the Iraq war investigation.

now this.

i'm not blaming anyone, just sayng....that's what i mean with the Dems, they are so all over the spectrum it's hard to know wtf they stand for :shrug:

[HereSince1628]

20. I think you are confusing emotional reactions with principles.

Especially on a board as large as this there are emotional reactions that blow with events.

Political principles aren't reactive they are directive. Unfortunately the Dems BIG TENT strategy has the members and the pros stretched over a very broad range of general views. If you listen to the same people over and over you will come to see their views as generally stable. BUT when you listen to different dems on different days you get all the viewpoints from all over.

[Generator]

23. Yeah that was great but meanwhile

Where's the fucking report? Where's the outrage over the spying? Where's the supreme court? It was one moment of being brave. We need day after day after day after day of it just to have a chance against these fascists. Not enough. Reid apparently knows how bad this administration is and can state it plainly. But that little Roe. V. Wade thing-was that it? He's against Alito-kinda. I will never trust a half Dem. And if you are anti-choice in the end you are half Dem.

[GreenArrow]

18. playing both ends against the middle

with "playing" being the operative word.

[sandnsea]

19. Red State Blue Dogs

I honestly don't know when it will be any clearer. I don't say that to bash them, but to identify where we need to target our efforts.

[ourbluenation]

21. United we stand, divided we fall...and fall and fall and fall...

It's as simple as that.

[stepnw1f]

22. I Think People Here are Trying to Split Our Party (nt)