Harry Reid

The brains of some of my favorite bloggers are turning to mush over the report that Harry Reid called Rod Blagojevich to lobby for his favored candidates (and against his disfavored candidates) to fill Obama's open Senate seat.

First bmaz attacks Harry Reid for even lobbying Blago.

The Senate will vote this week on two disastrous bills: $163B for the continued occupation of Iraq and immunity for George Bush and the telecoms who are illegally wiretapping our calls and emails.

On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) launched a filibuster against the "Warrantless Wiretapping Immunity Act" with an impassioned speech on the Senate floor. Dodd is supported by Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Unfortunately it takes 41 votes for a successful filibuster, and we can only count on 30, based on a similar vote on 2/12/08. These Democrats voted wrong. Call them and tell them to join the Dodd Filibuster against telecom immunity.

I don't know Harry Reid, but he used to strike me as an honest Democrat with at least some progressive leanings and a former boxer's willingness to fight.

But not any more. Reid's Senate has sold out Democratic principles on every issue from Iraq to energy to wiretapping.

Why has Reid betrayed us on wiretapping? There are three possibilities:

1. Reid personally supports Big Brother government
2. Reid sold his soul to the telecom giants for campaign cash to Democrats
3. Reid is being blackmailed with incriminating pictures or tapes

Of course, he won't tell us the truth either way. In fact, Reid won't even admit he's betraying us.

Reid's betrayal on wiretapping has pushed leading progressive bloggers over the edge. In a DailyKos poll, 91% disapprove of the way Reid is doing his job. Kos speaks for me:

After nearly five disastrous years, Americans desperately want to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. Our Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, say they passionately agree with us. So why can't they do it?

Their pathetic excuse is "we don't have 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster."

The American people don't buy this excuse, which is why Congressional approval ratings are down in the sewer. Americans know the majority party in Congress has the power to impose its will on a President if it wants. All Congress has to do is fully exercise the powers granted by Article I in the Constitution.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com/no_bush_surrender.php

WE'RE ASKING ALL OUR PARTICIPANTS TO TELL CONGRESS: DON'T SURRENDER TO BUSH ON IRAQ

Please call NOW toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803 and ask for your own House member and Senators. And ALSO leave separate messages for both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi at their leadership offices. They represent you too!

Drafting this alert has been an enormous challenge . . . to find a way to express our anger in a way that is still civil. Please, Lord, help us to express this in a way that will have a positive result.

New sign on the Highways!

Dispatch from a Hotel in Normal, IL - 12:15A CST

Karl Rove and the gang are at it again, this time it is to destroy the Democratic Governor of Kansas. Her mortal sin was to tell the truth about the Kansas National Guard equipment.

Tony Snow, living up to his name, started the snowball rolling by stating "Governor Sebelius never requested anything from the Federal Government." Today that ball was picked up by none other than Sean Hannity. He interviewed two idiots from Pittsburgh, PA, who have a morning show on 104.7 FM (a Clearchannel station) and XM Radio named Quinn and Rose, and accused Howard Dean of orchestrating the Governor's statement for political gain.

The story goes like this:

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), on behalf of cosponsor Harry Reid (D-NV) and many other Democratic supporters, went to the Senate floor yesterday and formally introduced the Feingold-Reid bill which, if George W. Bush vetoes the Iraq-withdrawal plan that will hit his desk in the coming weeks, will push the issue further by forcing a troop withdrawal by March of next year.

The bill would end funding specifically for the failed Iraq effort, forcing the president to redeploy American troops elsewhere where, according to Senator Feingold, they can actually begin to defend the country against terror threats.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the floor of the Senate on Monday and set the stage for a week that will see the Senate considering efforts to truly bolster national security and with little patience for the Republican stonewalling of security measures proposed by Democrats (and killed) in the last Congress.

"We will take steps to protect America from the greatest threat we face -- nuclear terrorism. We will enhance the security of our transportation system and our ports," said Reid on Monday. "We will provide America's first responders with the technology they need to communicate with each other during a crisis. In the process, we will make America more secure."

The majority of Senate Republicans filibustering and delaying the passage of a new minimum wage law may be heartless, but they're not dumb. They know that bumping the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour is enormously popular with the American people and they're also aware that it passed by huge numbers in the House of Representatives, with 80 Republicans voting in favor of helping the working poor.

So why the stalling? Why put off the inevitable with over 100 nonsensical amendments, while already voting once against ending debate on a clean minimum wage bill?

Almost two weeks after a bill to raise the Federal Minimum Wage easily passed the House of Representatives, the legislation has arrived on the Senate floor, with debate started yesterday and a vote expected by the end of the week.

The measure to raise the minimum wage for the first time in a decade has been a long slog for Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who brought the legislation to help the working poor before the previous, Republican-controlled Congress three times, only to see it shot down by the GOP on each occasion.