Sorry Harry

It pains me to say maybe it’s time for some new leadership blood for our feckless Senate Democrats – their current leader Harry Reid has gone all wobbly on us. Reid’s apology for a hard-hitting political memo that attacked 33 of his GOP counterparts for hypocrisy and corruption was downright pathetic. What a total wimp Reid appears to be while retreating from the memo’s assertions, none of which have been disproved.

I used to admire Reid, back when he called Dubya “a loser” or when he called Greenspan “a political hack.” The GOP plays dirty and talks tough, and Reid seemed up to the task of being an effective, hard-hitting mouthpiece for the Dems back then.

It seems this time Reid feared he’d gone too far and actually hurt the delicate feelings of his GOP Senate buddies who he must always run into at the Senate’s gym or tax-free restaurants or shops or cheap barber shop or taxpayer-financed film studios. That could be socially uncomfortable! So he’s morphed into Sorry Harry.

It’s almost as nauseating as when Dick Durbin apologized for daring to criticize our torture policies and secret prisons. Way to stand your ground, Dick!

Sorry Harry’s apology comes in the same week when his Democratic Senate caucus is utterly failing to mount any effective response/PR campaign/filibuster to stop Sam Alito from teaming up with his fellow SCOTUS Neanderthals to form the bloc of RATS (Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia) that will trash civil liberties, rubberstamp the “unitary executive” dictatorship and eventually snatch away a woman’s right to control her own body.

Plus, Harry voted for the Iraq invasion, which is morally reprehensible and makes him an ineffective voice on Iraq. And Reid took at least $30,000 from Jack Abramoff's clients, making him a dubious choice to lead reform efforts or criticism of GOP corruption.

If the Democrats can get back control of the House or Senate in 2006, and get the power to investigate or impeach, the country could be well on its way to ending the long national emergency that is the Bush Administration.

But the Democrats will never get there by apologizing like Sorry Harry.