Exercise Equipment 1, Harry Reid 0

The knee-jerk solution for Lefties is to scream "Elizabeth Warren!" as their go-to alternative to any Democrat insufficiently progressive on their issues, but while Chucky Shumer is the likely successor to Harry the Hack, there's a much better alternative than yet another usual suspect:

In the nanoseconds after Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid announced Friday morning that he will give up his leadership post and retire in 2016, liberal groups raced to promote their go-to solution for almost any political problem: Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Much like the movement to draft Warren for president, the idea of putting her in charge of the Democratic caucus was more dream than reality. Warren's office has already said she won't run, and as Vox's Dylan Matthews explains, putting Warren in charge of the Democratic caucus would prevent her from holding her colleagues accountable when they stray too far from progressive ideals.

Instead, Reid's likely replacement is New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who already has endorsements from Reid and Dick Durbin, the outgoing minority leader's No. 2. But lefties have long been wary of Schumer, who, thanks to his home base in New York City, is far more sympathetic to Wall Street than the rest of his caucus. And lost in the Warren hype is another female senator: Washington's Patty Murray.

As caucus secretary, Murray is the fourth-ranking member of Senate Democratic leadership, behind Reid, Durbin, and Schumer. If she decides to take on Schumer for Reid's job, Murray could be the first woman to serve as a party leader in the US Senate. Murray's office didn't respond to a request for comment on whether she'd run for the job and, besides a general statement praising Reid, was notably quiet on Friday.

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It's a frequent problem for the Dems they keep looking for John and Paul superstars to step up and forget George and Ringo were Beatles too.

Somebody is injured and people think it's funny?

No wonder I only wander by here about once a week now.

Perhaps your virtuous example could lead us down a more righteous path.

Sometimes, William, I fear you are simply uninterested in walking the way of righteousness.

Romantic Heretic said:

Somebody is injured and people think it's funny?

No wonder I only wander by here about once a week now.

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For the record, not everyone thought Harry Reid's injuries were funny. Others seemingly found it funny as fuck, but that's their look-out.

Shitting on politicians is a sport that will never grow old in P&CE.

William Haskins said:

please let the record reflect that nighttimer did not think it was funny.

but it should also reflect that he all but cheered when osama bin laden was killed.

so... yeah.

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Yeah, well maybe I don't see the hilarity in a 75-year-old man being seriously injured and damn near blinded as all that fucking funny.

I lack your finely-tuned sense of the absurd. My loss, I guess.

And yes, I was indeed fist-pumping and hi-fiving and cheering when Osama bin Laden was finally put on the express lane to hell and I suspect I wasn't alone in expressing those sentiments.

Of course in that particular case, bin Laden was responsible for the slaughter of nearly 3,000 Americans, but I can totally see how you find that comparable to Harry Reid's home workout mishap.

You gotta grab your schadenfreude where you can get it.

I'd like to accent this little bit of political wisdom from Sir Harry which everyone has quickly passed over.

"We have got to be more concerned about the country, the senate, the state of Nevada, than us. And as a result of that, I'm not going to run for reelection," he says in the video.

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Ignoring the royal "we," by logical extension what he's really saying is that in the past, he's been more concerned about himself than about the country, the senate, or the state of nevada, so running for office was the right thing to do. Now, after some reflection, he no longer puts himself first, and therefore is dumping the political game. Of course, he's still scored big enough from his time in office that he won't have to fall back on honest work, but bravo for him for finally revealing the man behind the curtain.

Good on ya', Harry.

Minus points for the royal "we," however. You're an individual. Own up to it. "We" never held office. You did. And "us" is a nice way to avoid saying "myself," I guess, but you lose points for that one too, at least in my book.

William Haskins said:

Source: Washington Post

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has endorsed Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to succeed him after he retires at the end of 2016.

"I think Schumer should be able to succeed me," Reid said in a Friday morning interview at his home in Washington's West End.

Reid predicted that Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat in leadership and a close friend, would win the Democratic leader post without opposition. He said that the other likely contender, Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), would stand down for Schumer.

Reid called Schumer "extremely smart" and noted the brash, energetic New Yorker would have a "different style" than Reid's soft talking nature.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...im-as-senate-minority-leader/?wpisrc=al_alert

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rugcat said:

Schumer would be a logical choice. He's one of the few Democrats I consider as big of an a**hole as Mitch McConnell.

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Yeah, he's just the kind of guy we need to stop progress in its tracks.

Meet Chuck Schumer, One of the Most Trivial Pols Ever. And Your Next Senate Minority Leader

No issue is too stupid or inconsequential for Schumer to weigh in on, inevitably calling for a ban or regulation that serves no other possible purpose than to shine a light on the glory and grandeur of Chuck Schumer.
...
Schumer has standing athwart history and yelling "Stop!" every second of the day, herniating himself in a mad dash to be in charge of everything everywhere. His efforts no doubt get in the way and slow down innovation, progress, and a truly plural society, but that he has so far been incapable of killing off the future completely is cause for celebration.
...
If we have become an increasingly trivial country incapable of dealing with serious issues at all, much less in a rational and deliberate way, then we've really found our guy.

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The article gives 23 links to various things he either disapproves of or wants banned entirely, including e-cigs, powdered alcohol, powdered caffeine, "delicious-looking" laundry detergent, fast-food bread, a video game, and internationally-produced olympic uniforms.

He's a real peach of a guy nanny.

William Haskins said:

i accept your apology and regret that this exchange got so heated.

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Your vision is more off than Harry's if you believe there's an apology in there.

William Haskins said:

let me cook you sunday dinner. i finally got that possum out of the attic and have had him marinating in the fridge for 12 hours.

all that's left is to strangle and cook it.

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Pass.

As stereotypical as it may be, let's stick to fried chicken. Even White people dig the hell out of some nice crispy, golden fried chicken.

Don said:

The article gives 23 links to various things he either disapproves of or wants banned entirely, including e-cigs, powdered alcohol, powdered caffeine, "delicious-looking" laundry detergent, fast-food bread, a video game, and internationally-produced olympic uniforms.

He's a real peach of a guy nanny.

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Oh yes.

This idiot is focusing on such trivial things as suggesting we might want to make it illegal for people to construct homemade bombs in their apartments, or get rid of toxic cadmium in stuff children put in their mouths. People like him are responsible for the travesty of banning the use of lead in household paint and kids' toys just because it produces verified brain damage in children.

Schumer may an a** **** and as cosy with Wall Street as any Republican, but the things Reason Magazine are complaining about are nothing more than their usual (yawn) "gummint bad" schtick.

Don said:

It's called Reason, after all.

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I assumed that they were demonstrating a sense of humor.

William Haskins said:

fair enough. but if your drumstick looks vaguely like a fried possum leg, that is just a coincidence.

and please stop apologizing. i've already forgiven you.

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Never asked for forgiveness any more than I ask for permission and doesn't someone have to do something wrong to require an apology in the first place?

If you want to offer Sen. Reid a written apology, I'll be happy to proofread it for you. My Caps Lock key isn't broken.

May I come to the dinner party, please?

Can't we just be happy Reid is going? Schumer is far from ideal, but he's probably a step up in quality - which would reverse a trend in both parties of picking worse and worse Senate leaders. On the upside, Schumer might almost be not too worse than Tom Daschle.

On the really upside, maybe Patty Murray can pull an upset.

William Haskins said:

it seems unfair to impugn a whole race's sense of humor just because you're a hypersensitive stick in the mud.

besides, the humorless spectrum around here runs the demographic gamut of a special crybaby edition of a benetton catalog.

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As I was unjustly accused of being a hypersensitive stick in the mud with no sense of humor and a discredit to my race as well on top of being a crybaby, I must defend my honor by clearly demonstrating I do indeed have a sense of humor.

HERE is the proof!

WASHINGTON — His fluke New Year’s Day exercise accident has blinded Sen. Harry Reid in one eye and damaged his depth perception.

“I’m sightless in my right eye,” Reid (D-Nev.) told Jorge Ramos in a Univision interview. “… Right now I’ve had 11 hours of surgery. They’ve tried. I can’t see out of my right eye.”

The onetime boxer fractured bones in his face while strength training at home in Nevada with an exercise band that he’d been using for about four years. The band came undone from a hook in the wall, spinning Reid around and smashing his face into a cabinet.

Reid says he’s come to terms with his condition.

“That’s OK. I can live with that,” Reid said. “The only problem is for the first little bit now it’s hard for me, I have no depth perception. So going down is really difficult. And up is not so bad. So I’ve been very careful. But it’ll adjust; your brain does good things for you.”

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Ha! Ha! Ha! Um...am I doing it right?

I daresay I might give up P&CE altogether if it were not for exchanges such as this one.

Thank you, gentlemen, for making my day just a little bit brighter.

William Haskins said:

being a hypersensitive stick in the mud who cannot resist the compulsion to carry his baggage from thread to thread? yes, you're doing it perfectly.

*golf clap*

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I don't golf, but when it comes to compulsively carrying his baggage from thread-to-thread, I defer to your vastly superior experience.

Harry Reid's dead right eye thanks you for allowing it to provide you so much mirth and merriment.

nighttimer said:

Ha! Ha! Ha! Um...am I doing it right?

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No. You should have worked in a jab about hooking and Menendez.

People just aren't willing to put in that kind of effort nowadays, robo.