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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

WHAT MIGHT THE LEGACY BE OF ‘DINGY HARRY’ REID???


With Senate Minority Leader ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid recently announcing that he won't seek re-election in 2016, this may prove to be one of those rare instances in which the retirement of an incumbent may actually prove to be a relief to his party.  Now Democrats will be able to run a fresh face unburdened by ‘Dingy’s’ record of political vilification, obstruction and disrespect for many of the Senate's traditions.  And what is it, do you suppose, that ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid is likely to be most remembered for after serving some 30 long years in Washington.  The choices are many, but what cannot be said of ‘Dingy’ is that he’s leaving things better than he found them.

Might it be ‘Dingy’s’ near endless railing against the Koch brothers, while at the same time saying absolutely nothing of George Soros, or the casting of unsubstantiated allegations about Mitt Romney not paying his taxes that ‘Dingy’ will be most remembered for?  Or that ‘Dingy’ used his senate perch to spew rhetoric and allegations better fit for Media Matters.  It was not only the utter falsity of his claims that stood out, but also their personalized and nasty tone.  Opponents were deemed to be out to wreck America or engaged in illegal activities. He did more than any Senate leader in recent history to poison political debate and drag the Senate into the mud.

It was also ‘Dingy's’ years of obstruction, his "filling the tree" in order to prevent amendments, refusing to take votes, defying calls to pass a budget, these were his defining "contribution" during the Barry “Almighty” years.  It eventually came to cost his party the Senate majority when his members could not explain to voters why they had accomplished so little.  Most damaging was his refusal to take a vote with veto-proof support for Menendez-Kirk sanctions against Iran that allowed Barry’s administration to continue on its road to appeasement, which may very well result in a tragically flawed ‘deal’.  If so, part of the responsibility will rest with ‘Dingy’.

And it is to this day that ‘Dingy’ continues to obstruct passage of an overwhelmingly positive anti-human-trafficking bill out of deference to the radical pro-abortion lobby, which belatedly discovered language it finds objectionable.   He used the "nuclear" option to jam through presidential appointments and lower-court judges that we will pay for, for decades.  In so doing he set a standard that may be reintroduced or expanded by those who will come after him. The result will be a class of appointees who can be excessively partisan and obviously unqualified, who may be confirmed strictly as a matter of partisan loyalty. That is bad for both parties and for Congress.  

And, of course, it was his controversial use of reconciliation that allowed Obamacare to be ‘passed’ even after the election of Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., deprived the Democrats of a filibuster-proof majority.  The hasty and unprecedented nature of his maneuvers resulted in a poorly drafted and constructed bill, the ramifications of which the Supreme Court is still pondering.  And there’s the matter of how our national debt has been permitted to grow to the staggering amount of $16,955,289,814,977.42 during the 32 years that ‘Dingy Harry’ has served in the United States Congress. That equals an increase of about $145,131 for every household in the country.

‘Dingy’ was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 and then was elected to the Senate in 1986. He first took office in the House on Jan. 3, 1983, the first business day in January of that year. At the beginning of that day, according to the Monthly Statement of the Public Debt for December 1982, the total public debt of the federal government was $1,197,073,000,000.  As of March 25 of this year, the latest day for which debt numbers are available, the federal debt was $18,152,362,814,977.42.  That means that since ‘Dingy’ first joined Congress in 1983, the federal debt has increased $16,955,289,814,977.42.

Now it goes without saying that there are many on the left who will herald ‘Dingy’s’ long list of ‘accomplishments’ ignoring completely the rather impressive list of precedents that have been set that may have the result of bringing about a great many untended consequences that Democrat may someday be on the receiving end of.  Many will, I’m sure, spew the same sort of drivel that was heard from so many at the recent dedication of the Ted Kennedy shrine, in Dorchester, Ma., about how Teddy was something other than a drunkard and a pervert, and a man who got away with murder.  And I’m sure Teddy is saving a special chair for ‘Dingy’ there in Hell.   

And while I am quite sure that on ‘Dingy Harry’s’ final day as a ‘public servant’ he will be showered with all manner of accolade, by those eager to list all of his ‘accomplishment, both fact and fiction, mostly fiction.  And I’m sure very little mention will be made when it comes to the rather impressive list of those pesky unintended consequences that have come about as a direct result of all that ‘Dingy’ has foisted upon this country and those who legally inhabit it.  His reckless disregard, and outright disdain for his fellow Americans, and his desire to place their needs well beneath those of his party has earned him nothing but contempt from many.  

But all of that matters very little to those on the left, and I’m quite confident in saying that all of the praise that we will likely hear being heaped upon ‘Dingy’ as he slips off into ‘retirement’ will likely pale in comparison to what will be handed out on the day of his demise.  Which, as I said earlier, I hope is something that takes place much sooner, rather than later.  Because for Democrats all one has to do to be proclaimed as having been some hero of the people is to have simply hung around long enough.  For example, does anyone remember all of the kind words bestowed upon the ‘Klansman’, Robert Byrd, or more recently the murdering, drunkard of a pervert, Ted Kennedy?  This is the company ‘Dingy’ will once again come to keep.  

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