Give 'Em Hell, Harry (by William Greider for The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 04/26/2007 @ 12:47pm
Give 'Em Hell, Harry

William Greider


The Senate majority leader is being portrayed as an awkward duck who doesn't look the part and can't talk it either. Harry Reid, it's true, is given to saying the most inappropriate stuff, opinions that disturb Washington pundits and the third-string political consultants who appear of TV talker shows. They tut-tut and scold. The kinder ones think he must have misspoken. Others insist Democrats should give him the hook and replace Reid with a more responsible leader.

What did the man say? "This war is lost." "The President is in a state of denial." A few years back, Reid shockingly called Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan "the biggest political hack in Washington."

What do these and other outrageous remarks have in common? They are all true. A political leader who speaks the truth in unambiguous ways is naturally suspect in the capital city. But he ought to become a hero in the hinterland where citizens dwell. People who care need to rally around Harry Reid now and express their feelings because the political establishment is coming after him. White House slime agents are leading the campaign

Reid is being caricatured in ways designed to destroy his legitimacy and influence. If it really trimes, the press can accomplish this. Remember how leading newspapers depicted Albert Gore as an egotistical goof back in the 2000 campaign?

Honk if you like Harry Reid. Bloggers, unite and bite back in his behalf. Washington Post columnist David Broder (a friend and former colleague of mine) is the chief tut-tutterer among media influentials. Broder took a truly ugly swipe at Reid in today's Post by comparing him to Alberto Gonzales, the "dead man walking" attorney general.

...(snip)...

If you want to understand Harry Reid, think back to another Harry who was also feisty and blunt – President Harry Truman. Running in 1948, Truman was ridiculed by major newspapers as a hopeless loser. But voters picked up the beat and they gave him a surprise victory.

On the campaign trail, Truman would encounter voices from the crowd shouting, "Give ‘em hell, Harry." The president would respond, "I give ‘em the facts and they think it's hell."

This is Harry Reid's old-fashioned politics. The country desperately needs it. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

[saltpoint]

1. I'm back on board with Greider. He has this one exactly right.

The war is lost, the occupation is a disaster, the toll in lives and money is tremendous, and it's Bush's fault.