Hugh, Harry & Dina

I guess since Blue Lyon was summarily removed from many a “progressive” Nevada blog roll because I refused to drink the Obama Koolaid, Hugh may not be aware that this liberal blogger has been highly critical of Harry and the spineless crew in D.C.

Eh..no matter.  Do read his recent Damned Pundit column. Good stuff.

Many are holding Reid harmless and accepting his reversal as merely a bow to the inevitable because the votes weren’t there.

Not me!

The problem with that view is that Reid is supposed to be the majority leader, not an innocent bystander.

He allowed a handful of moderate-to-conservative Democratic senators to waste weeks by floating sham reforms favored by the insurance industry. When Reid finally told Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana earlier this month that making nice with the industry and its apologists was liable to lose more Democratic votes than gain Republican ones, it was a rare and welcome appearance by the majority leader in the health care debate. It would have been even more welcome — and more useful — had it happened a month earlier.

Meantime, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, in a move that stunned and dismayed many of her supporters, was one of three Democrats to join with the Republicans and vote against health reform in the House Education and Labor Committee. In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Titus and more than 20 other Democrats objected to raising taxes on people with incomes of more than $280,000, arguing that it would hurt small business.

[...]

Accordingly, pronouncements on the health care front from Titus, Reid or other Nevada Democrats is much more likely to hail the expansion of lower-profile but widely popular themes such as expanding coverage for children or veterans than forcefully tackling the details of comprehensive reform. They’re slipping into that old Democratic habit of playing it safe and hoping for the best.

With her committee vote, Titus has made the requisite noises that will allow her to deny being a “liberal” on the campaign trail — her opposition to the bill even won a stamp of approval from the hard-right Las Vegas Review-Journal. Dina must be so proud.

Advertisement