From WaPo:
Democrats forced the Senate into a rare closed-door session yesterday, infuriating Republicans but extracting from them a promise to speed up an inquiry into the Bush administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s weapons in the run-up to the war.
With no warning in the mid-afternoon, the Senate’s top Democrat invoked the little-used Rule 21, which forced aides to turn off the chamber’s cameras and close its massive doors after evicting all visitors, reporters and most staffers. Plans to bring in electronic-bug-sniffing dogs were dropped when it became clear that senators would trade barbs but discuss no classified information.
"Finally, after months and months and months of begging, cajoling, writing letters, we’re finally going to be able to have phase two of the investigation regarding how the intelligence was used to lead us into the intractable war in Iraq," Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters, claiming a rare victory for Democrats in the GOP-controlled Congress.
The usually unflappable majority leader, Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), was searching for words to express his outrage to reporters a few minutes later. The Senate "has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," he said. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas." Never before had he been "slapped in the face with such an affront," he said, adding: "For the next year and a half, I can’t trust Senator Reid."
OK, so I have a confession to make. When Harry Reid was chosen to be minority leader, I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down for joy. He’d always seemed so soft, a man likely to be rolled over, a Democrat from the "thank you sir may I have another school".
But then I learned certain details about Harry Reid’s life, nicely summarized below:
He moved to Washington, D.C. and worked as an officer for the U.S. Capitol Police while attending George Washington University for his law degree, Reid graduated in 1964 and returned to Nevada to work as a lawyer in the state before entering politics, serving from 1968 to 1970 in the Nevada State Assembly and then being elected lieutenant governor in 1970, the same year his mentor O’Callaghan was elected governor. He served in that office until 1974, when he ran for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Alan Bible. He lost by fewer than 600 votes to former Governor Paul Laxalt.
Reid then served as Nevada state gaming commissioner from 1977 to 1981, a post which subjected him to death threats. Reid’s wife once found a bomb attached to one of their cars. A character in the film Casino played by Dick Smothers is based, in part, on Reid. An attempt was made by Jack Gordon (who would later manage and marry LaToya Jackson) to bribe Reid. Reid allowed the FBI to tape Gordon’s attempt to bribe Reid with $12,000, at which point Reid attempted to strangle Gordon, saying "You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me."
What the bio leaves out is that Reid is also a trained boxer. In other words, behind the wireless glasses beats the heart of one tough motherfucker. And by having the doors shut, he showed that he’s no man’s bitch.
More on this from Gilliard.
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