Left In Lowell

Minority Leader Reid did a spectacular thing today. He shut down the Senate with one motion and a second, putting the Senate into closed session so they can discuss the failure of the Republicans to allow the next phase of an investigation by the Intelligence Committee into the misuse of intell by the White House.

Ballsy move, and I’ll tell you what I think Reid accomplished today:
1. He proved that if the Republicans want to screw with the rules and traditions of the Senate, so will he
2. He took the Alito nomination off the front pages and put the Plame case, WMD intell failure, and Iraq debacle squarely in its place.
3. He actually got a substantive debate on an issue the Republicans have been stonewalling since before the election last year, thus proving the Democrats worthy of leadership and shining a light on the corruption in one fell swoop.

I disagree with Reid on many things. His leadership skills, though, I admire. He’s picking his battles carefully, and I think we’ll see more of this sort of leadership as we move into the ‘06 election cycle.