Harry Reid dead at age 82

Yesterday, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid died at the age of 82. He'd battled pancreatic cancer since 2018. Reid was best known for the lies he told against GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. In those lies from 2012, Reid said that Mitt Romney hadn't paid taxes in 10 years:
"So the word is out that he has not paid any taxes for ten years," Reid said on the Senate floor in August 2012. "Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t."
After he retired from the Senate, Reid was interviewed by Dana Bash. Ms. Bash asked if he regretted telling those whoppers. He replied "Well, they can call it whatever they wantd. Romney didn’t win, did he?" Here's that interview:
Harry Reid was one of the most dishonest, hyperpartisan Democrats in Senate history. The world is a better place without him in it. The Senate is a better institution without him in it.

That being said, I'm thankful for Sen. Reid deploying the nuclear option to get rid of the filibuster on presidential nominees, including judges. Democrats gained a short-term advantage as a result. Still, Reid's short-sightedness helped Republicans replace Ruth Bader-Ginsburg with Amy Coney-Barrett.

You aren't supposed to speak ill of the dead, which I don't have a problem complying with most times. That being said, I'll make an exception this time because Sen. Reid was such a dirtbag. Predictably, Joe Biden paid tribute to Reid:

"If Harry said he would do something, he did it," the president's statement said. "If he gave you his word, you could bank on it. That's how he got things done for the good of the country for decades." He called Reid one of the country's all-time great Senators."
The reality is that Sen. Reid was a highly unethical politician, even by Democrats' standards.

It's worth noting that Reid wouldn't let Republican bills make it to the floor. That was effective in the short-term but stupid in the long-term. As a result of Sen. Reid's obstructionism, Democrats lost control of the Senate in 2014. That year, campaign after campaign ran ads say that vulnerable senators voted with President Obama 95%-97% of the time.

Harry Reid is gone. Good riddance.

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