Restoring Senate Comedy

Harry Reid takes to the Washington Post with a piece headlined "Trying to restore Senate comity," which points out that Republicans are big poopy heads who hate America. Somehow, I think this will not have the effect of restoring comity to the Senate.

Harry Reid takes to the Washington Post with a piece headlined “Trying to restore Senate comity,” which points out that Republicans are big poopy heads who hate America. Somehow, I think this will not have the effect of restoring comity to the Senate.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Daniel Tomkinson says:

    Mr Joyner,

    If I may be so bold as to suggest you address Senator Reid’s OpEd piece on the merits of his multiple stated positions. Rather, your response here sounds about as effective as a 6 year old’s response to a well deserved scolding.

    In other words, you’re acting like a child and providing nothing of substance other than saying how mean Senator Reid is for not letting my team have it’s way.

    I expected more from the holder of a doctoral level degree in poly-sci

  2. Dave B says:

    What Daniel Tomkinson said. How about you analyze the points of the argument and dispense with juvenile commentary. My wife was a kindergarten teacher, and she would have expected more from her students.

  3. Xenos says:

    The Republicans are clearly not ‘poopy heads’ who hate America. They are asshats who hate America. These distinctions matter, so lets make a decent effort at precision here.

    In any case, the Reid article says no such thing. It is self-evident from their own actions and words, and does not need to be proven at this point. They are free to cease acting like asshats, and to demonstrate love for their country, at their earliest convenience.

  4. Barry says:

    “Harry Reid takes to the Washington Post with a piece headlined “Trying to restore Senate comity,” which points out that Republicans are big poopy heads who hate America. Somehow, I think this will not have the effect of restoring comity to the Senate.”

    James, you have a Ph.D. in poli sci, and have been writing and observing current events as a full-time job for several years now. And you haven’t noticed the behavior of the GOP?

  5. Hey Norm says:

    While I agree with you James…it will probably not do any good…I thought it was a strong counter-point to the Marc Theissen work of fiction the WaPo published earlier this week.

  6. gVOR08 says:

    mistermix over at Balloon Juice has this pretty well nailed:
    http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/10/11/sober-insightful-analysis/

    Joyner is indulging in an attitude I see commonly in many contexts, that I don’t understand. Joyner seems to believe that it’s OK for McConnell and his confreres to be complete asshats, but it’s beyond the pale for Reid to point it out. And why do McConnell and Company hate America?

  7. worn says:

    James: I think you and I must’ve read a different op-ed piece. Nowhere did I see Harry Reid call the GOP “poopy heads” or anything close to that term. Rather, he rather impassively describes recent procedural moves the GOP has been using (as minority party) to slow down or stop the passage of legislation in the chamber.

    But most importantly, since your glib comment is mostly a riff on the piece’s lede, I would just like to remind you that op-ed headlines are composed by the paper’s editors – not its author. Instead Reid plainly states that the maneuver was an attempt to restore “the balance between individual rights and comity in the rules of the Senate.”

    This I think is a pretty big distinction.