Harry Reid

Harry Reid (left, in red) surrenders control of Senate Democraticcaucus to Chuck Schumer (right, back to the camera)by Gaius PubliusThis is what happens when "party unity" or "caucus unity" trumps policy. We get Chuck "Wall Street" Schumer as the next Minority Leader — because Harry "But I promoted Elizabeth Warren" Reid helped put him there. So did "progressive" Patty Murray. And according to reports, so did nearly every other Democratic senator.

At his Washington home, recuperating Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday of his upcoming reelection, "I’m running, and that’s all I can say, okay?""There have been partisan recriminations in Washington and Israel over the speech, with accusations that Speaker John A. Boehner, who extended the invitation, and Mr. Netanyahu were exploiting the situation for political gain. Mr.

by Gaius PubliusTwo of the most interesting lame duck battles are shaping up in the Senate. The first is the nomination of Antonio Weiss for an under-secretary job at Treasury. His nomination is strongly opposed by Elizabeth Warren and others.

by Gaius PubliusWe don't need much comment here. Harry Reid has just said he will surrender to most things the Senate Republicans want to do, if they have the votes to do them. The Hill (my paragraphing):

For our final push, Blue America ran independent expenditures in 4 races, two for Senate seats and two in House races. When Adelson and his slimy allies jumped into the CA-33 race with a million dollars worth of racist smear against Ted Lieu, we decided to reach likely voters with a full page ad in the L.A. Times, which we think has worked very well. Early vote returns from Democrats started spiking very sharply as soon as the ad ran.

Last night we took a look at some of the poor schlubbs Steve Israel had recruited to run for Congress and has now abandoned, tainted by his losing strategies and unable to gain any traction on their own.

It will probably take more than prayersThe person with the most at stake, Harry Reid, is screwing up Democratic chances to hold onto the Senate in November. He's decided to roll the dice on two unlikely conservative Democrats in deep red states, Georgia and Kentucky. Predictably, both his candidates, Michelle Nunn and Alison Lundergan Grimes, are losing.

Yesterday, the NY Times published a Senate forecast that is simplistic and misleading. It concludes that the Republicans have a 58% chance to win the majority and that the Democrats have a 42% chance. It's the perfect example of one thing: statistics run wild in politics. The while things is virtually worthless. It takes 11 Democratic states out of contention, including New Hampshire (where Republicans are spending millions on Scott Brown) and Oregon (where the Kochs are spending millions to defeat Jeff Merkley).

Readers are asking for my take on the Israel-Gaza situation, and, believe it or not, Oxford University’s famous debating society, the Oxford Union, invited me to debate the issue.

If you think that as a United States citizen you’re entitled to a trial by jury before the government can decide to kill you–– you’re wrong. During his stint as a lawyer at the Department of Justice, David Barron was able to manipulate constitutional law so as to legally justify killing American citizens with drone strikes. If you’re wondering what the justification for that is, that’s just too bad – the legal memos are classified. Sounds a little suspicious, doesn’t it?