April 12, 2006
Taking One For The Team
Harry Reid receiving lesson others haven't learned from...
Harry Reid, formerly beneath-the-radar Senator from Nevada, has taken a hit at home from his new high-profile in the Democratic leadership. His favorability dropped from 53 to 43, while his unfavorable rating shot up from 25 to 39. The number of respondents who see him unfavorable has ballooned over 50% since the last poll.
Here's what we said about the appointment of Reid back in February '05:
Listening to Democrats bemoan that they "should have done more" to protect Daschle is a riot. Done what? Issue a strongly worded memo? The fact is the Democrat Party has one role in government now - obstructionist - and they have now chosen TWO successive leaders who hail from states that George W. Bush carried in the last election. The political price to pay is obvious, ask freshly unemployed Tom Daschle, and Democrats should have known better than to pick another languid Senator from a Republican state. The party leader can't be vulnerable at home for executing the only strategem you have available.
We stand by this words, as fresh today as back then. Perhaps nobody wanted the post, and Reid figured his career was winding down anyways, he'd just won re-election, so why not take a shot at a high profile and walk that leadership plank. Perhaps his fellow Democrat Senators were happy to push him out on it. Whatever the reason, he's walking the same plank Tom Daschle did, and there's the same sudden drop at the end of it.
You cannot choose as a partisan leader to lead you nationally a person who will be vulnerable locally. Your leader must be free to speak to your parties national agenda, and that cannot run roughshod over their consituents agenda. Nevada is not as Republican as South Dakota, but it is a red state, and you can't carry your parties banner without coming home with ink on your hands.
That ink better match your states color on the map, or you are tempting fate with a career in the Speakers Bureau with a "former" next to your elected title...
(Hat tip: Polipundit)
Posted by MEC2 at April 12, 2006 11:45 AMI like opinion polls. What do the polls tell you about Bush?
Posted by: Raoul at April 19, 2006 10:09 AMI dislike opinion polls, though how it relates to this entry is unknown. I dislike them because there is a qualitative difference between and opinion and a qualified opinion.
If you refer to Bush's approval rating, what they might "tell me" is that the 50% who voted for Kerry still don't approve of Bush, and he has lost "phone poll" support among Republicans over immigration and spending, and gas prices are hurting him with the great unwashed.
Posted by: MEC2 at May 5, 2006 08:44 AM