Scheming Harry Reid: It's Not About The Number

Lost in thought or just the attempt?

Really Harry?  Are you that dumb or that smart? Either Reid doesn't get that the country is going broke and the resulting voter anger over it, OR, he is using the opportunity to move the debate to territory he feels is more favorable to him because he really wants a shutdown but doesn't want the blame.  So which is it? Scheming politico or out of touch and obstinate?

[As an added wrinkle, Boehner says that they do indeed have an agreement on the social issue stuff and it is in fact really about the numbers.]

From CNN;

"This all deals with women's health. Everything (else) has been resolved. Everything," Reid said. "It's an ideological battle. It has nothing to do with fiscal integrity in this country."

He says it's about the Planned Parenthood issue. Either he's tone deaf to voter outrage over budgeting or else he's trying to shift the debate to social issues where he knows he can get more support from his base.  Everyone knows that the debt is unsustainable and that cuts HAVE to be made. He can't win that argument.  What's more, he wants a shutdown because he thinks its a political winner for Democrats for 2012.

As Conservative Patriot notes;

So what are the Senate Democrats really up to? One doesn't need to read tea leaves, hire a psychic or consult a magic eight ball. Yesterday, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) gave America some insight into his party's game plan. The Washington Examiner reports that on a conference call yesterday, Schumer, without realizing reporters were already listening, instructed his fellow Democratic senators to tell the reporters that the GOP is refusing to negotiate. According to the Examiner, Schumer "told the group to make sure they label the GOP spending cuts as 'extreme.'" That is what "the caucus instructed [Schumer] to do last week."

The spending cuts, though, are anything but extreme. As House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said yesterday, "Chuck Schumer did us a favor, he exposed their tactic. … He's basically instructing his members to deem any spending cut unreasonable — any spending cut ... So clearly they are not serious." The Senate Democrats' inaction combined with their rhetoric means one thing: they want a government shutdown at all costs, and they want to blame it on Republicans. Their end goal: more spending and supposed political gain.

Yesterday, former Democrat National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean told the audience at a National Journal Insider's Conference: "If I was head of DNC, I would be quietly rooting for it...I know who’s going to get blamed – we’ve been down this road before.” Dean continued: "From a partisan point of view, I think it would be the best thing in the world to have a shutdown."

Reid's inaction, Schumer's political gamesmanship and Dean's blunt honesty tell the whole story. This is not about putting America on a smart fiscal path, it's about putting Democrats on a preferred political path. But it won't work.

Harry Reid: Cynical, scheming and devious but smart or just out of touch?  That's not a false choice, it's his own words and Democrats speaking out of turn about the strategy behind the moves.  You decide which of the two descriptions is more accurate about Reid.  "Saint" is not an option.