Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who spent the last few months insisting that little voices in his head told him Mitt Romney didn't pay any taxes for the last ten years, decided it would be a great idea to threaten Americans into voting for Barack Obama, by promising endless bitter partisan gridlock if Mitt Romney wins.
"Mitt Romney's fantasy that Senate Democrats will work with him to pass his 'severely conservative' agenda is laughable," said Reid in a statement reported by the Washington Times. This works great if you combine it into a scorched-earth hyper-partisan cocktail along with Barack Obama telling his supporters that voting is an act of vengeance against people they hate:
And remember, Obama's silly little picture book that supposedly outlined his big second-term agenda was entitled "The New Economic Patriotism," which implies that people who disagree with his tax-raising plans are unpatriotic - far from the first time he's made that accusation. Boy, the days of "unity" and "hope & change" are distant memories, aren't they?
Reid is specifically trying to deflate Romney's claim of being better at working across the aisle than Obama is - a claim indisputably supported by the two candidates' histories. Romney isn't the one who ran around "I won" and telling his opponents to "go to the back of the bus" after becoming governor of Massachusetts. Romney isn't the one who passed a few thousand pages of Constitutionally dubious paradigm-shifting legislation in the dead of night on a party-line vote, after making an utter fool of reluctant votes in his own party, like Bart Stupak. Obama's idea of "bipartisanship" doesn't even extend to recalcitrant Democrats.
But as to Reid's specific threat, it makes excellent campaign fodder for every Republican Senate candidate. Remember, a vote for any Democrat is a vote to keep Harry Reid as Crypt Keeper of a Senate where every good idea, including dozens of pro-growth bills passed by the Republican House, goes to die. Every swing voter in a tight Senate race should see only Harry Reid's face when they walk into the voting booth, not whichever Democrat is on the ballot.
Harry Reid has already cost you a lot, my fellow Americans, and not just in stalled legislation. Just the other day, the House Oversight Committee released an investigation of the Energy Department's corrupt loan program, and revealed huge piles of taxpayer cash were pumped into Reid's district to get him re-elected in 2010. No matter what state you live in, you put money into Reid's re-election slush fund. He's not up for re-election this time, but you can vote to make him Minority Leader, by voting for your friendly neighborhood Republican Senate candidate.
Americans always tell pollsters they hate "gridlock." Well, here's Harry Reid, openly threatening gridlock as your punishment unless you vote the way he tells you to. He's as blatant about it as anyone has ever been. Do you want to prove that you really mean it when you tell pollsters how much you want a government that gets things done? Here's your chance. Break Harry Reid's heart on Tuesday, and put the rest of the Democrat caucus on notice that you're not willing to settle for another four years of malaise and finger-pointing.
Update: A perfect response to Reid's gridlock theatrics from RNC chair Reince Priebus: "I am encouraged that Harry Reid recognizes Governor Romney's momentum and is joining the hundreds of millions of Americans who are preparing for a Romney Administration. While Senator Reid might want to continue Washington politics as usual, I'm confident that there are many Democrats who value balancing the budget, reducing burdensome regulations, investing in U.S. energy resources and will be willing to work with Governor Romney to help grow our stagnant economy."
