Harry Reid, Jedi Knight

Don't believe me? Check the Jed Mind Trick in action:

You had to actually be at the press conference Reid, Durbin and others held yesterday afternoon on the cloture votes. It was entirely about blaming Bush for the bill’s stalling and calling him a failure hours before the final cloture vote had actually been held. When a few pesky reporters pointed out that Reid allowed a second vote on a Dorgan amendment that turned the tide against bill and that McConnell said that all they needed was more time to debate amendments, Reid snapped at the reporters.

Reid just didn’t respond to questions about whether he would ever bring the immigration bill up again or why not. He actually argued that a censure vote on AG Gonzales was a more urgent matter for the nation. When another reporter pressed him on Democrats opposed to cloture he cut the person off: “Let’s not focus on Democrats,” Reid said.

The Mind Trick of course only works on the weak-minded. Such as the New York Times editorial board:

The immigration compromise collapsed on the floor of the Senate Thursday night. Many of its hard-line foes are celebrating, but their glee is vindictive and hollow....

But obstruction happened. Republican amendments, designed to shred the compromise, happened.

Jeff Sessions wanted to deprive legalized immigrants — yes, legal residents — of the earned income tax credit, a path out of poverty for millions.

John Cornyn wanted to strip confidentiality protections for immigrants who apply for legal status, making them too frightened to leave the shadows.

Jim DeMint just wanted to kill the bill, so he voted for a volatile amendment whose substance he disagreed with. “If it hurts the bill, I’m for it,” he said.

Leadership was desperately needed to stop Republicans from dragging the bill off one of its pillars — the one that would put 12 million people on a path to legal status. It didn’t show up. Republicans who should have been holding their party and the deal together — President Bush, minority leader Mitch McConnell, Senator John Kyl — failed utterly.

The anti-immigrant hard-core — no amnesty today, no amnesty tomorrow, no amnesty ever — must not be allowed to hold the nation hostage. Like nativists of generations past, they think the country is being Latinized, and they fear it....

Republicans Mentioned By Name: Six

Democrats Mentioned By Name: Zero

Mentions Of Republicans As Either Nativist Monsters Or Incompetent Failures: Six

Mentions of Democrats Contributing to Demise of Bill For "Nativist" Motives: Zero

Total Mentions of "Republicans," By Name Or Party Affiliation, As Architectects of This Putative Disaster: Nine

Total Mentions of "Democrats" Even Being Present In The Room During This Putative Disaster: Zero. Zero point fucking zero times the square root of zero, log zero

When another reporter pressed him on Democrats opposed to cloture he cut the person off: “Let’s not focus on Democrats,” Reid said.

Seems the Times took his little editorial suggestion and just ran with it, eh?

The way they... surround a story.

Precisely as Harry Reid dictates it to them.

Dudes? Harry Reid commanded you to not focus on Democrats, not to extirpate them from the record entirely. Let's not overdo it, huh? People might get the crazy idea you have some sort of partisan bias or something!

posted by Ace at 02:01 AM

| Access Comments