The Nature of Things

"Let me also say categorically: I have paid taxes every year. A lot of taxes. A lot of taxes." - Mitt Romney Harry Reid has really gotten under Mitt Romney's very thin skin with his statement that he has been told by someone from Bain Capital that Romney didn't pay any taxes for at least ten years . Romney keeps sputtering indignantly that yes, he did, too, pay taxes! A lot of them! And we should just trust him on that and drop the subject. Then he goes on to say that Harry should "put up or shut up." Put up what? Harry's financial disclosure forms are a matter of public record. It's Mitt's that are in question. And Reid is just reporting what someone has told him. He doesn't vouch for its accuracy, although he claims the person is a reliable source with knowledge of Romney's finances. This squabble is obviously very easily resolved. Again as Reid has pointed out, all Romney has to do to prove that the statement is inaccurate is to releas...

He did it! Harry Reid, excoriated by both left and right and underestimated by almost everybody except possibly his caucus which elected him leader, has done what no other Majority Leader of the Senate, even the most legendary, has been able to do. He has held his fractious caucus together through months of bickering, marching them, cajoling them, bargaining with them toward this final result - passage of a Health Care Reform bill. It's not the end, of course. Under the arcane rules of legislation, this flawed bill must now be reconciled with the House's more generous bill and then voted on by both Houses again before it can finally land on the President's desk for signature. Still, this accomplishment must not be underestimated. It is a first, a beginning, and Harry Reid has done it. Good on him!