Appearing on Meet the Press on Sunday, Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough celebrated the announcement that Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) will retire at the end of 2016 by declaring it a “big trade-up not only for the Democratic Party but for America and I’m dead serious.”
Speaking to moderator Chuck Todd, Scarborough argued that “Harry Reid as Majority Leader in the Senate at the same time you have the Tea Party in the House was a disastrous combination.”
While Todd agreed that Reid was an ineffective leader of the Senate Democrats, he attempted to excuse Reid’s shortcomings and asked Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden if “the job itself polarize[s] you?”
For her part, Tanden defended Reid's effectiveness as Minority Leader:
I do think it polarizes a little bit. But I do think also Harry Reid responded to the Tea Party. I think the truth is that Harry Reid felt like he couldn’t do deals, we couldn't get anything done and he became more of a fighter.
As the segment progressed, Washington Post columnist Kathleen added her own cents regarding Reid’s legacy and argued that he "may have been responding to the Tea Party as were the Republicans on the other side. But he also refused to bring anything to the floor that Republicans put out there.”
After liberal Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein offered up a full defense of Reid’s legacy, Scarborough provided the panel with one last dose of reality:
You talk about Harry Reid as the tactician, as the politician, the fund-raiser. His legacy in this last election is going to be disastrous. He decided to nationalize the election around a guy named Charles Koch. Nobody knew. Nobody cared. And he wasted so much money for the Democrats.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Meet the Press
March 29, 2015
CHUCK TODD: Let's bring in the panel, Joe, Chuck Schumer, for Harry Reid, what changes do you expect?
JOE SCARBOROUGH: That's a big trade-up not only for the Democratic Party but for America and I’m dead serious. The combination–
TODD: Trade-up?
SCARBOROUGH: Trade-up. Harry Reid as Majority Leader in the Senate at the same time you have the Tea Party in the House was a disastrous combination. Chuck Schumer is one of these interesting person that actually is not only will be better for his party, because he is going to fight tougher, he’s going to be able to take the message to Americans more. He’s going to be better for the country, like Tip O'Neill, the one thing he hates more than Republican’s philosophy is gridlock and getting nothing done. I think we're all better off now.
TODD: You know, I agree with almost everything there except Harry Reid was described as this guy Neera when he was the whip. When he was the behind the scenes guy and it was always Harry Reid was the guy Republicans secretly cut deals with, they couldn't deal with Tom Daschle. Does the job itself polarize you? Because Harry Reid used to be what Joe described.
NEERA TANDEN: Yeah, I do think it polarizes a little bit. But I do think also Harry Reid responded to the Tea Party. I think the truth is that Harry Reid felt like he couldn’t do deals, we couldn't get anything done and he became more of a fighter. Now I do agree completely with Chuck -- with Joe that Chuck is important on message, he delivers a strong message, he's a fighter for the middle class, et cetera. I think on being a spokesperson for the party, he'll do a better job. But I also think that we have to make -- the government has to function going forward. So I hope we see a lot of that on both sides.
TODD: Chuck Schumer was not camera shy. Harry Reid’s a little camera shy.
TANDEN: Harry Reid is a little camera shy.
TODD: Sam, Harry Reid -- some of the progressive left think Chuck Schumer is too close to Wall Street.
SAM STEIN: Yes.
TODD: How, you know -- he made sure there is nobody -- Harry Reid, they closed ranks in a hurry here.
STEIN: I was talking to a couple of Democrats about this. Usually Democrats are disorganized, dysfunctional, but their succession has been –
TODD: This was very Republican-like.
STEIN: I know.
TODD: And orderly.
STEIN: The thing is, like you said, Harry Reid was also viewed skeptically by the left early in his career and he very much moved towards the progressive side of his party and he will be forever remembered for two legislative accomplishments. One is health care reform which never would have happened without him and the second is the filibuster reform that allowed him to essentially reshape the judiciary in this country for a generation to come.
Those are his two policy achievements. The one thing I'll say about him as a tactician, he might not have been the most camera ready person in the Senate, but he was a tactician. He established a super PAC, even though he hated it, he got a war room with online messengers when that was the new thing, and he was vicious going after --
TODD: He was a party boss. He was an old-fashioned party boss the way he ran Nevada politics.
KATHLEEN PARKER: I think obviously he didn't want -- he -- Harry Reid may have been responding to the Tea Party as were the Republicans on the other side. But he also refused to bring anything to the floor that Republicans put out there. So I mean if Schumer is willing to at least bring things to the floor, then that's an improvement for sure.
TODD: He took what Bill Frist created in gridlock and perfected it.
STEIN: Essentially.
SCARBOROUGH: I just want to say, you talk about Harry Reid as the tactician, as the politician, the fund-raiser. His legacy in this last election is going to be disastrous. He decided to nationalize the election around a guy named Charles Koch. Nobody knew.
TODD: Didn’t work.
SCARBOROUGH: Nobody cared. And he wasted so much money for the Democrats.
