The funeral for former Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who died late in December at age 82, was held this past weekend. Sufficient time has passed since his death to now honestly discuss Reid’s legacy as a Senate leader. Bluntly, Reid’s legacy is shockingly toxic. The Senate is significantly worse off for him having led it.
It would take a book to discuss all of the ways, in his six years as majority leader and four as minority leader, that Reid broke, bent, twisted, corrupted, and ignored the rules, customs, norms and procedures of the Senate, as well as useful norms that govern American politics. But a few in particular went egregiously beyond any similar actions taken by any of his recent predecessors or successors.
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