Chutzpah

"Utter nerve; effrontery"

That's the definition for "chutzpah" according to dictionary.com. But I think they're going to have to amend that entry with two additional words: Harry Reid.

Dirty Harry, just to briefly review, is at the top of the FBI's Jack Abramoff most-wanted list, and with good reason:

[A] November Associated Press article revealed that Reid had accepted money from the Coushatta Indian tribe, an Abramoff client, just one day after interceding with Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton over a casino dispute with another tribe.

Reid reportedly sent a letter to Norton on March 5, 2002. "The next day,” according to the AP, "the Coushattas issued a $5,000 check to Reid tax-exempt political group, the Searchlight Leadership Fund. A second tribe represented by Abramoff sent an additional $5,000 to Reid’s group. Reid ultimately received more than $66,000 in Abramoff-related donations between 2001 and 2004.”

You would think, in light of the above, that the Senate Minority Leader would be adopting a lower profile about this topic. But no. Not only did his office release the following statements....

"These kinds of wild and baseless rumors smack of desperation and is simply a desperate attempt by Republicans to drag Democrats into a scandal they own lock, stock and barrel," [Reid spokesman Jim] Manley said....Mr. Reid has acknowledged receiving contributions from Abramoff's clients, but has said he does not intend to return the money because it represented legal donations...."Senator Reid has done nothing wrong, and he doesn't see any reason why he would need to return the money," spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said last week.

....but put out a 27-page hit piece entitled Republican Abuse of Power which sought to promote the flagrant lie that the Abramoff business is a "Republican scandal."

South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint was having none of it:

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) chastized Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) Wednesday for Reid’s hypocritical sermonizing on congressional ethics.

"The idea that Senator Reid would attack other senators for taking Abramoff-related donations is laughable,” DeMint said, noting Reid is "among the top recipients of these funds in Congress, and still refuses to return or donate the money.”

"And now,” DeMint continued, "he is using his taxpayer funded office to put out what amounts to campaign attacks. Senator Reid should clean up his own act before lecturing the rest of Congress on ethics.”...

And what was Dirty Harry's reaction to DeMint metaphorically ripping his head off? A meek apology:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday apologized to 33 Republican senators singled out for ethics criticism in a report from his office titled Republican Abuse of Power.

"The document released by my office yesterday went too far and I want to convey to you my personal regrets," Reid said in a letter. "I am writing to apologize for the tone of this document and the decision to single out individual senators for criticism in it."

Reid came under attack Wednesday over the report, which was issued by his staff on Senate letterhead, even as he and fellow Democrats released ethics overhaul proposals.

"Researching, compiling and distributing what amounts to nothing more than a campaign ad on the taxpayers dime raises serious ethical questions," said Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), one of the lawmakers named.

To borrow an Ivinism, "WHO ARE [REPUBLICANS] AFRAID OF?" Barney Fife? Look how easily they slapped him down. Hell, look how easily Arlen Specter bitch-slapped the Massachusetts Manatee when he tried to bulldoze the Judiciary Committee Chairman during the Alito hearings. There's no reason this Donk bully-boy arrogance has to go unchallenged, to say nothing of turned against them. And what do you imagine the tinfoil hat crowd typified by Molly Ivins thinks of Senator Reid's docile apology?

Bottom line is, the 2006 midterms are ON. And if the Dems keep up this mindless partisan idiocy, breaking even in either house of Congress may become awfully optimistic.