An MSNBC panel on Wednesday morning blamed Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., for the Democratic Party’s stunning midterm elections losses, claiming that the outgoing-Senate Majority Leader made it almost impossible for vulnerable Democrats to appear moderate.
Reid “never gave the more conservative Democrats a chance to show their independence because he wouldn’t let the votes come up on [the Keystone XL pipeline] and things like that,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews said, playing off remarks made earlier by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd.
Todd agreed, explaining further that by trying to protect vulnerable Democrats by not having tough votes taken in the Senate, Reid actually prevented Democratic lawmakers, including defeated Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., from proving to voters that they’re centrists.
Reid should’ve run the Senate in such a way that lawmakers like Pryor could flaunt their supposed independence, the MSNBC panel agreed.
“[I]t’s a wave,” Matthews said, adding that Reid won’t even have to deal with the fallout from giving life to the GOP midterm wave. “People are not going to be talking about Harry Reid two weeks from now. It’s going to be about the President of the United States.”
