What should Reid have done?

I'm not a big fan of Harry Reid's Senate leadership, but it seems to me that there wasn't much else he could do in this situation -- the Senate GOP just decided to let the American car industry collapse and that was that.

Seriously: am I missing something? Did Reid screw up the negotiations or something? Is there something else he should have done?

(I know people have suggested Reid actually makes the Republicans filibuster instead of just technically "threatening to filibuster," although when I read about this last year, congressional scholars said something like that Reid doesn't actually have the power to do that and that it would require a rules change with a 2/3 vote to change the rules on filibusters back to the old method, where people actually had to keep the debate open -- correct me if I'm wrong.)

When it was clear it wasn't going to pass. He just gave the repukes a victory that he didn't have to.

Could have just let it drop until 26 days from now when the new Senate will be in session. It will pass then.

:shrug:

And for the southern Senators, their states don't give a flying F about GM or Ford or Chrysler. They have all those Nissan and Toyota and Mercedes plants.

The republicans are showing every sign of becoming a marginal and regional party. The party of the South and inter mountain west. The party of racists and bigots and theocrats. They love them some Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber and Huckabee. They will lose all representation from the old money haunts of the upper North East. But even in becoming a regional party with a base of rednecks and evangelicals, they can still be very dangerous. There will come a day when Democrats will have one too many Blago or another Bill Clinton style sex scandal... and the repukes can win again.

I thought when Clinton won in '92 that we had turned a corner. Only to see the '94 elections bring us the era of "Newt" and the Contract on America days... and then Bush the lesser in 2000. Yes, they are weak now, and in turning to their wingnutiest base, they are even more marginal. If Obama can pull our chestnuts out of the fire here and get America working again, respected in the world again, moral again, and do all the other things that need doing... or even just half of that... he will win in a landslide in 2012. But 2016 will be coming. People always like to stir things up. They like change, even if it's bad for them and they know it.

This is bitch-slap politics. Even if you don't have the votes, you put up a fight - you roast the Rethugs for obstructionism, you call their character into question for refusing to help the auto-workers. You berate them for refusing to compromise, and you attack them for inaction when the economy's in crisis.

In other words, make some noise. Put up a fight. That way, even though you lose the floor vote, you retain some respect.

Reid did not do that - he just meekly shrugged his shoulders, said "That's just the way it is. There's too much difference between the two sides." and crawled away.

WEAK!!!

If you ask me, I'd say that Reid's deliberately trying to make the Democrats look like pantywaists - it seems his corporate donors are paying for him to play the role of punching bag, just like FAUX Noise paid Alan Colmes to be Hannity's pet liberal.