Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

He really is that stupid.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

I was promised a recession.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / So That Was His Secret…

So That Was His Secret…

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John Kerry, on Harry Reid’s back-from-the-dead triumph yesterday:

“Politico was wrong, Huffington Post was wrong, hell, all the pundits were wrong. Harry Reid isn’t just Dracula, he isn’t just Lazarus, he’s our Leader and our whole caucus is thrilled that he’s unbreakable and unbeatable.”

What’s scary about this is that Kerry isn”t talking off the cuff here.  This is his statement.  He means it.

And then, of course, there’s the thought of Harry Reid with fangs.

Image: cover of the British American magazine Weird Tales, June 1936, vol. 27, no. 6.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Honest to god, I like Kerry, I like him a lot, but he really needs to appoint a staffer to vet his every prepared statement, and not make any unprepared statements.

  4. 4.

    MattR

    Wait. So he’s Bruce Willis in that M. Night Shyamalan movie? (No. not The Sixth Sense. The other one with Bruce Willis)

    (EDIT: I am pretty sure that Carl Paladino has already been cast in the role of Dracula. He perfectly looks the part.)

  5. 5.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    Whole caucus? I don’t know that Reid is much of a leader. He sure as hell doesn’t inspire confidence in anyone. He won more because the top two GOP’er challengers were batshit insane and he had enough money to hammer that theme home.

  6. 6.

    djheru

    John Kerry, off the cuff:

    Who among us does not firmly, completely believe that the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, is not just Dracula, or possibly at the same time Lazarus, or some other resurrected individual as the result of the actions of our Lord, or possibly some other prophet, but rather, taking into consideration the feelings of the entire caucus, which is thrilled, believing that he is simultaneously neither breakable, nor beatable

  8. 8.

    debbie

    The best thing Reid could do now for the Democrats is step aside and let someone else lead them. Even if it’s only his public image, he’s too wishy washy. Democrats need a strong, well-spoken leader.

  9. 9.

    daryljfontaine

    If Harry Reid would act more like Draculazarus, I think we would have fewer complaints about him.

    D

  11. 11.

    Gravenstone

    @MattR:

    (EDIT: I am pretty sure that Carl Paladino has already been cast in the role of Dracula. He perfectly looks the part.)

    I see Paladino as more Nosferatu than Dracula, but YMMV.

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    It’s official, Harry Reid is changing his name to Thorp McClusky.

    That name is full of awesome.

  14. 14.

    J. Michael Neal

    Paladino doesn’t even have the class to be Nosferatu. He’s a George Romero product through and through.

  15. 15.

    RosiesDad

    Maybe Kerry is trying to appeal to teen-aged girls. Because I hear that teen-aged girls love vampires. (This is what my teen-aged girls tell me.)

    OTOH, two, four or six more years of Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader is just so appealing, considering how well he’s done since he was elected to the position.

  19. 19.

    FlipYrWhig

    Well, I kind of like it. It’s a whole rhetorical anteing up on the “back from the dead” phrase that’s such a, pardon me, dead metaphor. He should have said that he’s kind of like Freddy Krueger, in that as long as you believe in his power, he’ll be able to keep it, but if you stop believing, he’ll disappear. OK, except for the part about child molestation, dreamworld murders, and disembodied tongues popping out of phones. Other than that, it’s Harry Reid to a T.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    Does this mean that Harry continues as leader…The Democratic Party need a voice and they need it quickly and Harry just doesn’t cut it.

  24. 24.

    TwinMom

    Dems would be a lot stronger with Schumer as majority leader. Hate to see a civil war, but Harry has always been to soft spoken (i.e. weak) Schumer wouldn’t be.

  27. 27.

    Lolis

    I certainly wish Harry Reid would destroy the Republican caucus with as much skill and vigor as he did Sharron Angle. We need that Harry Reid in the Senate. Dems need a bad cop but nobody ever seems to be up to the task.

  28. 28.

    J sub D

    @RosiesDad:

    Maybe Kerry is trying to appeal to teen-aged girls. Because I hear that teen-aged girls love vampires. (This is what my teen-aged girls tell me.)

    My sister was a teenager when Dark Shadows was on the air in the late ’60s. I can attest that teenage girls definitely love themselves some vampires.

    I seriously doubt teenage girls love Harry Reid.

  29. 29.

    WyldPirate

    Krugman nails how Harry pulled it out. That and an assist from teh crazy-assed Angle.

    “Harry Gave ‘Em Hell
    Aha. I almost forgot to mention this, but one of the surprises of last night is that Harry Reid, supposedly a completely hopeless case, is still Senator.

    How did that happen? Reid did something Democrats almost never do: instead of apologizing for his party, he ran against a person with a habit of making crazy statements by hitting hard, again and again, with ads calling her a crazy person. It was very rude and uncivil. And it worked.”

    But Harry is already talking about compromising with the Rethugs.

    The Rethugs are doubling down. They got away with the obstruction once and they’ll get away with it for two more years. It didn’t cost them this time and it won’t next time.

    Obama–the soon to be Black Jimmy Carter…

  30. 30.

    Suffern Ace

    @Southern Beale: I’m not reading it. I mean, had they offered us an olive branch, I would have thrown it back at them. But, geez, they act like they got the 2nd place trophy and its 6 feet shorter than the first place one.

    Just keep on being angry. Its a heck of a way to live.

  31. 31.

    morzer

    @thomas Levenson:

    the British magazine Weird Tales

    Mr Levenson, shame on you and triple shame. Weird Tales is 100% American, and was founded in, appropriately enough, Zombie Daley town Chicago in 1923.

    HP Lovecraft is restless in his grave, and great Cthulhu has expressed major pissedoffitude from his house in R’lyeh.

  32. 32.

    Bob L

    Funny thought, you can almost see the B&W movie with Sharron Angle as the blond `femfatal and Reid as the Dracula. She’s shoots him over and over again finally screaming in rage “why won’t you die?”

  35. 35.

    General Stuck

    @debbie:

    The best thing Reid could do now for the Democrats is step aside and let someone else lead them. Even if it’s only his public image, he’s too wishy washy. Democrats need a strong, well-spoken leader.

    I completely agree with this. As a long time senate watcher, I think the reason he is valued as a leader by other senate dems is that no one on our side knows the rules better, and is a better consensus builder than Reid. I know some poo poo that, and think he should drive a harder bargain, but when it comes to preening self importance, dem senators, more than wingers take the prize. Ask Carter, and Clinton before 1994/ They are a precious bunch, and will turn on a dem leader in a heart beat, whether their own senate leader, or a dem president if he pushes them too hard.

    But Reid is just an awful, awful, public figure with the media. Dems need someone who can go on Newshour and speak plainly and forcefully without overdoing it. Plus Reid really made some big mistakes after 2006 in dealing with the wingers and letting filibusters become normal seeming procedure with the media and public, by not even forcing cloture votes and just accepting a 60 super majority as the norm. He has dialed that back in recent years, but the damage was done.

  37. 37.

    Alice Blue

    @ J sub D: Aahh, Dark Shadows. Barnabas Collins, the “groovy ghoul.” * Getting home from school, flying through the front door, and turning on the TV just in time.

    *Tiger Beat magazine, 1970.

  38. 38.

    Warren Terra

    Well, it is surely true that when you look at Harry Reid’s bloodless face (not to mention when you observe his metaphorically bloodless leadership), the natural response is to think to yourself, “somewhere in Nevada, a grave is empty”.

    But, seriously, what is up with Kerry? I mean, his aptitude for the malapropism has previously been noted, but still: unless your intention is to excoriate, why compare your guy to Dracula even in passing? And surely an “unbeatable, unbreakable” candidate shouldn’t have needed to absorb so much of the party’s money and energy, just to save his seat.

  39. 39.

    Bob L

    @WyldPirate:

    The Rethugs are doubling down. They got away with the obstruction once and they’ll get away with it for two more years. It didn’t cost them this time and it won’t next time.

    Not quite,.. it’s been proven that 33% of the population will vote for their party, no matter who is the candidate (see Dem candidate South Carolina senate race for a good example) When the party is in minority their is no downside to being an asshat. Now they have the majority suddenly they have something precious; those committee chairmanships and pork.

  40. 40.

    Thoughtcrime

    @MattR:

    Wait. So he’s Bruce Willis in that M. Night Shyamalan movie? (No. not The Sixth Sense. The other one with Bruce Willis)

    And who could ever forget John Kerry in Reanimator?

  42. 42.

    General Stuck

    @WyldPirate:

    Obama—the soon to be Black Jimmy Carter…

    didn’t you just say in a previous thread, that you didn’t use winger memes. Well the one above is a right wing standard. And you are a drooling idiot to use it here.

  44. 44.

    harokin

    @djheru: Somerby alert! That “who among us” construction attributed to Kerry was fabricated by Mo Dowd. There is plenty of justifiable criticism of Kerry without repeating the fictional.

    Also, too, that REH Black Canaan story mentioned on the cover of the Weird Tales issue is a spooky story about a spooky black man who sets out to take over America but is defeated by the strong right arm of a true southern hero. Prescient?

  45. 45.

    beltane

    Did Sharron Angle deliver a crazy concession speech? I’d like to watch it just for the laughs. Now that she’s gone I won’t mind the sound of her voice so much.

  47. 47.

    WyldPirate

    @Bob L:

    When the party is in minority their is no downside to being an asshat. Now they have the majority suddenly they have something precious; those committee chairmanships and pork.

    It doesn’t matter. They don’t have the Senate. They can get serious mileage out of that and avoid all blame yet again.

    If the economy doesn’t improve–and it isn’t looking good now–than Obama gets the blame. The only one I think is going to benefit from OE2 is going to be Goldman Sachs from their commission on selling T-notes.

  50. 50.

    feebog

    MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell opined last night that Kerry’s statement was a preemptive strike towards anyone who might be harboring thoughts about taking on Harry for the leadership role. Sounds right to me.

  51. 51.

    Tyro

    I can’t help but like Kerry more for that. The vampire is always the star of the story. Everyone admires someone who gets what he wants and just doesn’t die, no matter how much you throw at him.

  52. 52.

    WyldPirate

    @General Stuck:
    just go fuck yourself, Stuck.

    Carter was portrayed as weak and ineffectual and a lot of people bought it.

    Obama gets portrayed that way as well. A lot of people buy it. The messaging is working.

    I don’t give a fuck if you like me using that “meme” or not. You can just run the fuck along and mind your own goddamned business.

  53. 53.

    General Stuck

    @Southern Beale:

    Oh, come on. I mean Weasel Zippers. Those motherfuckers type with their knuckles. Maybe you should read on.

    “But I’m not going to in any way denigrate the great work we did as a country in saving Americans from bankruptcy because of the insurance industry bankrupting them,” he added.

    There is going to be a lot of “tweaking” to the HCR, regardless. But I suppose a new left wing meme of dems gutting HCR would make a nice bookend with the gutting SS one. Jeebus.

  54. 54.

    General Stuck

    @WyldPirate:

    LOL, you think you can just spread your smelly shit here and be left alone. I am currently in no flame war mode, for a while. Later, if you want to have a go, we’ll see how badass you really are.

  55. 55.

    Bob L

    @WyldPirate:

    It doesn’t matter. They don’t have the Senate. They can get serious mileage out of that and avoid all blame yet again.

    Gee you don’t think of 2012 is another “throw the those Washington bums” out there isn’t going to a blood bath yet again in the House? Sure to the True Believers those House Republicans careers died for a noble cause but I doubt if any of the House Republicans see themselves in the martyrs roll. Keep in mind we are talking about the party of me first here.

  56. 56.

    Citizen_X

    @Bob L: Earlier in the movie, Angle finds herself trapped with a few other people in an abandoned Nevada farmhouse, defending themselves from a horde of rampaging zombies!

    Angle: There’s so many! Where are they all coming from? Blam! Blam!
    Guy who’s about to get eaten: Mexico! Bang! They’re all sneaking over the border!
    Angle: Really? Blam! They look Asian!

  59. 59.

    morzer

    @thomas Levenson:

    Why do you hate our fantasy freedoms, you.. you monarchic tool of the British imperial system!

    I warn you, sir, the softball bat of justice is in the hands of our Paladinos!

  63. 63.

    Maude

    @gbear:
    You’ve got it. It looks like Obama is setting up the Republicans to either put up or makes fools of themselves.
    There are things that need to be done with the health bill.
    The UI extension has to be passed this month.

  65. 65.

    Steve

    @harokin:

    Somerby alert! That “who among us” construction attributed to Kerry was fabricated by Mo Dowd. There is plenty of justifiable criticism of Kerry without repeating the fictional.

    Just because John Kerry never said “who among us doesn’t love NASCAR?” doesn’t mean he isn’t the trademark holder on the phrase. Consider the following:

    It’s not right to tell a family that has just received that knock on the door, “Oh, by the way – you have to pack up your home and move.” Move where? Who among us thinks it’s right to say such a thing? Who among us could move on short notice when you don’t even know where your paycheck will come from?

    In the wake of September 11, who among us can say, with any certainty, to anybody, that those weapons [ED: wince!] might not be used against our troops or against allies in the region?

  66. 66.

    Elie

    @WyldPirate:

    And ya know, Wyld, we just had a nice little conversation on the other comment thread and I talked about not damaging our own side and shit like that and you at least didnt right out disagree, but here you are, doin’it.

    Black Jimmy Carter.

    Thanks.

    Helps a lot man. Really shows they way to success and doesnt knee cap our side, right.

    Stuck is right. you suck

  67. 67.

    Tom Levenson

    @morzer: Like this guy?

    I have to say — I can never hear the word “paladino” without thinking of the supersymmetric particle within a larger family that includes the buffoonerino, the fatuoso, and, adjustmymedsino.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I think that Reid is a very effective vote counter and behind the scenes operator. The fact that HCR was passed despite the efforts of every prima donna to use it to make him/herself famous and important is testament to that. He, however, is not the person who should be the public face of a fighting party. In appearance and style, he is a gray technocrat. It is who he is. Starting now, the Dems need their telegenic and charismatic people out in front.

  71. 71.

    WyldPirate

    @General Stuck:

    @General Stuck:

    I’m not “firebagging” for anyone. This is the only board I post on. I occasionally glance at FDL (once or twice a month), GOS about the same. I read Eschaton and Digby regularly.

    I have the same opinion of DU as I do LGF–and, of course, you–they’re fucking assholes.

    And again, fuck off, asshole. I don’t give a fuck what kind of mood your in and I’m not altering what or when I post here because of your sorry-assed whining.

  72. 72.

    Bob L

    @Maude:

    You’ve got it. It looks like Obama is setting up the Republicans to either put up or makes fools of themselves.

    and gee wiz the Republicans have to watch their back with Rush and Beck, less sacred conservative purity is soiled by compromise with the Second Evilest Man in US History(you know, actually governing in a Democracy)

    I think I understand why Boehner was drunk and crying last night.

  73. 73.

    El Tiburon

    Harry Reid’s victory was the one I was most ambivalent about.

    I remember sending a heated e-mail to his office promising to donate to whomever his opponent was.

    He is just a big wuss.

  75. 75.

    WyldPirate

    @Elie:
    Please, I’m damaging “our side” by posting that in this fucking thread? Plus, I made it in context of what Krugman–a real right wing meme-maker there–was criticizing?

    Please. Get over the importance of blog comments. They just don’t matter that much.

  76. 76.

    General Stuck

    @WyldPirate:

    Okay then, you must just be a common idjit, I bet you wipe the snot of your face with a month old teeshirt.

    WyldPirate, the next Corner Stone.

    internet tough guy

  78. 78.

    joe from Lowell

    @Lolis:

    I certainly wish Harry Reid would destroy the Republican caucus with as much skill and vigor as he did Sharron Angle.

    Perhaps his virtues only come out when he’s in a pinch.

    That would be nice, since his party just got pinched.

  79. 79.

    Elie

    @WyldPirate:

    No.

    But you are echoeing comments and more aggressive commentary from sites that actually do intend to damage — expressly so.

    Comments here are read by a variety of people with a variety of interests. They do reveal themselves through those comments and reveal their interests and focus.

    I am not sure why calling Obama a Black Jimmy Carter helps you to express what you mean and somehow achieves your aims by offending many who comment here. I find it purposely offensive and unhelpful. I am a black woman who voted for Jimmy Carter. That said, your intention was clearly to marry our first black President to the image of a President who was considered weak and ineffectual. Not true?

    What were you trying to say or describe about him? Or were you more trying to offend many here without shedding much other light?

    Which?

  81. 81.

    Elie

    I am very very ambivalent about Harry Reid. I was glad he won as Sharon Angle was just a nightmare. He clearly took her apart so the dude must know something about politics.. wish he would use it to help us…

    I doubt that he will step aside. It would be great to have a more savy and charismatic leader right through here but I doubt it will happen.

  82. 82.

    joe from Lowell

    Whether he’s a Republican posing as a stupid, crude, bitter left-winger, or actually a stupid, crude, bitter left-winger, I don’t really care.

    I just want him to go away, and there seems to be a consensus.

  83. 83.

    Roger Moore

    @El Tiburon:

    He is just a big wuss.

    Reid may be a wuss, and he may be less than effective as a Majority Leader, but there’s no doubt about which side he’s on. I’d rather have a Senate full of wishy-washy talkers but consistent Democratic voters than one full of bold talkers who stab the party in the back. I’d like to see Reid replaced by another Democrat as Majority Leader, but not by a batshit crazy Republican as Senator from Nevada.

  84. 84.

    FlipYrWhig

    Harry Reid isn’t a compelling presence. On the other hand, who the fuck would want to be the Senate majority leader, wrangling that gang of back-stabbing self-aggrandizing drama queens day after day after day? It has to be like being chair of an academic department at a college: you have some power, but mostly it’s nothing but headaches and putting out fires. Who would ever want to do that? Is there someone else in the Democratic caucus who’s eager to take it on?

  85. 85.

    thomas Levenson

    @FlipYrWhig: All I’ll say to this:

    It has to be like being chair of an academic department at a college: you have some power, but mostly it’s nothing but headaches and putting out fires.

    …is ouch. Waay to close to home.

  86. 86.

    General Stuck

    @FlipYrWhig:

    i would say Chuck Schumer, he likes his teevee face time and to hear himself talk. He’s shallow, petulant, shifty and crafty. And he can be a mean sumbitch . What else could you ask for in a political leader?

  87. 87.

    Jamie

    for Christ’s sake, if yesterday doesn’t cost Reid his job as leader., what would/ …these peoples are just playing to lose.

  88. 88.

    Triassic Sands

    Harry Reid isn’t just Dracula, he isn’t just Lazarus, he’s our Leader…

    Yes, Kerry, he is YOUR leader, which may go a long way toward explaining why the Democrats are in so much trouble.

  89. 89.

    Sly

    If there is any leadership shake-up it will go to Schumer or Durbin. For the sake of political expediency, I’d root for Schumer, and here’s why:

    Back in 2006, when Dubai Ports World was set to get the contract to take over port security in a number of states on the East coast, a number of proposals were drawn up to crush the deal. Because anything explicitly targeting DBW would amount to a bill of attainder, legislators had to finesse the language. And because a lot of Republicans were in favor of letting the deal go through, there was a good opportunity to make the party of national security eat some much deserved crow.

    Schumer came up with an amendment to the legislation that banned any company from contracting with the United States, for the purposes of port security, that was headquartered in any nation that gave diplomatic recognition to the Taliban. There are three such nations: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.

    It caused a complete uproar in the Republican Conference, precisely because it was fucking genius. Unfortunately DBW announced the next day that it was going to sell its American holdings, so the legislation became meaningless.

  90. 90.

    Nick

    After the nuclear holocaust, all that will be left are cockroaches and Cher

    and apparently Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

  91. 91.

    Nick

    @General Stuck:

    i would say Chuck Schumer, he likes his teevee face time and to hear himself talk. He’s shallow, petulant, shifty and crafty. And he can be a mean sumbitch . What else could you ask for in a political leader?

    I would give him a week before liberals call him the great sellout.

    The thing about Reid is not that he’s not a fighter, but he is a deliverer. And I appreciate that.

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