A couple of related items concerning the recent Senate vaudeville act by Dusty Harry Reid, et al.
The tidy cots, the earnest speeches, the candlelight vigil. After staging a 21-hour debate over the war in Iraq on Tuesday night, Sen. Harry Reid pined for drama, publicity and pundit chatter. Did the Nevada Democrat’s dream of buzz and popular appeal come true?
Well, not exactly.
“It was a smoke screen. Senators talk all night of ending the war and bringing our troops home, and they still give Bush billions,” peace activist Cindy Sheehan said yesterday.
“This was a buzzless venture if I ever saw one,” writer Lucianne Goldberg said. “I think Reid just made people mad.”
The end result of the theatrical production?…:
The Democrat-led Senate yesterday failed to set a spring deadline for withdrawing most U.S. troops from Iraq after a rare all-night debate did not sway Republicans united behind giving President Bush’s war strategy through September to show progress.
The amendment died 52-47  falling shy of the 60 needed to advance it to a simple-majority vote. Democrats’ months-long push to attract support to end the war garnered one new Republican, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, who co-sponsored the bill last week.
“Last night’s theatrics accomplished nothing,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “We could have had the vote on the [amendment] without any of this fanfare. And that’s really all it amounted to: sound and fury.”
SO, net result: Presidential polls climbing, Congressional polls sinking:
The Senate action took place as a Zogby poll released yesterday showed that 14 percent of likely voters rated Congress’ performance as excellent or good  20 points below Mr. Bush’s 34 percent and the lowest ever recorded by the pollster.
And they say there ain’t no justice!