Although Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was doing his best to maintain a low profile about his past support of the partial-birth abortion ban, his comments last week about Justice Samuel Alito made that goal virtually impossible.
When Family Research Council broke the story on the contradiction between Reid's voting record and his cryptic statements about the Partial Birth Abortion ruling, the Senate majority leader came under fire from conservative groups and probing reporters. In his column today, Bob Novak writes about a conversation he had with Reid about the remarks. When Novak asked if "Reid was repudiating his Senate vote for the bill restricting abortions," the senator said no. He claimed that he was referring to other decisions by Alito. Yet when Novak pressed for answers about specific cases, Reid replied, "I can't recall" but assured Novak that his staff would provide the details. As Novak writes, "They did so several hours later."
Interestingly, of the four cases they supplied, it's not always clear that former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor whom Reid said he "wish[ed] were there" for the PBA ruling would have disagreed with Alito's opinion. And, as Novak points out, there is no record of Reid condemning Alito's vote in any of those cases. Although Reid's doublespeak on the issue is nothing new, it does point to a growing conflict of interest for Democrats who were elected to uphold values often at the expense of the liberal party line. In trying to appease both sides, Reid failed to please either.
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