I don't understand how the republicans continue to drive and frame the debate over EVERYTHING and why the democrats let them

If terrorists are released ... we don't want them put in prisons. Makes perfect sense.

Harry Reid has NO balls. Why the Dems don't toss him aside, is a question whose answer I cannot guess.

What good does it do for the majority party in the Senate if the majority leader still behaves as if he is carefully leading the minority out of the woods???

He now is in the position of making a difference. What does he do? He backs off. I ask the biblical analogous question: What good is salt once it loses its flavor? Toss it out - it serves no other purpose.

Ried must behave like a majority leader, or be gone.

I posted this earlier over at Kevin's site at MoJo:

"The GOP's brain trust isn't offering even a hint of a substantive case that the U.S. Army can't safely keep a few dozen detainees behind bars in a military prison, but Dems are caving anyway. Because they're scared."

Ah, Kevin, the U.S. Army is already keeping these detainees safely behind bars in a military prison. At Gitmo.

Since Obama has already decided to keep using military commissions and indefinite detention for those who can't be otherwise processed, what possible sense would it make to transfer those detainees to some other place in the US, that is going to be less secure than Gitmo and whose local politicians are going to raise holy hell?

It makes no sense whatsoever. Obama has already validated much, if not all, of the Bush-Cheney national security policies by his continuation of them. At this point, what difference does it make for him to change his mind again and decide to leave Gitmo open?

Expect for pissing off liberals and the ACLU, who the hell cares where these detainees are housed?

I couldn't agree more. As strong as your language is, it is, unfortunately, appropriate. If he's not able to stand up to that ridiculous and easily rebutted chimera about "terrorists in our neighborhoods" now, he clearly is beyond hope of ever growing a spine. This has been going on for years. Can't O sic Rahm on him, or incite an insurrection among progressives, or something? or is he scared too? (Although actually I think O's played almost everything perfectly so far: the pictures will come out anyway, and he won't look like was pushing for it... the way they've used Limbaugh (which many questioned at first) as a GOP auto-destruct point, clearly been vindicated. And I think they're playing Cheney now too... And they have gotten much more done in 4 months than Dubya in his whole 2nd term... But imagine if they had an LBJ-type intimidator as Majority Leader... oh the places we could go... if not now, when?

What a spineless twit...

I know it won't happen but - because I enjoy being affiliated with the Democratic Party and have enjoyed being in power for the first time in my adult life, I openly say that I only hope he's removed from a position of power within the party.

His comments, as attributed, show a masterful combination of stupidity, cowardice and a solemn disregard for intelligent debate. and here I thought that combo was limited to the RNC Chairmanship... forget Swine Flu, H1N1 or whatever it is today... the real threat is the seemingly viral and infectious nature of stupidity in Washington and leadership positions.

stay safe Barack... too many thinkers out here in the wilderness need you.

We spent how many millions on super secure federal prisons? The states where they are located got how much in pork and jobs to locate them? But we don't want to put prisoners in there who need a super secure location because ...

Harry "No Balls" Reid HAS to go.

You'd think that the country with the most prisoners per capita would know what to do with 200 more. Pathetic.

They could esplode.

confiscate their weapons
take them to their cells
keep them barely living
in their own private hells

take them to the border
nudge them with your gun
shoot above their heads
till they begin to run

lead them to the chambers
once their herded round
listen to the screaming
and now there is no sound

wasn't that you at auschwitz
or a thousand other deaths
one man kills another
before they've ever met

Just to play devil's advocate, aren't some states/people reluctant to house another states more vicious criminals because by virtue of being incarcerated in a certain area those criminals learn much about an area that could be 'useful'.

I think it is time we considered forming our own party. People without courage or convictions need not apply.

thats why im not a democrat...pathetic...

Whether terrorists are housed at the jail in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac from DC, is a big issue in the Virginia governor's race this year. And yes, the governor's race IS this year. Just to show you how relevant this really is -- the Republican candidate, McDonnell, is leading all Democratic candidates, whose primary is June 9. Virginia still is struggling to turn blue, and with the Republican Party's ability to turn out the vote around here, allowing the jail to house the detainees might be the thing that wins the governorship for the Republicans.

Chicounsel wrote: Expect for pissing off liberals and the ACLU, who the hell cares where these detainees are housed?

"Housed." Nice.

Your own resorting to euphemism betrays you, jackass.

Seemingly lost in all this is the fact few if any of the people we're talking about incarcerating until they die have been convicted of anything. Why are they called terrorists? Pluck 250 people randomly off the streets of U.S. cities. Make them rot offshore in chainlink cages for 7 years without charges or a trial judged by peers. Then commence a discussion about where to move them to continue to languish until they die. Tell me how that all would go down with the citizenry.

You know Harry Reid is really not an impressive leader. On the environment he is the biggest supporter of mining corporations ripping up public land, extracting gold ore. And with the help of good ol' Harry, they are not paying for the right to remove the ore from public land. Yeah, Harry's a real progressive all right....

Its stuff like this that has made me stop identifying myself as a Democrat. The Republicans are monsters and the Democrats are weak...even when they have this gigantic gift of majority sitting there staring them in the face, they refuse to do anything. They continue to let the Republicans frame everything and run the show. Ill continue to be an "I" until this party gets its spine back. I refuse to support a bunch of wet noodles.

Hilzoy, I'm disgusted and ashamed of your party, too. But it's nothing compared with the contempt I hold for my own party and the MSM.

Good to see one of the bloggers on here addressing Dem fecklessness.

I know this is off subject, but anyone interested in the whole CIA situation, should go to the Emptywheel website, they have done a magnificent job of joining the dots. It is an ongoing analysis, and I have to read it everyday!

Oh my God! The Democrat Party is releasing terrorists in our country. They're gonna boat them over from Cuba and turn 'em loose!

Just imagine. Young, helpless suburban housewives throughout our country, in prime sexual health, naked before the threat of the darkened, swarthy terrorist (or illegal alien) who lay in wait in carefully manicured backyards. Biding his time when the odd window is left unlatched, or the door left ajar. Then, our merciless Saracen terrorist creeps up to the house (30% off its peak value) and obliterates it with a Boeing 747.

Awesome, garnash.

because terrorists are far more canny than a serial killer who has eluded the police for many years.

/facepalm.
Moussoui? Reid? Nichols?

all terrorists. In US jails.

Son of Sam, Manson...mass murderers. still in jail.

Aknowledging a Republican talking point is tantamount to agreeing with it.
Harry Reid is a spineless weenie. I say we call for him to step down. GRow a farkin pair, Harry.

I've been fairly tolerant of Reid's laissez faire approach to Senate Leadership up until now, believing the "passive" approach more valuable while the Republicans have been busy self-destructing.

But this is absolute horse shit. Harry Reid just showed his true colors. He doesn't have passive strength, he's just a passive wuss. Mr. Reid, you are pathetic.

The Republicans have seized this issue and twisted it into a populist clarion call. There's really no way any Democrat is going to fight this without opening him/herself up to serious criticism when they come up for re-election - whether such criticism is warranted or not.

I can understand the GOP staking out the low ground of cowardice merely to thwart Democrats. It's stupid, but at least there's some logic to the debasement they embrace.

For Reid to embrace such craven, illogical nonsense is beyond any sympathy or understanding.

What does it take to get a new leader in the Senate?

This is why parties are, necessarily, detrimental to good governance. Show me a partisan politician, and I'll show you someone who has, at the behest of his party, made a decision he knew was the wrong one.

Gitmo is a very good spot to hold terrorists and POWs.

The problem is the motive--Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, et. al., using Alberto Gonzales/John Yoo types of bottom-of-the-barrel sleaze lawyer misinterpretations of law to try and put the "unitary executive" above the law.

http://reid.senate.gov/contact/thankyou.cfm

this is a link to Reid's email contact form. Please go there and tell Harry personally what you think of his spinelessness.

Have fun with it.