Reader Gherald L. and I have been having a spirited discussion over the last few days (here and here) over the merits of the recent Conservadem phenomenon and the question of whether Harry Reid is, as I believe, a tool.

I missed an interesting nuance the other day and offer up a particular gem from Mr. Reid for everyone’s consideration. The following was part of Reid’s response when asked about the Conservadems last week:

Reid has no qualms about the group, and said that “any public statements” Senate moderates have made have been helpful as the chamber takes up a budget next week that would cost more than $3 trillion. And he added: “Some people of course go to those meetings so they can issue a press release back home that’ll make them appear more moderate.”

I didn’t catch this the first go-around but the highlighted sentence bears some consideration. In my master political construct, there are:

1. Things that politicians do and tell people they’re doing (because it would be to their party’s political advantage to reveal it); and
2. Things that politicians do and refrain from telling people they’re doing (because to mention it would be to their party’s political disadvantage).

To illustrate point two, remember this doozy of a quote from Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, during the 2008 election?

This election is not about issues.

While it was true that McCain’s campaign assiduously tried to steer every conversation away from “issues” and instead tried to push trumped-up personality concerns whenever possible (e.g., palling around with terrorists, celebrity, Obama’s campaign being supported/financed by Hamas, etc.), the public disclosure of the existence of this issues-free strategy was damaging to the campaign — it should have remained unspoken.

This is directly analogous to the Harry Reid quote above. He basically told a reporter that a bunch of the people attending the Conservadem meetings don’t necessarily believe in the Conservadem agenda (i.e. to strategically water down everything proposed by the democratic leadership and “protect business interests“) but are just doing it in order to send out press releases to please the knuckle-draggers back home.

Here’s Chris Bowers on the topic:

This is just about the worst thing a Democrat can say. Hell, it is one of the worst things a politician can say. Here is a different way of phrasing that sentence: of course I don’t actually believe in the values of this group to which I belong-I just joined the group to trick the rubes back home into thinking that I believe in those values.

It is absolutely, utterly soulless and elitist. It is, also, the fundamental problem with DLC, moderate Democrat speak. Instead of actually just taking a stand for center and center-right beliefs, moderate Democrats are constantly couching their policy positions in terms of electability. It is the fundamental reason why so many people don’t think Democrats believe what they say. Democrats keep saying, in public, that the only reason they support certain positions is to trick people into thinking that they are moderate. It is just bizarre, and it happens all the time.

Even though it is probably true that many Democrats attending Conservadem meetings don’t sign on to most of their agenda, it is supremely stupid and disadvantageous for Harry Reid to actually say it out loud.

Another reason why I think Harry Reid is a tool…