Thank You, Harry Reid

When stalwart liberal apologists like Richard Cohen and Frank Bruni say you've gone too far -- well, you've gone waaaay too far. To their credit, both men have denounced what Cohen calls

Reid's "gutter politics" and what Bruni refers to as having a "history of intemperate, borderline adolescent remarks."

Now, I'm sure both men are upset just because of their concern with civil, decent politics. But could it also be that their passionate denunciations of Reid's tactic stems from the realization that he has inadvertently handed Mitt Romney and the Republicans two huge gifts?

First, he has provided America with a dramatic, first-hand look at the character and quality of the man leading the United States Senate -- wherefrom no budget has emerged since 2009. Given the type of behavior he has demonstrated, he will have a tough time convincing fair-minded Americans that it's the obstructionist, over-the-top partisanship of Republicans that has prevented any meaningful work from occurring.

Second, the country has seen the cowardly silence that has emanated from Democratic ranks in response to Reid's unconscionable smears of Romney's character. This is a group that will have a hard time complaining about the decline in the "civility" of our discourse in the future. Above all, Obama campaign/administration's complicity in Reid's actions (and now its weasel-words seeking to "distance" itself without denouncing the remarks) proves beyond any doubt the mockery President Obama has made of Candidate Obama's expressed wishes to unify the country and elevate the tone of our politics.