More Reid bits

The political blog of the Kansas City Star offered readers a little game—match the quotation to the man. It printed two reaction quotes about GOP Sen. Ted Stevens’ conviction on corruption charges, one relatively soft and understanding and the other harder and less forgiving. Match the quotes to John McCain and Harry Reid, the newspaper asked readers. Of course, Democrat Reid authored the softer words and Stevens’ fellow Republican spoke the tougher one. “There is little love lost” between Stevens and McCain, the newspaper said.

Reid is having a busy week dealing with rumors generated on the blogosphere. One says that with Stevens’ conviction and the increased likelihood of a Democratic senator being elected from Alaska to replace him, the Democrats no longer need Democrat-cum-Independent Joe Lieberman as much and Reid is likely to be instructed by his caucus to tell Lieberman to fish or cut bait—either start acting like a Democrat or take a walk.

Another such story has Reid forcing senior West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, one of his predecessors as party floor leader, out of the chair of the Appropriations Committee to make way for Hawaii’s Dan Inouye.