Jon Stewart: He says bipartisanship is good when it achieves something besides putting a D and an R together, but if they're just there to prove you know your alphabet past E, your bill's going to be a stinking pile of s-h-i-t. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Jake Simmons!
Jake: Thanks, Jon.
Jon: So, you really held back in your book title. Tell me, ah, what you really think about President Obama's dream political situation.
Jake: Harry Reid, despite his success on the health care bill, jobs bill, budget, and stimulus, is the least competent majority leader in the last, oh . . . actually, I can't think of anyone. See, when people run for leadership, especially in the Senate, they tend to do so with the goal of leading effectively. Now, you can blame parts of this on Blue Dogs like Lieberman, Bayh, and Nelson, but Johnson, when he was Majority Leader, and President, had a much larger conservative contingent, and he still managed to pass Medicare and a few real civil rights bills. Those weren't particularly bipartisan at the time, but they were good legislation.
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