Dan Friedman | November 2, 2012
If Mitt Romney wins the presidency, he will not win cooperation from Senate Democrats, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday in his latest and perhaps final shot at a candidate who aides say Reid personally disdains. In a statement reacting to what he said are Romney's claims that Senate Democrats will work with him on his agenda, Reid calls Romney a "severe conservative" whose "far-right agenda" Democrats reject.(RELATED: Senate Dems Face Tough Fight in 2014) "Romney's fantasy that Senate Democrats will work with him to pass his 'severely conservative' agenda is laughable. In fact, Mitt Romney's Tea Party agenda has already been rejected in the Senate," Reid says, listing GOP policies Romney has embraced that the Senate has voted down, including the budget plans offered by vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, R.-Wis. Democrats look set to retain control of the Senate. Reid's statement, while aiming to aid President Obama's reelection, is a reminder that should Romney win, Senate Democrats will pose a major hurdle to his plans and that Reid's dislike of Romney, more specifically, would be a problem.(RELATED: Admin Official Dances Around Payroll Tax Cut Issue) Democratic aides said that Reid views many Republicans, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as pragmatic and compromise-inclined but that he considers Romney an unserious, posturing legislator. That animosity, along with partisan interest and Reid's self-appointed role as a high-profile attack dog, drove his prominent calls for Romney to release his tax returns and his reliably disdainful descriptions of Romney. "Mitt Romney has demonstrated that he lacks the courage to stand up to the Tea Party, kowtowing to their demands time and again," Reid's statement continued. "There is nothing in Mitt Romney's record to suggest he would act any differently as president. "As governor of Massachusetts, he had a terrible relationship with Democrats, cordoning himself off behind a velvet rope instead of reaching out to build relationships," Reid continued. "And in the near-decade that Mitt Romney has spent running for president, both his words and his actions have shown that pleasing the far right is more important to him than working across the aisle."
