The Moose applauds the Democratic Senate Leader for not caving in to the conventional wisdom.
In Washington, too many politicians are slaves to the CW. As Michael Kinsley famously declared, a gaffe is when a politician blurts out the truth. Senator Reid did just that the other day when he referred to Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan as a "political hack." This weekend, D.C. dinner parties will be all abuzz with this breach of Beltway etiquette. It as if Tony Blair had just insulted the queen. This is a moment of historic cultural importance! The Zeitgeist has shifted!
As the Washington Post reported this morning,
"Questioning the wisdom of Alan Greenspan in political Washington is akin to challenging the integrity of the pope in Rome, so figures in both parties agreed yesterday that the top Senate Democrat's description of the Federal Reserve Board chairman as a "political hack" was a blunder."
As the Moose noted yesterday, Senator Reid was spot on. The Fed Chairman lost his halo when he did not reject tax cuts during wartime. Indeed, it was his patriotic duty and obligation to speak out against the madness of reducing revenues when the nation was at war. It is now completely dishonest for him to decry the growing debt. With his silence, Mr. Greenspan is clearly culpable in its creation. For him to now bless private social security accounts only further undermines his credibility. The trillion dollar transition costs will further exacerbate the deficit problem. Greenspan is not just a partisan hack, but also an ideological one.
All Democrats should be proud of their Senate leader for his straight talk. Indeed, all Americans should be as well. -- | 
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