Reid Defends ‘Lost’ War, ‘Worst President’ Remarks

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Sunday defended two of his most controversial comments as the chamber’s leader: His April 2007 statement about the U.S. war in Iraq and his criticism of President Bush as “a liar,” “a loser,” and “the worst president ever.”

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Reid was confronted by host David Gregory over the past statements and offered the chance to withdraw them. Most notably, Gregory pressed Reid if he had any regrets over his criticism of Bush.

Reid responded by noting that he had expressed those views in his 2008 book, “The Good Fight,” and that he made one of the statements about Bush’s failed proposal to merge Social Security with stock market investments. Such an idea was an attempt to “destroy” the program, Reid said, and would have been disastrous given the ongoing Wall Street slump.

Bush has also “done his very best to destroy Medicare,” Reid said.

“I think you just have to call things the way you see them,” Reid said. “I really do believe President Bush is the worst president we’ve ever had.”

Gregory also pressed Reid on his April 2007 statement that the war in Iraq was “lost” and the U.S. troop surge was “not working.”

“Were you wrong?” Gregory asked.

Reid said U.S. Commander David Petraeus himself had once told him that the war could not be won through solely military means but that Petraeus took the “genius” steps of more directly engaging Iraqis in the stability of their country.

“My original statement was in keeping with what David Petraeus said, that is, the war cannot be won militarily,” Reid said.

When asked if he still believed the war has been lost, Reid demurred and said only future historians can make such a judgment.

-J. Taylor Rushing