The Senate Republicans are displeased with Senator Reid.

In the wake of the superheated debate over health care reform, Reid and his confidants have used fierce rhetoric to portray the Republicans as tools of Wall Street who spread lies about the financial regulatory reform bill as a way to protect well-heeled donors. Meanwhile, Reid has been forcing the Republicans to vote again and again on the regulatory reform bill, hoping to jam at least one GOP senator into flipping to the Democratic side for fear of coming off as entirely obstructionist.
The tactic seems to be working; Republicans on Wednesday allowed debate to proceed on the bill. But hard feelings persist.

You know, when Senator McConnell says legislation will guarantee permanent bailouts when in fact it does the exact opposite he’s telling a lie, so it seems to me that Reid and his cohorts should employ “fierce rhetoric” when saying so. After all, McConnell was the same guy who said the public option in health care reform “may cost you your life.” If that’s not fierce rhetoric (and another lie) I don’t know how it’s defined.
What’s really going on here is that the Republicans have put themselves in the position of defending Wall Street, perhaps the only institution in the country despised more than Congress. Some of the smarter ones are starting to realize that’s not politically a good place to be.