Reid Bails Out of His Own Slumber Party

Once again the "Senate Majority Leader Who Can't Shoot Straight" is made a fool of by the Senate Republicans. Reid was hoping the Republicans would fail to show up for the all-nighter so he could blame them for refusing to debate, but instead it was Republicans who kept everything going while Reid snuggled away in his private cot (h/t Captain Ed):

So much for forcing Republicans to filibuster all night.
As the clock struck midnight and Tuesday became Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid loosened up a bit on his plans to teach members of the minority that Democrats set the schedule on the debate over Iraq. ...

Speaking of those mandatory attendance tallies, Reid changed his mind about how many, and when. He had originally planned holding one around 3 a.m. and another at 7 a.m. But that changed during the midnight vote when Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., made the case against senatorial sleep deprivation and impugned Reid to push the quorum call back.

Reid, who had his very own cot waiting for him in a quiet parlor off his office, agreed. Next live quorum call, he announced: 5 a.m. With a few cases of bed-head among them, senators rolled in and again passed the same motion to instruct. This time the motion passed 37-23, with dawn beginning to break by the time the tally was completed.

So what was accomplished? Absolutely nothing. Just another day in the Reid/Pelosi congress.

Just how juvenile has the debate become? Look at this item from the Washington Post:

“The office of Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) dispatched interns to buy toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant for delivery to GOP leadership offices, with a note offering the ’supplies for your sleepless night.’ It added: ‘Help us bring an end to this war.’”

I still think the Republicans should have brought marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars and made s'mores for everybody.

UPDATE: While the Senate droned on, the U.S. military that the Dems think are uncapable of doing anything right, announced the capture the #1 al-Qaida guy in Iraq:

The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.
Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured in Mosul on July 4, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.

"Al-Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the al-Qaida in Iraq network," Bergner said. He said al-Mashhadani was a close associate of Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Bergner said al-Mashhadani served as an intermediary between al-Masri and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

"In fact, communication between the senior al-Qaida leadership and al-Masri frequently went through al-Mashhadani," Bergner said.

Don't forget, Harry Reid's main reasoning for leaving Iraq is so we can go fight al-Qaida....somewhere else.