Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008 | 3:25 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid makes peace with John McCain, sees the glass half-full on Sen. Joe Lieberman and suggests Republicans for the Obama administration today on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
Here are some of the highlights:
• On the troops in Iraq:
“They’re coming home… It's just a question of how fast…. There will be a timeline.”
• On keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Obama administration:
“Sure... He’s not even a Republican. Why wouldn’t we want to keep him?”
• About Lieberman’s future among Democrats:
“Joe Lieberman has done something that I think was improper, wrong, and I'd like — if we weren't on television, I'd use a stronger word of describing what he did.
“But Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators….
“For those people beating up on Joe Lieberman — I’ve done my share — recognize the glass being half full, not half empty.”
• The feud between Reid and McCain:
“We’ve ended this,” Reid said.
“John McCain and I are both fairly pugnacious and we have in our younger days, did more than just talk about people that disagreed with us. In our younger days we had a few encounters with our fists and we still, I guess think that we still could do that, which probably we couldn't.”
• Other suggested Republicans for the Obama administration:
“I have a lot of favorite Republicans.”
Retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former Missouri Sen. John Danforth and Utah Sen. Robert Bennett who “could be a great Secretary of the Interior.”
• On passing an economic stimulus package when Congress returns this month:
“I need votes. So I am going to talk to my Republican counterparts and say are you going to help me get this passed?... There is no reason for me on the floor to have a vote that I know I am going to lose….
“But we have some things -- we certainly have to do something about unemployment insurance and I think my Republican colleagues would agree to that.”
• On Nevada voting for Obama:
“We worked very long and hard trying to change what's happened in Nevada and Nevada is a blue state now, very blue.”
• Check out the full transcrpit here.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy