Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s statement this week that he had been told by unnamed Bain Capital investors that Mitt Romney hasn’t paid any taxes in ten years has caused him some grief. Republican Senator Mitch “our single most important job is defeating Obama” McConnell sniffed that it was “below the dignity of his office” even Jon Stewart tweaked him on the TV. However Reid stuck with this bit all week.

Although I am not not particularly a fan one way or the other of Senator Reid, his judgment on some things doesn’t seem all that bad. Reid is one of the few national figures I can think of that called George W. Bush a liar and in the 2008 campaign he frankly stated “I can’t stand John McCain.” Here are some other punches he has thrown over the years that the New York Times thoughtfully dug up.

In 2005, Mr. Reid said of President George W. Bush: “This guy is a loser.” He later apologized for that remark, but stood by another claim that Mr. Bush had been “a liar” while in office.  Mr. Reid called Senator Bill Frist, the Republican leader from 2003 to 2007, “amateurish.”

[…]Reid once said that Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was “one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington.”

Romney issued a “put up or shut up” challenge to Reid over the tax accusation. Wonder if Mitten’s macho challenge wasn’t made with the “wimp” label in mind that Newsweek Magazine (yes, there still is Newsweek mag.) placed on him last week. After all “Put up or shut up” is an odd challenge given that he appears determined both to not put up his tax returns and to stonewall on the issue regardless of the political price. It all keeps the scofflaw issue alive and won’t get him out from under the tax issue. That’s if anybody is paying attention in August.