So the Senate is the world's greatest deliberative body?

Not with oratory like this:

"Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called President Bush 'a loser' during a civics discussion with a group of teenagers at a high school on Friday.

"'The man's father is a wonderful human being,' Reid, D-Nev., told students at Del Sol High School when asked about the president's policies. 'I think this guy is a loser.'"

Initially, Reid seemed to apologize, as he later called Karl Rove and asked that the apology be passed along to the President. Reid's spokeswoman said Reid expressed "regret for the comments, [and] that it was inappropriate." Given the weekend to think it over, however, Reid stuck by his original comment:

"'I tell people how I feel about things. I don't try to hide how I feel,' Reid said. 'Maybe my choice of words was improper, and I have indicated that maybe they were, but I want everyone here, I repeat, to know I'm going to continue to call things the way that I see them, and I think this administration has done a very, very bad job for this nation and the world.'"

For the man who leads the minority party in the chamber that bills itself as the world's most deliberative body, Reid's comments since becoming leader have been remarkably intemperate. This comment was made to a high school civics class, hardly the most ideal place to refer to the president as a "loser," particularly if you are concerned that high school students, in a civics class, learn to be civil. Reid has also disparaged the intellectual ability of Justice Clarence Thomas. Does anyone on Reid's side of the aisle have the courage to stand up to the minority leader and tell him that his comments do not contribute to the elevation of public discourse, but would be more appropriate if heard on "The Jerry Springer Show"? It doesn't seem so.

If Reid really wants to call things the way he sees them, that is fine, he is free to comment on the administration's policies to his heart's content, and as opposition leader has an obligation to do so. But an ad hominem attack on the president's personal character to a group of high school students has nothing to do with the job the administration is doing. Senator Reid owes the president a genuine, public apology.