Thread by @ChadPergram

1) In 2008 session with the press, Reid scolded journalists for not grasping the nuances of a parliamentary tactic on energy legislation. Reid admonished the scribes that they should “watch the floor more often. You might learn something.”

2) Minutes later, another reporter still wasn’t clear on Reid’s procedural plan. The Nevada Democrat asked the reporter if she “spoke English” and questioned whether she was hard of hearing.

“Turn up your Miracle-Ear,” Reid berated the reporter.

3) Even visitors to the Capitol weren't immune to Reid’s umbrage.

“In the summertime, because of the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol,” Reid said during the 2008 dedication of the Capitol Visitor’s Center.

4) A master agitator, Reid got under the skin of then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) in November, 2004. Reid seized the Senate floor and engineered a closed session to debate controversial intelligence which led to the war in Iraq.

5) As is Senate tradition, Frist, then the Majority Leader, controlled the floor. But Reid hijacked all of that.

Frist was practically stammering when stormed out of the chamber to protest Reid’s brazen antic to the press corps.

6) “I have never been slapped in the face with such an affront,” steamed Frist. “It’s an affront to me personally.”

Trust between the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders is sacred. Otherwise, the Senate accomplishes little.

7) So I asked Frist what this meant to his relationship with Reid, still new on the job as Minority Leader.

“For the next year-and-a-half, I can’t trust Senator Reid,” seethed Frist.

8) Only twice as a journalist have I thought someone was about to deck me after I asked a tough question. The first time was in 2001 when I posed a pointed, post-game interrogatory to hockey great Mario Lemieux after a frustrating playoff loss to the Washington Capitals.

9) The exchange wound up on SportsCenter. The second occasion came when I asked Reid at the Ohio Clock that day why he didn’t first “consult” with Frist before executing his parliamentary caper.

10) “Consult with the Leader so he stops me from going and moving on this? What do you mean consult with him? What are you talking about?” chafed Reid.

I tried to follow up, suggesting such conversation was the Senate norm. Reid cut me off.

11) “Consult with him? All he would have done is a quorum call and we couldn’t have done this. You’ve got to understand a little bit about the procedures here,” Reid bristled.

12) Reid who singlehandedly orchestrated one of the most-prominent changes in Senate procedure in decades. In November, 2013, Reid grew increasingly frustrated with Republican filibusters of President Obama’s executive nominees.

13) So after much consternation, Reid altered Senate precedent to limit some filibusters. Under most circumstances, the Senate can overcome a filibuster with 60 votes. He unveiled the “nuclear option."

14) It short-circuited the rights of the minority by dropping the threshold to end filibusters for many nominations to just a simple majority. That new precedent will echo through the Senate corridors for years.

Reid’s responsibility for the nuclear option is not without irony.

15) As a freshman senator in December, 1987, the Nevada Democrat found himself before the Senate Rules Committee. The subject? Potential rules changes to halt some prerogatives of unlimited debate - a Senate fundamental which distinguishes the body from the House.

16) “We are not trying to turn the Senate into another House of Representatives,” said Reid at the time, not a full year into his first Senate term. “I’ve developed a great respect, even an awe, for the rules and procedures of the Senate.”

Reid continued.

17) “The rules are a carefully-crafted compromise designed to protect the right of a majority to prevail while preserving the right of a minority to prolong debate,” said Reid.

Some may find a paradox in Reid’s position as a freshman in 1987 and his nuclear option ploy in 2013.

18) During an interview with yours truly last year, Reid advocated the abolition of the filibuster. He argued it wouldn’t stand in a year. Reid was wrong about that. But there are machinations among Senate Democrats to alter the filibuster.

19) Reid frequently extolled the achievements of fellow Nevadan Bryce Harper when he played for the Washington Nationals before decamping to Philadelphia.

Not long after Harper decried a reporter’s interrogative as “a clown question, bro,” Reid mimicked the slugger.

20) Reid lightheartedly told a reporter in the hall that his inquisition was also of the “clown question” variety.

21) Reid could even be a practical joker.

Back in the 1980s, future Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) used to pal around a lot with Josh Reid, the son of Harry Reid. Reid was a member of the House of Representatives back then and lived in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC.

22) Lee’s Dad, Rex Lee, worked at the Justice Department and later served as U.S. Solicitor General under President Reagan.

Both Mormon families, the Reids and Lees sometimes spent time together.

23) And one day, as a practical joke, Reid locked the younger Lee in the garage for a few minutes.

After Lee forced Reid to call a weekend session a few years ago, some who knew the story if Reid wished he hadn’t kept Lee locked in the garage.