by G.M. Heller
Published: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 05:00 P.M. EST.
McLean, VA -- U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) may never go grocery shopping for his wife again.
While shopping this past Saturday afternoon amongst the food aisles at his local gourmet grocer in McLean, Virginia, Sen. Reid came across a fellow shopper who recognized him and asked a question that the senior senator from Nevada plainly did not want to answer.
The private citizen acknowledged upfront to the U.S. Senate's most powerful Democrat that he was a Republican and wanted to know from Mr. Reid himself why the Majority Leader was refusing to allow the just-passed House bill to repeal ObamaCare to come to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote.
Mr. Reid, walking beside the store's imported bottled condiments, responded to his questioner that he was focused on his shopping right now and did not wish to discuss the matter.
Mr. Reid's Republican antagonist was not to be put off and persisted in his questioning.
Leader Reid, who by now was perusing the store's extensive cheese selection, refused to say anything further.
Unfazed by the stony silence emanating from the Majority Leader -- and apparently not at all bothered by the unamused look on the face of the plainclothes Capitol Police officer shadowing the Majority Leader -- the persistent questioner was not yet ready to withdraw.
In a store crowded this busy Saturday afternoon with shoppers from tony McLean and surrounding Fairfax County, where the federal government-fueled economy makes per capita income and spending here amongst the highest in the nation, people know this gourmet grocery for its line of Prime, Natural, and Kobe-style beef, excellent wine list, fine cheeses and other high-end delicacies.
Amongst all this recession chic, Mr. Reid's Republican interrogator decided now was the time to go public.
In a voice that could be heard on the other side of this medium-sized food emporium, the shopper with ObamaCare Repeal on his mind -- no shrinking violet he -- loudly declared to his fellow gourmands (many in lines waiting to check-out) that indeed the graying personage standing right there amongst them was none other than "U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid," and, pointing directly at Mr. Reid, said, "This man is personally holding-up the ObamaCare Repeal bill by refusing to allow it to be brought to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote," and which law if left on the books "can eventually bankrupt the United States of America."
From the check-out area came applause, apparently at the spectacle.
The stony -- now red -- faced Sen. Reid, appearing both annoyed and mortified at being the focus of this unexpected public scolding in the midst of what was to be a quiet moment spent Saturday shopping, tried not to be noticed -- hard to do when one is waiting in a check-out line with someone just a few feet away loudly gesticulating and pointing.
Exiting the establishment as soon as practical, Sen. Reid, with more of his security detail now in evidence, hopped aboard one of two waiting black SUV's.
The mini-convoy pulled away from the curb and out of the parking lot, out of reach, for now, of interaction with pesky opinionated partisans. ###
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