Reid, McConnell bond over concern for injured Nationals player
The Democratic and Republican Senate leaders kicked off Tuesday's floor session with a rare show of bipartisanship, offering up well wishes for Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals' right fielder who was badly injured in Monday night's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., whose veneration of Harper is well-documented, narrated the events that left the young baseball "phenomenon" with 11 stitches and a hurt shoulder: "Two walks, a hit and, like he does all the time - not like this - he's chasing a ball at full speed and runs into the wall, full speed," Reid said.
"The manager said when asked afterwards about him, he said I don't want him to change anything, because he's such a competitor - but I think he'll maybe have to watch those balls a little in the future," Reid continued. He added that he had plans to "talk to his mom or dad and find out how he's doing" later Tuesday.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., advised: "When you speak to his mother, remind her this is one thing that leaders on both sides fully agree on." Dubbing Harper "the most incredible competitor I've ever seen," McConnell said he and Reid hope he "has a speedy recovery and [gets] back in the lineup."
Reid suggested America's favorite pastime - and Harper, a fellow Nevadan - has acted before as common ground for the two leaders, whose fraught relationship reached its nadir last December when McConnell was forced to work with Vice President Joe Biden on the fast-approaching "fiscal cliff" because of an impasse with Reid.
"We follow - both of us, very closely - the Washington Nationals," Reid said. "And we talk often about how they fare on a given day."
At one point, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., jumped into the dialogue, volunteering the observation that both leaders were wearing dark-gray suits.
"Yes, we try," Reid joked. "We try to match wardrobes."
Armed with a poster accusing Republicans of "standing in the way" on the federal budget, it took Reid all of five seconds to shift his floor time back to lambasting McConnell and his GOP caucus.