Reid says McCain is a 'great name-caller'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday ripped Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying that he still has sore feelings after losing the 2008 presidential election.

Asked on a Nevada public affairs program why McCain opposed President Barack Obama's decision to eliminate funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, Reid said that "John is a great name-caller.

"The election is over," Reid added. "He should leave Barack Obama alone and join with us to do good things for the country."

Reid's criticism underscores some Democrats' position hardened opposition to McCain since he won the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Democrats say that McCain was once more willing to act in a bipartisan fashion but has since aligned himself closer to Republican leadership.

"John has no reason to be the way he is. He's become very, very kind of opposed to everything," Reid said.

The majority leader said that others who have lost the presidential race have gone on to become "great statesmen" naming Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former Vice President Al Gore and former President Jimmy Carter.

But a Senate Republican aide pointed to statements critical of former President George W. Bush by Gore and Kerry, saying "I wonder if Reid thinks that unsuccessful Dem candidates should keep their mouths shut as well?"

This post was updated at 1:29 p.m.

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