

“I’m just who I am, O.K.?” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid once told The New York Times.



The Nevada Democrat had recently come under fire after a book quoted him saying that Barack Obama was elected president in part because he was a "light-skinned" black man and had "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”



It's no secret that the 73-year-old Reid, the most powerful man in the Senate, has a sharp tongue. Despite his slim stature and soft, whisperlike voice, Reid is a master of the art of the insult. With a few exceptions, Republicans are almost always the target of his ire.



“I didn’t take lessons on how to speak on television, and I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about who I am," Reid went on to tell the Times. "I don’t like to read stuff about me, but I’ve become accustomed to it: you know, ‘Reid misspeaks.’ I’d rather people were saying, ‘Oh, that guy is a golden-tongued devil.’"



As a tribute to the Senate's golden-tongued devil, Yahoo News has accumulated some of Reid's greatest hits.





















Reid rarely missed an opportunity to crack on former President George W. Bush.













Not even his puppy was safe! (RIP, Barney.)











Reid isn't a fan of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, either.























(Source: New York Times. Photo by Shaun Heasley/Getty Images)

(Source: CNN.com. Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

(Source: Las Vegas Sun. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(Source: USA Today. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)







(Source: Congressional record. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)





When the Las Vegas Review-Journal irked him:











On former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney:











This is what he said about his 'friend,' Arizona Sen. John McCain:











When reporters wrote stories about the Democrats' energy policy that Reid didn't care for:















































(Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

(Source: Huffington Post)

(Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal. Photos by Alex Wong/Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(Source: Washington Post. Photo by David S. Holloway/Reportage by Getty Images)

(Source: FoxNews.com. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Here's what he said to a reporter who asked why he doesn't allow more votes on GOP amendments:









This is his favorite word to describe conservative Republicans in the House:













(Source: Yahoo News. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(Source: Yahoo News. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

And when his Senate colleagues got too rowdy on the floor, Reid dropped the hammer on all of them:





