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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is no Joe Biden, but the Nevada Democrat has certainly offered his share of gaffes, insults and wacky comments over the years.

Indeed, in Reid -- who on Friday announced his retirement after more than three decades in Washington -- Capitol Hill stands to lose not only a battle-hardened, partisan warrior, but a reliable (and sometimes eye-popping) source of candor. Here are some highlights from the Reidisms reel:

Smelly tourists

Praising the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center in 2008, Reid said the new building would help minimize the smell of tourists visiting the Capitol. "My staff has always said, 'Don't say this,' but I'm going to say it again because it's so descriptive because it's true," Reid said at a dedication ceremony for the long-delayed visitor center adjacent to the Capitol. "In the summertime, because [of] the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol."

The Iraq war is lost

Reid took heat for his assessment that the Iraq war was lost in early 2007. This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq, the Democrat told reporters back in April 2007 amid a funding debate. Republicans called his pronouncement demoralizing for U.S. troops on the battlefield.

Obama light-skinned with no Negro dialect

According to the book "Game Change," which chronicled the 2008 presidential election, Reid privately described President Obama as a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one. Reid personally phoned the president to apologize and said he regretted using a poor choice of words.

Ted Kennedy's death is going to help us

In an August 2009 interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Reid pondered the impact of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death on Democrats' ongoing push for health care reform. "I think it's going to help us," Reid told the paper, saying the Massachusetts Democrat was an inspiration on health care. "That was the issue of his life and he didn't get it done."

The rest is here:
Smell the tourists: With Reid retirement, Capitol Hill loses master gaffe-ster