The exhausted Nevada Democrat changed his vote to "yes" in less than a second but the flub caused senators, both Democrat and Republican, to burst into laughter, The New York Times reported Thursday.
"I spent a very restless night last night trying to figure out how I could show some bipartisanship and I think I was able to accomplish that for a few minutes," Reid told reporters at a news conference following the 60-39 vote.
He later said he was just distracted, the newspaper reported.
"To be honest, I'd like to say I was trying to be funny or create some bipartisanship," Reid said in an interview. "But I was just in dreamland, thinking about where we had come. Some said 'oh bipartisanship or trying to be funny.' It was neither quite frankly.
It was just, I am bushed.
He then told the newspaper "I don't mean George Bushed."
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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