Thread: Harry Reid dares Nevadans to vote against him


Harry Reid dares Nevadans to vote against him
By: Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor
June 14, 2010
(AP Photo)

Harry Reid is just looking for a little credit.

In the kickoff for Reid's campaign for a fifth term representing Nevada, the Senate majority leader limbered up with a demonstration of his political clout.

The theme of the campaign launch has been "No one can do more," and is intended to remind Nevada voters how lucky they are to have Reid.

In a year when incumbency is a toxic trait, Reid is emphasizing his insider status.

Reid is rolling out high-profile visitors from Washington and an expensive ad campaign in a bid to show that his newly minted Republican opponent, former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, is simply too small-time to represent Nevada.

Despite still trailing in the polls, Reid promises victory because Republicans have picked a Tea Party-style candidate instead of a more conventional nominee.

The man who heralded the opening of the new Capitol Visitors Center as a way to avoid having to "smell the tourists" is now going to dare Nevadans to vote against him.

Just when Democrats were breathing a sigh of relief about Reid drawing an underfunded right-winger for his opponent, the majority leader rolled out the most unappealing campaign for a longtime incumbent with miserable job approval ratings (33 percent in the latest poll).

Reid has a knack for letting his ego get in the way.

Strategists suggested that this was not a good year for Reid's 46-year-old son Rory to run for governor. It would show a dynastic impulse in the imperious majority leader.

But Reid helped clear the Democratic field for his son, who still managed to lose 15 percent of the vote, as state law allows, to "none of these" and is now poised to take a shellacking in the general election from former Republican Attorney General Brian Sandoval.

Rory Reid, a county commissioner with even fewer political gifts than his fussy father, is now running a multimillion-dollar campaign that every day will remind Nevada voters of what they like least about his father.

But part of the majority leader's effort to emphasize his clout makes sense.

Nevada Democrats don't like Reid much, so it's necessary to remind them that he may be an arrogant jerk, but he is their arrogant jerk.

In the span of a week, Reid hosted first lady Michelle Obama and former President Clinton.

Obama called him "one of her favorite people in the world."

Reid is famously unpleasant, having praised the first lady's husband for having "no negro dialect" and light skin tone, suggesting either a lack of discernment or a lack of candor in the first lady.

Clinton wondered why Nevada voters would "give away" a politician who has one of the most powerful positions in government, suggesting that it would be foolish to let anger stop the flow of pork to their state.

Clinton was never popular in Nevada but managed to win the state twice (with 37 percent in 1992 and 44 percent in 1996) because of a large Perotist contingent.

Democrats are hoping for a similar result for Reid.

The only time that Reid has faced a serious opponent, then-Rep. John Ensign in 1998, Reid only managed to win by 428 votes out of almost 417,000 ballots cast -- including 8,125 for "none of these" and 8,129 for the Libertarian.

Reid says that with an official Tea Party candidate, two independents and "none of these" available to voters this time, he will again be able to slip through. "Do the math," Reid said in predicting his victory.

But the Tea Party candidate is believed by members of the grassroots group to be a Democratic plant. Angle will need to do little to keep the "don't tread on me" crowd on her side. And as for the "none of these" vote, Reid seems at least as likely to cause voters to throw up their hands in disgust as Angle.

Angle is more than $8 million behind Reid in fundraising and will have to work hard to show independent voters that she won't embarrass them in Washington. But if, and that's a very big if, she can mount a sensible-seeming campaign, Reid has left the door wide open to his challenger in a year that will send more Republicans to the polls than any midterm before.

After two years of pushing an agenda that almost seems designed to antagonize voters, Reid's theme of "no one can do more" may persuade Nevadans to vote for someone who would do a little less.

Chris Stirewalt is the political editor of The Washington Examiner. He can be reached at cstirewalt@washingtonexaminer.com

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/polit ... z0qsE8Bza4

And if you haven't seen it -the video of him glad that he won't smell the tourists (as mentioned above) anymore....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP6qeBPl_HA


Reid: We won't smell the tourists anymore

12/02/08 11:00 AM EST
The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened this morning, may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.

"My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway," said Reid in his remarks. "In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

But it's no longer going to be true, noted Reid, thanks to the air conditioned, indoor space.

And that's not all. "We have many bathrooms here, as you can see," Reid continued. "Souvenirs are available."

$621 million well spent.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opini ... z0qsGC4sCA

Harry Reid is just looking for a little credit.

"No one can do more," and is intended to remind Nevada voters how lucky they are to have Reid.

Yeah, like Lucky the dog who's missing a leg.


In a year when incumbency is a toxic trait, Reid is emphasizing his insider status.

That lovely elite, I'm better than you mentality.


Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, is simply too small-time to represent Nevada.

Reid, just about anyone is bigger than you where saneness and common sense is concerned.


Reid has a knack for letting his ego get in the way.

Ya think!


... the imperious majority leader.

Imperious, me thinks he thinks he is royalty and we are just his smelly serfs.


he may be an arrogant jerk

Nah, he may not be. He is.


Reid is famously unpleasant, having praised the first lady's husband for having "no negro dialect" and light skin tone, suggesting either a lack of discernment

Obama called him "one of her favorite people in the world."

Clinton wondered why Nevada voters would "give away" a politician who has one of the most powerful positions in government, suggesting that it would be foolish to let anger stop the flow of pork to their state.

Clinton, you ain't seen nothing yet.


Reid said in predicting his victory.

After two years of pushing an agenda that almost seems designed to antagonize voters, Reid's theme of "no one can do more" may persuade Nevadans to vote for someone who would do a little less.

I sure as h... e... double hockey sticks hope so!


What an arrogant, self-involved, puffed up, pea-brained, ignorant, selfish, narcissistic old fart he is. (no offense intended for the fine minds of the more mature people here - I'm one of them =)

No wonder he is one of Obama's favorite people!

Right...no one can do more damage than Harry Reid has already done.

Reid has done more damage to the country and to the people of the country.

go home harry and good riddance

What really makes me sick is that people will believe this .I already had someone mention this to me and it was a person who I thought would see through it all!!!! I can't believe people will fall for his lies and innuendos...but in today's society nothing surprises me....



this is from the weekly standard:

quote:
Sharron Angle's Position on Social Security
BY John McCormack
June 14, 2010 1:04 PM
ShareThis
Printer-friendly version

Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle's position on Social Security and Medicare--that the programs should be eventually phased out for a completely private system--is a big enough political liability that Harry Reid shouldn't feel the need to distort it. But that's exactly what he does in his first ad attacking Angle. unquote:

video at link

quote:
Angle would "cut benefits for everyone coming into the system," declares Reid's ad. That's not true. Angle told THE WEEKLY STANDARD a few weeks ago that seniors should be guaranteed "that safety net that they paid into."

"Those who have been paying into the Social Security system and Medicare system can have their choice," Angle said. "Maybe they want to go onto the old system or maybe they want to go onto the new [private] system. ... Those workers that are coming on line, who are just beginning their careers, should really be looking at a private system."

Angle may have opened herself up to Reid's attack by not specifying the exact age at which she would like to transition to a free market alternative. "I’m not certain exactly over what period of time we phase that in," she told me, "nor at which age level we say to them, 'You have to go onto the private system.'" If Angle wants to blunt Reid's attack, she may want to be more specific about her plan. Paul Ryan's plan, for example, would not touch benefits for those 55 or older.
TAGS: 2010, 2010 Senate, Harry Reid, Nevada Senate race, Sharron Angle
unquote:




http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/har ... l-security

Kathyet

Looks like Harry got the candidate he wanted to run against. So much for defeating Reid.

I'll take that dare, you sleazy toad and raise you 20!

How you like them apples, Harry?

Originally Posted by miguelina

I'll take that dare, you sleazy toad and raise you 20!

How you like them apples, Harry?

...sleazy toad... good description. ribbit!

He does look like a toad, doesn't he?