PrintAugust 5, 2009
The View from Planet Reid
"He looks as though he has been weaned on a pickle."
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth on Calvin Coolidge
Although President Coolidge's demeanor was serially dour, compared to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Silent Cal beamed like a canary-filled feline. Long-suffering Nevadans have had to view Reid's mopey mug in the local newspapers since 1967. Surely after 42 years Silver Staters qualify for some sort of federal relief. It looks increasingly as though that relief will come as a result of the 2010 election.
Reid first attained national office in 1982, after being elected to Congress during the political equivalent of baseball's expansion draft. Prior to 1980, Nevada had but a single representative in Congress. Due to rapid population growth in the Casino State, an additional seat was added after the 1980 census. So Nevada had to dip down into the minor leagues and bring up a rookie better suited to the bush leagues. Reid is now serving his 4th term as Senator and faces one of the dicier re-election challenges on the suddenly vulnerable gauche side of the aisle.
Sunday, the Las Vegas Sun's Brian Greenspun turned his "Where I Stand" column over to the taciturn Democrat Majority leader. Titled "Senate Working Swiftly to Right Nevada's --and Nation's-Course," Reid's vapid and self-congratulatory column claims credit where none is due as he touts the "achievements" of the rash of liberals who currently dominate our legislative upper chamber.
Funereal Harry begins by painting himself as an agent of the "new direction" our country demanded in the last election and repeats the Obama team's hurry-up mantra:
"... we also knew we had no time to waste in getting to work...."
Then Reid suggests universal belief in the results of the Democrats bum rush:
"There is no question that (our) hard work is beginning to pay off."
No question, Senator? Perhaps you should hold a town-hall meeting like those held by Arlen Spector and Kathleen Sebilius. The voters in these videos have loads of questions about the results of the "hard work" being done in Congress. I'm sure your own Nevada constituents have some questions too, about what you describe as "pay(ing) off." Of course it's easier to wax enthusiastic (and from a safe distance) about recent Democrat accomplishments than it would be to try and sell the idea, live, to an increasingly enlightened plebiscite.
But wait! Harry has expert testimony to back him up:
"One expert from a conservative think tank called this Congress "as active and productive as any I can remember." (ibid)
One anonymous expert from an anonymous think tank? And a conservative think tank to boot. That's it. No quotes, no sources, no poll results and no support offered for his bare-faced claim of Congressional productivity. Was this your cousin, Harry? How old is this expert? And how bad is his memory? Doesn't Harry have a staff to help with the research for his publications?
Reid then proceeds to paint lipstick on the widely reviled pig of a stimulus bill:
"..the economic recovery plan we passed in the winter... is an aggressive program that puts people back to work, ensures middle-class families can get ahead and invests in our future."
While we can concede that the stimulus plan is "aggressive," the latest Rasmussen polls indicate that 67% of Americans polled believe the stimulus package either harmed or did nothing to improve the economy .
And that back-to-work plan? Well, it isn't really putting people back to work:
"In April, the Federal Reserve predicted that unemployment would top out between 9.2 to 9.6 percent this year, but the rate already reached 9.5 percent in June - a 26 year high." (my bold emphasis)
The climbing national unemployment rate pretty much pre-empts that claim of "ensur(ing that) middle-class families get ahead." Unless the Mormon Mope is talking about one group of unemployed middle class folks cutting in front of the other middle class folks in the unemployment line to grab their check a few moments earlier, this is just more Democrat-speak.
What about Reid's claim that the stimulus "invests in our future." As lawyer Bill Clinton would put it: "That depends on what you mean by "our." If by our you mean labor unions, Acorn, tree-huggers, Democrat lobbyists, propped up failing blue states, far-fetched alternative energy programs and the pet projects earmarked by disingenuous political operatives like Senator Reid, than one can agree with his "invest in our future" dodge.
Lord knows there is more, but it is quite similar in its dullness, distance from the facts and lack of supporting documentation. It was written in what P.J. O'Rourke calls the MEGO style of journalism as in "My Eyes Glaze Over." The simple act of blathering on about your imagined accomplishments regardless of the facts worked for Obama in the last election. If Harry Reid's ham-handed, fantasy-land position-paper is any indication of the strategy Democrats will pursue as they tout their accomplishments during the upcoming campaign, there will be a super-abundance of Mopey Democrats come November 2010. Can Senators collect unemployment?
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target
