And now she’s even trying to massage that rhetoric, saying it’s a senator’s job to create a “climate” for creating jobs. The whole “what I meant to say” mentality of the general election, I think, is hurting her.
It’s helped Reid, who began in a terrible position.
His approval ratings are absolutely horrific. Here is arguably the most powerful senator Nevada’s ever had and his approval rating rarely gets above forty percent. How does that happen? I don’t think you can cite one thing. Certainly, that he is part of the three-headed face of the agenda in Washington—Obama, Reid, Pelosi—has definitely hurt him. His numbers clearly started to suffer when he got into leadership and he’s been perceived by some as becoming more of a D.C. denizen than a resident of Nevada; he can’t relate to Nevada anymore. All of which Angle has exploited.
There’s also something more ineffable and it’s something that I like to call “Reid fatigue.” He’s been in the state in elected office on-and-off for forty years. You have the whole familiarity-breeds-contempt problem. But the intensity of it is what’s shocking. People just hate Harry Reid. They would vote for Charles Manson [if he] took up residence in Nevada over Harry Reid.
Sharron Angle’s not making the kind of inroads that Charles Manson would?
She has made inroads. But in the six weeks since her primary her campaign has been nothing short of a disaster in some ways. Reid has exploited certain things she’s said. He’s just pounded her on TV. And her campaign, which essentially has been run out of her living room for every campaign she’s run, is struggling now to become a campaign for the highest office in the country beside the presidency.
The Los Angeles Times recently ran a piece on Las Vegas newspapers characterizing the Sun as Reid-friendly and the Review-Journal as hyper-partisan and bent on ousting the senator. How accurate did you feel that was?
There’s no question that Brian Greenspun, who’s the head of the Sun, supports Harry Reid. But he does not have that much hands-on impact on the Sun and what it does on a day-to-day basis. Would he like to see Harry Reid win? Yes. Do people who work for the Sun know that? Yes. Does he influence day-to-day coverage? I’m not at the Sun, I can’t really speak to that, but I don’t think so. I know the political reporters and they’ve done some great coverage.
I’ve worked for both organizations, and the Review-Journal is a completely different story. The Review-Journal is essentially a part of the “anybody-but-Reid” caucus. It might as well be a PAC the way that it plays stories, slants stories. It’s one thing for the publisher, who I believe is clinically obsessed with defeating Reid. But when you have the editor of a newspaper showing antipathy toward Reid and sympathy for Angle in blog posts, and he’s supposed to be overseeing supposedly dispassionate coverage, any objective reporter of the scene—as Jim Rainey certainly is at The Los Angeles Times—would come to the same conclusion.
So where do Las Vegas residents get straight news coverage?
I would not say you can’t get any straight news coverage in either newspaper; you can. But the Sun is a very different animal than the Review-Journal. It appears daily inside the Review-Journal but it’s devoted to doing more in-depth contextual reporting. So it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison to compare what the Sun does to the Review-Journal.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s coverage of the U.S. Senate race cannot be taken seriously and they’re the ones who are doing it on a daily basis. Where do you go to get straight news? That’s a good question to ask.
Did the rise of Review-Journal darling Angle take you by surprise?
The answer is yes and no. I do these predictions in the first column of the year in January. While I thought Sue Lowden was going to win, I said don’t be surprised if Sharron Angle pulls an upset. She was the only one in that very crowded primary who had an actual political base to work off of. And that’s what really wins primaries with their low turnouts.
It's hard to feel bad for a state with such dumbass voters that they vote for the likes of the corrupt Jim Gibbons and the philandering, unethical John Ensign, and would even give this extremist twit Sharon Angle a run at the Senate. Harry Reid might not be every man to all people, but he's served Nevada well as their Senator. If they throw him out of office for this moron, they deserve to go broke.
What's wrong with Nevadans anyway? At some point, you have to blame the voters for being dumbass, right?
#1 Posted by Tom, CJR on Fri 30 Jul 2010 at 09:01 AM
Re Tom, as opposed to, what, California? Nevada is a small state, so a recession can have a disproportionate impact there. On the other hand, it takes a long and sustained effort to make economies like California and New York dysfunctional and job-killing even before the recession. Embarrassed Democrats, especially back East, try to re-focus attention on problems in smaller states like South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada . . . hell, liberals hate the political culture of any state that isn't strong for the Democrats, and blow up their problems as a way of avoiding having to talk about laughingstocks like Illinois and (until Christie took over) New Jersey, and make large statements about how dumb those voters have been, too.
#2 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Fri 30 Jul 2010 at 12:30 PM
Tom, President Obama took Las Vegas, the bulk of the population. We also got Dina Titus that same election. Unfortunately Nevada has alot of backwater communities lying outside Las Vegas.
#3 Posted by Michael, CJR on Fri 30 Jul 2010 at 04:03 PM
So what if the state went for Obama? This story speaks for itself. It's hard to sympathize with the economic failures of the state when fully 43% of voters think they are going to vote for someone like this rightwing extremist twit Sharon Angle over Harry Reid, who may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he's a long-serving Senator, scandal-free, and with a great deal of influence in Washington, which he uses for the benefit of his constituents. Unlike the rightwing extremist junior Senator John Ensign who is facing indictment over his payoffs to the husband of his married girlfriend but otherwise has consistently voted against the interests of his constituents: health care, unemployment, small business, infrastructure, economic stimulus, mortgage and bankruptcy relief, and so on. And a girlfriend-beating, corrupt governor. Nevada has some of the worst schools, highest drop-out rates, highest crime, highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
At some point, you have to blame the dumbass voters for getting the government they voted for, right? For sitting slack-jawed in front of their TV watching Fox News and soaking up the ignorance instead of doing their homework and being informed citizens?
#4 Posted by Tom, CJR on Fri 30 Jul 2010 at 10:06 PM
Tom, don't be so mealy-mouthed, come right out and say what you think . . . of entire categories and classes of people . . . whose sin is not agreeing with you? How would you characterize the voters of NY, who elected a hooker's steady John as governor in 2006, whose senior Congressman faces trial in corruption issues this fall . . . for that matter, what about the whole Democratic Party? How do those Clinton-Gore tickets look in light of the way you describe Gibbons and Ensign? How about Kerry-Edwards? The Illinois Democratic Party, Obama's home base - Rod Blagovich, Roland Burris, the Daley machine - that ring any bells? I wish life were as simple as you imagine it. It would save us the problem of holding these pesky elections.
#5 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Sat 31 Jul 2010 at 08:36 AM
I love it when Richards gets to sputtering! Ha!
#6 Posted by Tom, CJR on Mon 2 Aug 2010 at 02:12 AM
For more on Nevada:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/22/nevada_leads_nation_in_unemployment_foreclosures
"LAUNCE RAKE: Well, it’s a catastrophe. It’s a rolling catastrophe. And, unfortunately, what happens in Las Vegas rarely stays in Las Vegas. And I think we can take a—we can look at what’s happening here and export it to the rest of the country. Certainly the collapse, the economic collapse that start with the foreclosure issues, began here in Las Vegas and has spread to the rest of the world. I’m afraid that this unemployment situation that’s getting worse here in Nevada may be a harbinger of what’s going happen to the rest of the country.
AMY GOODMAN: Why here?
LAUNCE RAKE: Well, you know, we know that we need to do some investment. We need to invest in the infrastructure and the social infrastructure, the schools, the things that we need to keep this economy uplifted to try to keep it rolling a bit. And that’s just not happening. In fact, what we’ve seen in state after state, and particularly here in Nevada, is that we’re slashing government funding at the very time we should be investing in people and investing in infrastructure.
AMY GOODMAN: What does that mean? What should be done in Nevada?
LAUNCE RAKE: Well, you know, we have one of the most unstable sources of income for government revenue in the country. It’s almost all sales and gambling taxes, entertainment taxes. It turns out that’s not a very sound fiscal policy. And what we need to do is have something countercyclical to pump revenue into the government. I’d like to go after a little bit of the gold mining industry, which is the second-biggest fundamental core industry here in the state of Nevada, but, you know, the money boys push back. And we have not been able to get significant sources of revenue from this gold mining profits that are being exported out of the country."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/22/reid_leads_in_nevada_senate_race
"AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain. I mean, here we are in this state, the highest unemployment, bankruptcies, foreclosures. And, of course, Harry Reid represents more than Nevada: he is a powerhouse in the Senate. And when you look at where the economy has gone, the solutions that have been offered?
HUGH JACKSON: Yes, but if you want to look at the example of what these Tea Party and Sharron Angle-style policies, how they manifest themselves in the real world, Nevada is an excellent case study. We’re one of three states with no form of tax on corporate income or businesses. We’re one of seven states with no form of personal income tax. We have the cheapest state government, whether based on as a scale measured against the entire economy or per capita, in the nation. And it’s by a pretty long shot; it’s not close. This is a very, very cheap state. And as a result, when—we had two industries: growth and gambling. And when the growth industry died, it took everything down with it, because we have no diversified—we have no texture to our economy. We have not diversified, because we don’t spend anything on education. We don’t spend anything on higher education. We are not training a workforce. We do not value education. There are a lot of foreclosed houses around here, but you still can’t find a used bookcase, because it’s just not the type of thing that people are putting in their homes. I mean, this is a very one-dimensional economy that loves no taxes, loves small regulation, and now you can see how that’s manifested itself in 14.5 percent unemployment rate."
Democracy Now has some of the best ahead of the curve media going and has had such for about a decade that I'm aware of... and I rarely see it covered.
It's too bad.
#7 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Mon 2 Aug 2010 at 03:55 AM
The majority of voters in Nevada, evidently, are so cheap and mean-spirited that they'd rather raise their kids to be dumb unemployed dropouts without health insurance than to pony up for a better state. And don't think that Nevada is poor. Nevada has BIG money. They just don't want to spend it on the kids.
The reporter says "I think the issue of jobs, while it’s the issue everywhere, is especially huge here. In the Senate race, it’s about Harry Reid’s handling of the economy and responsibility for the economy, such as it is, versus Sharron Angle’s various comments about how she would fix or not fix the economy.
NOTE: Legislators don't "handle the economy." Senators are legislators, not executives. Executives "handle the economy." Maybe it would help if Nevada had better newspapers, and smarter political reporters.
Speaking of legislators, Harry Reid this year has led the Herculean effort in Washington to alleviate these problems that Nevada has, against the obstinately obstructive tactics of the corrupt and carousing junior Senator John Ensign and his Republican Party.
To the extent Harry has anything to do with the unemployment rate in Nevada, he's been trying to pass the stimulus, the extension of long-term unemployment benefits, any number of jobs bills, small business tax relief, and so on, to HELP Nevadans, while the corrupt, philandering junior Senator from Nevada votes NAY at every opportunity. And Nevadans would rather vote for the cult murderer Charles Manson than the only guy in the state that has done ANYthing whatsoever to bring relief to these dumbass Nevada voters.
And yet Sue "Chickens-for-Checkups" Lowden and this extremist bimbo Sharon Angle are legitimate candidates for national office from Nevada, to join the philandering religious wacko John Ensign who got his PARENTS to pay off the husband of his girlfriend while he hides away in his cult-like C Street monastery hoping to avoid indictment on ethical violations stemming from his extramarital affair. What has HE done lately to help Nevada?
Well, they have the state economy they voted, or didn't vote, for. It's hard to muster any sympathy.
#8 Posted by Tom, CJR on Mon 2 Aug 2010 at 08:10 AM
Tom (a) has obvious contempt for the majority of voters of Nevada, and (b) supports Harry Reid's re-election. I've asked Tom to share his emotions about the voters of California, which has deeper and more chronic problems than Nevada. But California politics has been dominated by Democrats for a generation at least, and has all the blessings of the programs Tom or Harry Reid could wish for, so he (fulfilling a classic liberal steretype) chickens out in favor of schoolyard japes. Nobody on this thread who is not a stalwart liberal/Democrat will mistake who is sputtering on this thread, guy. You can't count on everyone being like you. In fact, your own message boils down to as much.
#9 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Thu 5 Aug 2010 at 12:49 PM
There you go again, sputtering about California on a post about Nevada.
a) I have contempt for the majority of Nevada voters. They are evidently a group of mouth-breathing, slack-jawed Fox watchers wallowing in their ignorance. The evidence for that is the fact that this raving bimbo Sharron Angle, and before her Sue "Chickens-for-Checkups" Lowden, have a good shot at being elected Senator, instead of being laughed out of the room and firmly ensconced with the lunatic fringe where they both belong. It is also evidenced by the sorry state of the Nevada economy and school system, as detailed in my prior post and also by this local reporter (who evidently doesn't know what a Senator's job is any more than Sharon Angle does -- Harry Reid, as Senator, legislator, Majority Leader doesn't "handle the economy.")
b) I'm not a huge fan of Harry Reid, but at least he knows what he is doing with respect to his job, as evidenced by his efforts to alleviate the extreme hardships suffered by his constituents, who evidently hate him for doing that more than they hate the cult murderer Charles Manson, while his Republican colleague Senator John Ensign, who is embroiled in a variety of ethical violations and faces indictment for crimes committed related to his affair with his married staffer, sides with big business and against his constituents at every opportunity.
So yeah, I think the majority of voters in Nevada deserve derision and contempt. They have the government that they voted for, and there's nothing more to say about that.
Show me where I'm wrong. Show me where the Nevada voter was duped or misled into the sorry state of affairs in their state.
Finally, the post and the subject at hand is Nevada, not California. I'll post my thoughts on the California voter when there is a relevant post and a relevant thread.
#10 Posted by Tom, CJR on Thu 5 Aug 2010 at 08:39 PM
Tom, thanks for confirming the points in my post above, about 'sputtering' and chickening out, etc.
#11 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Fri 6 Aug 2010 at 12:29 PM
A lot of the damage done to California was done by conservatives, but carry on with your debate. I think the subject being discussed is Nevada?
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