Not the first bone-headed thing that Harry Reid has done. But this is an election year coming up, Reid is already in trouble in the polls, and this won't help. I say - keep talking Harry! Don't shut your trap for a minute! Harry Reid's behavior is symptomatic of the problem in Congress right now - a political elite class that is totally disconnected form their constituents. Harry Reid needs to get Daschled next year. Not that his replacement will be any better, unless the GOP can flip the Senate. Reid is also a bully. He tried his bully tactics on Rush Limbaugh not long ago with respect to the troops, and ended up with egg on his face. It was a total fail. Rush made Reid eat his words:On Wednesday, before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Reid joined the chamber's board members for a meet-'n'-greet and a photo. One of the last in line was the Review-Journal's director of advertising, Bob Brown, a hard-working Nevadan who toils every day on behalf of advertisers. He has nothing to do with news coverage or the opinion pages of the Review-Journal.
Yet, as Bob shook hands with our senior U.S. senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting, Reid said: "I hope you go out of business."
Later, in his public speech, Reid said he wanted to let everyone know that he wants the Review-Journal to continue selling advertising because the Las Vegas Sun is delivered inside the Review-Journal.
Such behavior cannot go unchallenged.
You could call Reid's remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying.
But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid's remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was -- a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he's shaking them down.
No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.
If he thinks he can push the state's largest newspaper around by exacting some kind of economic punishment in retaliation for not seeing eye to eye with him on matters of politics, I can only imagine how he pressures businesses and individuals who don't have the wherewithal of the Review-Journal.
For the sake of all who live and work in Nevada, we can't let this bully behavior pass without calling out Sen. Reid. If he'll try it with the Review-Journal, you can bet that he's tried it with others. So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated.
OUCH! It's unquestionable that he has tried, and likely succeeded, with other smaller entities and individuals. But it failed with the Review-Journal just as it failed with Rush some months ago - epically. Uncle Jimbo had this to say over at Ace of Spades:Wow, how nakedly revealing of what a horrible person and even worse Senator Reid is. He believes he is above reproach and that the "free" press is only free to cheerlead as our country is remade as a progressive paradise.
Doug Ross adds: People of Nevada, Harry "Land Deal" Reid no more represents your interests than he does the life forms on Betelgeuse. You need to kick his butt out of office in 2010 and find someone who actually cares about Nevada... and the citizens of the United States.
UPDATE: More over at memeorandum, including commentary from Blue Crab Boulevard, Don Surber, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, NewsBusters.org, Sister Toldjah, Saberpoint, Doug Ross, RedState, Weasel Zippers and Glenn Thrush's Blog
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