Quantcast
Home manage Las Vegas Review-Journal
  Jobs Cars Homes Shopping Travel Weddings Golf Best of Las Vegas Photo   Search:

RECENT EDITIONS
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Opinion


EDITORIAL: By the numbers

More evidence surfaced over the holiday weekend that Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's dalliance with the MoveOn.org crowd is costing him support in the state he was elected to represent.

Of course, Sen. Reid has never been Nevada's most popular politician. The last time he had a serious Republican opponent -- 1998, when he faced John Ensign -- he limped to victory by just a few hundred votes.


Most Popular Stories
  • VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: What stops mass murderers? A gun
  • SHERMAN FREDERICK: Call evil by its rightful name
  • EDITORIAL: Terrorism on trial
  • EDITORIAL: A pre-9/11 approach to terror
  • LETTERS: Public-sector workers are still doing well
  • LETTERS: Harry Reid: Working hard for all Americans
  • EDITORIAL: 'That's the ticket!'
  • Our politicians are the greatest, all right
  • EDITORIAL: I believe in free speech, but ...
  • LETTERS: A giant octopus threatens rural Nevada




  • But Sen. Reid is no longer just a senator. As majority leader, he has exhibited a degree of liberal partisanship that is clearly not going over well with many Nevada voters.

    A poll released last week by the Reno Gazette-Journal found that 49 percent of those asked disapprove of the job Harry Reid is doing as a U.S. senator.

    That tracks well with a Review-Journal survey conducted in October that put Sen. Reid's unfavorable rating at 51 percent.

    The Reno paper's poll also found that 39 percent of those asked approve of how Sen. Reid is performing. That's slightly higher than the 32 percent favorable rating he garnered in the Review-Journal survey.

    Still, those unfavorable and disapproval numbers are extremely high -- and should they stay even remotely in the same range over the next year, it would call into question whether Sen. Reid could beat a viable GOP candidate should he decide to seek re-election in 2010. Remember Tom Daschle?

    "He's got to turn the numbers around," Democratic strategist Dan Hart of Las Vegas told the Gazette-Journal.

    No kidding. But that's going to be hard to do as long as Sen. Reid insists on being a mouthpiece for his party's hyperleftist wing.

    Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites

    Leave Your Comment 14 Reader Comments
    Terms & Conditions
    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.

    Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
    Current Word Count:

    Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

    Michael Shircliff wrote on December 17, 2007 11:51 AM: Ex-City Planner and Campaign Consultant for Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Michael Chambliss repeatedly stabbed Vincent Ekeoba to death in a local 7/11 in December of 2005.
    Two years later, Chambliss is still out of jail and walking around free on bail.
    Vincent is still dead.
    I'm wondering who elses campaigns Chambliss worked on?
    Who paid his bail?
    Who does he have enough dirt on to keep him out of jail and free for all this time? Does he have enough juice to murder again.. Is he still carrying a knife around in his pocket?
    And guess who appears to be his judge... Halverston. Why is that..did the competent elected judges use Chambliss's campaign consulting services? What is the story?


    Steve wrote on November 27, 2007 10:14 PM: Tim,

    Also, only a complete 100% moron would attack Republicans and the RJ for listing absolute truths about Ted Kennedy and his ILLEGAL alien maid's son, Harry Reid. The dollar never dropped like that until Reid and his filthy ilk took "control" of Congress. To answer your question, yes, if Reid, Kennedy, et al keep attempting to force yet another needless asinine amnesty down our throats, the peso will outclass the dollar. Reid needs to do something honorable for once in his entire life, realize that his parents should have aborted him, and resign from office giving up 100% of his "pension".


    sam wrote on November 27, 2007 09:32 PM: Harry Reid is for Harry Reid. I don't care what party he is with. Harry is bad for Nevada. I hope no one is foolish enough to promote his son. The fruit does not fall far from the tree. Anyone that is sick of the "good ole boys" would be nuts to vote for a Reid.


    Tim wrote on November 27, 2007 08:36 PM: Only neocons and the LVRJ would attack their home state Senator while this poor excuse of a President ruins the country.

    The dollar has lost 44% of its value against the Euro since he took office and the Canadian dollar is now worth more than the American dollar.

    What's next? Will the Mexican peso soon outclass the dollar?


    bpbatista wrote on November 27, 2007 01:40 PM: "This war is lost." Maybe Reid was really talking about his political career.


    James wrote on November 27, 2007 01:37 PM: Are They Even Relevant?

    Senator Reid and the Democrats, in what is at the least a huge miscalculation of war policy, some would even say they were acts of treason, may very well have buried their presidential hopes for 2008 by declaring the war lost, opposing the Surge, blocking military funding and calling for premature troop withdrawals among other things.

    Branded defeatists by their Republican opponents, the Democrats hurled headlong into their "Vietnam Mode," in an attempt to portray Iraq a complete misadventure, heedless of the facts that the conservatives could plainly see.

    Even worse, conservative spokesmen have been alleging that the loud and strident negativity by liberal leaders and their lapdog media have actually served the interests of terrorists in the Middle East. Bin Laden has even taken to praising their efforts. It is claimed that the war activities of the vociferous left has not only emboldened the enemy but also given them loads of material for their propaganda campaigns.

    If the Dems were wrong about this part of our foreign policy, which is of vital importance- America's survival is at stake here- then how can they claim they are competent to lead Congress or occupy the White House?

    After reviewing their actions and the reality in Iraq I'm beginning to wonder if they're even relevant.


    KJ wrote on November 27, 2007 11:10 AM: I don't like Senator Harry Reid. I don't like the way he is or what he says or the way he helps himself while doing harm to our troops' confidence. I am sorry he is a U.S. Senator. Of course, I am not surprised he is a democrat. What I want to know is, who will take him on? What will the benefits be? They will be moral. Go ahead- think about it.


    Ed R. wrote on November 27, 2007 10:37 AM: The writer Doug is on the right track: the RJ has jumped on numbers that actually represent Nevadans' despair that Reid will not defend liberal democratic American ideals and protect the integrity of our armed forces. He and other ineffective Democrats have stood buy stuttering while a ruthless mob of corporate-fascist Republicans use our military like toys in their sick world-dominion games. If his numbers are bad now, wait a year till the fog lifts and the average Nevadan gets to see what's really left of the American economy after Bush packs up and goes back to his dude ranch.


    timinator wrote on November 27, 2007 09:43 AM: Tim, the terms conservative and liberal really don't mean much in today's world. The true political spectrum has liberty on one end and tyranny on the other. Our Founders certainly certainly resided on the the liberty end in their political thought.

    Do the RJ editorial writers support liberty and resist expanding government intrusion? Yes, I believe that they do. I'm pretty sure they would have decried the tyrannical behavior of the English crown in 1775 also.


    tim wrote on November 27, 2007 09:09 AM: just let crazy harry keep doing what he does best, mouthpiece for the lunatic left and moveon. come election time watch him sing a different tune,by then it will to late.start planning your retirement now sen. for you no longer speak for the people of nv.


    Read All Comments