Opinion

EDITORIAL

Election offers clear choice

Posted: Oct. 3, 2010 | 12:00 a.m.

Harry Reid wears the scars of previous close encounters.

The 27-year Washington veteran lost his first U.S. Senate race in 1974 by a mere 600 votes. In 1998, he survived a challenge from John Ensign, prevailing by 428 votes.

So here he is again, locked in a tight battle, this time against Sharron Angle, a bit player on the Nevada political scene until she pulled off a surprise in June's Republican primary.

Six years ago, 12 years ago, even 18 years ago, a man of Sen. Reid's stature might have cruised to victory against such a rookie opponent.

But this isn't 2004 or 1998.

Something has stirred millions of Americans, perhaps waking them from their "who cares what happens in Washington" slumber. Independents and Republicans are energized, their grass-roots mobilized. The GOP sees control of the House -- perhaps even the Senate -- on the horizon.

And they seek to make Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader, their top trophy.

The good senator is 70 years old now, his gait a bit slower, his countenance slightly weary. He's become prone to verbal gaffes and sometimes loses his place while delivering the campaign stemwinder. As he has climbed higher and higher in the Democratic hierarchy, he has veered further and further to the left, becoming politically disconnected from Nevada and its residents.

For the past two years, Sen. Reid has been a water boy for the Obama White House, which is pushing perhaps the most radical liberal agenda in the country's history.

Whether it's shoving the unpopular and hugely expensive ObamaCare down the throats of the American people, or rewarding failing companies with taxpayer bailouts, or ginning up expensive and futile "stimulus" packages larded with pork that push the nation closer and closer to fiscal chaos, Sen. Reid has cheered them all.

Meanwhile, the senator endorses a cap-and-trade bill that would impose massive new taxes in the name of advancing green energy, forever disrupting the economy, making the nation considerably poorer and less competitive in world markets. He has encouraged the explosion of a bureaucracy that now tells us what types of light bulbs we may use, which washers and dryers we may purchase and whether we can fill in puddles on our own property.

All this while the nation remains ravaged by recession -- yet Mr. Obama and Sen. Reid can't understand why small businesses won't hire when the president routinely makes openly hostile comments about the private sector and Congress threatens to raise taxes on millions of entrepreneurs.

The Obama playbook -- to which Sen. Reid hitched his fortunes -- has failed miserably. Las Vegas is mired in 15 percent unemployment

Seriously crippled by this much baggage, Sen. Reid has calculated that his survival depends on portraying Ms. Angle as an "extremist" who would endanger women, children and the elderly.

In fact, Ms. Angle is well within the mainstream on most issues and embraces a political philosophy popular with millions of Americans who are making themselves heard this election cycle.

Ms. Angle sees government expanding to meddle in virtually every aspect of our lives and she stands up to say enough is enough. She sees red ink from sea to shining sea and she argues for a different direction -- one that forces Washington to live within its means, while keeping taxes at relatively low rates. She sees a crushing debt being foisted on our children and grandchildren and she demands fiscal restraint.

Sharron Angle sees entitlement programs that cannot be sustained without significant reforms and she has the courage to offer solutions. She sees an arrogant federal government that routinely ignores its constitutional boundaries, and she isn't shy about trying to push it back behind the fence.

Say this about Sharron Angle: You know what you're going to get. She's a reliable vote for individual rights, smaller government and constitutional principles.

On the other hand, a vote for Harry Reid is a vote for the status quo in Washington. More of the same big spending. More of the same bloated bureaucracies. More of the same partisan bickering. More of the same inaction on Social Security and Medicare. More of the same class warfare on taxation. More of the same disdain for the job-creating private sector.

The direction of this nation is at stake. This election offers a clear choice.

Harry Reid has an inspiring life story. But the boy who came from modest means in little Searchlight is no more. Instead, he's become Harry Reid, champion of liberal special interests inside the beltway.

That's why Nevadans should support Sharron Angle in this pivotal election.

Comments

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  1. arti.ruehls May 12, 2012 | 6:19 a.m. Report Abuse

    Wow, Marcus, so well done. Wish I knew who you were.

  2. xbjllb Nov. 7, 2010 | 5:11 p.m. Report Abuse

    What a useless GOP Fox News propaganda rag.

    Absolutely pathetic. Bet you look asinine now, fascists.

    Cancel my subscription. Immediately.

  3. mobycat Oct. 17, 2010 | 8:59 p.m. Report Abuse

    Angle is for individual rights? What a load of garbage. Might want to ask women and gays about that one. Gun rights are not the only individual rights there are.

  4. Chuck.Cavanaugh Oct. 17, 2010 | 8:49 p.m. Report Abuse

    Say you've got a teenage girl raped by her father. Sharron Angle would forbid the child to have an abortion, tell her to make lemonade. Angle is a lunatic. With her and "family-values" proponent John Ensign representing us, we'd have the single most ridiculous delegation to the Senate of any state.

  5. mindmuse Oct. 11, 2010 | 4:16 p.m. Report Abuse

    Las Vegas (and you're not alone) is mired in unemployment because of a GOP and Big Business-created bubble, that was bound to burst. Harry Reid has been a responsible and thoughtful servant of the Nevadan people, for many years and in our most recent greed-induced crises.

    The choice is indeed clear. Elect Sharon Angle and you get an ignorant, unprincipled right-wing ideologue, who thinks that those unemployed in the worst recession since the Great Depression are lazy, and wants us to gamble our social security in the Wall Street casino.

    Please see some sense, Nevadans. Republicans are for Big Business, and Big Business is not for you, if you're an ordinary working man or woman. There are no perfect Democrats, either, but at least Harry Reid takes his responsibility to serve the public seriously.

    If you're a teacher, a police officer, a fire-fighter, a retail clerk, a casino or hotel worker, a health-care worker, etc. etc. Sharron Angle and her ilk don't care what happens to you.

    All they care about is power and money -- for themselves and their cronies. We need government regulation to give ordinary people a fair chance against the mega-wealthy who control all our industries. We need representatives in government who understand that, and will fight for us.

    I'm praying for you, Nevada, that you'll make the correct choice on November 2. I'm praying for all of us, because the Senate makes the rules for the entire nation.

  6. kelly .major Oct. 11, 2010 | 10:17 a.m. Report Abuse

    A little late, but better than not to speak.
    I, as a woman, will NEVER vote for anyone who delegates women as a second class human. Women who are raped have the right to do with their bodies as THEY wish. As American women, WE have the right to CHOOSE.
    I will not read your newspaper ever again.
    This is my first and last posting.

  7. Alvinjh Oct. 9, 2010 | 11:42 a.m. Report Abuse

    Democrat Bastions Besieged by GOP

    By NEIL KING JR. And PETER WALLSTEN

    Republican challengers are suddenly threatening once-safe Democrats in New England and the Northwest, expanding the terrain for potential GOP gains and raising the party's hopes for a significant victory in next month's elections.

    Rising sentiment against the party in power has washed ashore even in coastal Oregon, where Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio won his 10th re-election two years ago with 82% of the vote.

    "I am having the same problem that Democrats are having across the country, which is ennui," he said, noting that his opponent's yard signs "are thick" across much of the district. Mr. DeFazio said he is facing the fight of his political life.

    Greg Walden, vice chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, bluntly predicted his party is heading toward a big win. "The Democrats are standing on a beach with the water going out and there is a tsunami coming their way," he said.

    Some Democrats are signaling the potential for a rout, particularly in the House. A new survey by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg gives Republicans a six-point edge, 49% to 43%, when likely voters are asked which party they support in House races. That's a margin pollsters generally believe foreshadows large gains. "If the election were held today, it would produce a very unhappy night" for the Democrats, he said.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575540300424055286.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

    VOTE THEM OUT! 7 days till early voting starts!

  8. Alvinjh Oct. 7, 2010 | 1:50 p.m. Report Abuse

    Labor leader hints at possible lame-duck vote on union bill
    By Kevin Bogardus - 10/07/10 12:49 PM ET

    AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka implied Thursday there might be a vote on a contentious union bill when Congress returns after the midterm elections.

    When asked if he had received a commitment from Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to move the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) during the lame-duck session, Trumka told reporters on a conference call to “stay tuned.”

    “All I would say to you is stay tuned. That would be my best answer to you,” Trumka said.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/123193-labor-leader-hints-at-possible-lame-duck-vote-on-union-bill

    DEMS AGENDA

    Forced unionization via "card check." (Check)

    Carbon tax. Cap 'n' trade.(Check)

    hike in income and death taxes (Check)

    Rationed national health care with death panels. (Check)

    An 18 percent national sales tax.(Check)

    VOTE! (Check)

  9. Marcus Oct. 6, 2010 | 2:22 p.m. Report Abuse

    The editors are correct. The election offers a clear choice. Reid.

    I looked again at Angle's web site for a glimmer of sense, and I found nothing but Franco-ist religious moralizing and moist-eyed patriotic posturing. The woman's mind is stuck in a dream of 1950s fenced lawns and white people slipping into sweaters and cocktail dresses after church, George C. Scott as General Patton giving her a private tour of Iwo Jima, and Annie Oakley leading a parade of crew-cut brown shirts. Dimly understood quotes from warmed-over libertarian babble. Her whole schtick is about taking revenge on the march of history and progress that's left her and people like her behind, because, well, the world is complicated, too complicated for her. It's hard, with all those people speaking languages she can't understand, and thinking stuff different from her. Her facebook supporters are thousands of fattened, varicose-veined baby boomers who dream of Marcus Welby smiling as he takes their pulse and Diahann Carroll as Julia waving as they leave the office, and docile colored people who wave to them while they clean the pool or run to pull up their cars...so long long ago! before the Mexicans and their problems! Angle is a disturbed person who should seek help, and when she's better, she should apologize to the people whose lives, jobs, and futures she's willing to destroy with her simpering, narcissistic campaign. The editors, on the other hand, are well-fed, somewhat educated white guys who should know better than to burn Nevada to the ground. Do they think they'll be able to set up a monopoly middle-brow media empire in some other state after this place falls?

    And for the record, I and most Nevadans won't stand by and smirk while young women are forced to carry rapists' fetuses, or our young people are denied education unless they're rich enough to be shuttled to east coasts schools. Angle is not our main stream. She's fascist soft porn.

  10. Alvinjh Oct. 6, 2010 | 2:35 a.m. Report Abuse

    Vote for Sharon Angle she will go to the Senate and represent our state as a conservative... .

    Don't let the Reid attack machine discourage or nullify your vote. If you do ANYTHING other than vote for her--you are voting for Harry Reid. They know it and they are COUNTING on it. That is why they are practicing the politics of personal destruction here and across the country. It is the only thing that can keep them in power. They must make you not want to vote. If it works, things will get more extreme than they are now. Count on it.

    You answer them by VOTING in 26 days.




    Where is Reid's money coming from? Who does he care to represent? Thee fine folks here.

    Cycle Fundraising, 2005 - 2010, Campaign Cmte

    Raised--$19,198,455
    Spent--$11,579,202

    Top 5 Contributors, 2005-2010, Campaign Cmte
    MGM Mirage
    Weitz & Luxenberg
    Simmons Cooper LLC
    Harrah's Entertainment
    Girardi & Keese
    Top 5 Industries, 2005-2010, Campaign Cmte
    By Category--
    Lawyers/Law Firms
    $2,962,372 $2,676,473 $285,899
    Securities & Investment
    $1,055,255 $890,955 $164,300
    Lobbyists
    $685,158 $665,474 $19,684
    Real Estate
    $679,307 $592,231 $87,076
    Casinos/Gambling
    $645,650 $583,650 $62,00
    Lawyers/Law Firms
    $2,962,372 $2,676,473 $285,899
    Securities & Investment
    $1,055,255 $890,955 $164,300
    Lobbyists
    $685,158 $665,474 $19,684
    Real Estate
    $679,307 $592,231 $87,076
    Casinos/Gambling
    $645,650 $583,650 $62,000
    Health Professionals
    on and on and on...

    Pharmaceuticals/Health Products
    $291,500 $65,750 $225,750

    POWER to the PEOPLE RIGHT?

    Its all about POWER. Who has it. Who wants it.

    VOTE

    http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=n00009922

    $25 Million to Angle? Not enough Harry. You are done.

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