Posts Tagged ‘Harry Reid’

Democrat Senator Ben Nelson is retiring, making it almost a sure bet that his Senate seat will switch to Republican in the 2012 election.

National Democrats (particularly Harry Reid) were desperate to keep Nelson in the race (and his $3 million bank account) because if he were running for re-election, they had at least a fighting chance to keep the seat.

Ben Nelson is not dumb, and he calculated that Nebraskans have tired of his claims to be a conservative Democrat, but siding with his liberal colleagues on the big votes (Stimulus and Health care being two biggies).

I suspect recent ads run by American Crossroads (see ad here) and Americans for Prosperity Nebraska (see ad here) had an impact on Nelson’s thinking and whether he wanted to spend the next year being thrashed with his own record.

This news reminded me of a web video I came across a while ago and blogged about here.  It’s really funny.

Ben Nelson may not be laughing today, but most Nebraskans are cheering.

UPDATE

Aaron Blake from the Washington Post reports that Nelson has posted an retirement announcement video which you can see here.

This is just downright inappropriate and disgusting, even for Harry Reid:

“You can find the Republicans are having difficulty determining how they’re going to continue making love to Wall Street.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), quoted by ABC News, explaining why the financial regulation reform bill is stalled.

And Harry Reid is a shameless hypocrite. In a story about Washington’s Sen. Patti Murray, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, we find this nugget:

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., another member of the Senate’s Democratic leadership, has received $1.58 million from the securities and investment industry during the current campaign cycle. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has taken $902,000, even more than he has received from the gaming industry. (emphasis added)

To put that in perspective, there is this tidbit from the Wall Street Journal:

According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrats have received nearly two-thirds of the $34.7 million donated by the entire securities and investment industry since Jan. 1, 2009. Democrats took in 57% of Wall Street’s donations in the 2008 campaign and 52% during the 2006 midterm elections.

The last time Wall Street contributed more money to Republicans than Democrats was during the 2004 presidential election cycle when the GOP collected 52% of their donations, according to the center.

Reid needs to look in the mirror and recognize that if what Republicans are doing equates to making love to Wall Street, than what he is doing is just a cheap trick.

Politicians cross the line of civil debate on a pretty regular basis – so I usually ignore it as typical. However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) goes completely over the top in what would be shouted down as outrageous had a Republican uttered the words.

Equating Republican attempts to slow the process down on healthcare reform to those who didn’t want to abolish slavery is completely and utterly out of line. Every descendent of slavery is owed an apology from Mr. Reid.

Remember the year 1952.  As you read about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his reelection prospects, remember 1952.

1952 was the year a relatively young and unknown upstart businessman (who only had a few years experience on a city council) challenged the sitting Senate Majority Leader and won.

The challenger was Barry Goldwater and he beat Earnest McFarland – in a state in which Democrats outnumbered Republicans nearly 5-1.  McFarland was seen as too out of touch with Arizona, too much a part of the “inside the beltway” problem.  Reid seems to have a lot in common with McFarland – and that could prove to be a problem for him.

If 2010 repeats 1952, it will be the first time in 58 years that the sitting U.S. Senate Majority Leader is defeated in an election.  Couldn’t happen at a better time.