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I hadn't heard about that. But whatever his personal incapacity,
he's been vigorous as leader of the Senate in precisely the wrong
policies - no withdrawal from the Mideast, no expansion of Medicare
to all, no take-over of 'troubled' banks and companies, no ending of
foreclosures, no jobs program, etc., etc. The administration and
the Democrats have done everything wrong, and not by accident, but
because of whom they're working for - that ever-richer elite who in
fact have profited nicely from this terrible administration. <br>
<br>
<br>
On 10/17/10 10:02 AM, Rohn Koester wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BAY125-W194D4C0B4CE4B2A4DFB46EA5590@phx.gbl"
type="cite">
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>>
Reid is a career politician, veteran of the stump speech, the
extempore oration, <br style="text-indent: 0px ! important;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>>
not to mention the formal rhetoric of a seasoned Solon. So how
come he can <br style="text-indent: 0px ! important;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>>
barely frame a sentence, or convey a simple thought? [Cockburn]<br
style="text-indent: 0px ! important;">
<br>
<div>In March, a couple of days after Reid announced his intention
to run for a fifth term, his wife and daughter were almost
killed when a semi-truck plowed into their car.</div>
<div><br>
> Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 11:17:46 -0500<br>
> From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:galliher@illinois.edu">galliher@illinois.edu</a><br>
> To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:peace-discuss@anti-war.net">peace-discuss@anti-war.net</a><br>
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Too good to miss<br>
> <br>
> October 15 - 17, 2010<br>
> Daughters of the Gipper<br>
> By ALEXANDER COCKBURN<br>
> <br>
> Plump as a boudoir cushion, her dimpled countenance as rosy
and excited as those <br>
> of Watteau’s most gamesome courtesans, Christine O’Donnell
established in her <br>
> debate at the University of Delaware, that she is most
certainly qualified to <br>
> take a seat in the U.S. senate. I reached this conclusion
after the Harry Reid / <br>
> Sharron Angle debate in Las Vegas, where the two are neck
and neck in the final <br>
> run down to November 2. By the measure of the performance
of the US Senate <br>
> Majority leader, O’Donnell would shine in the Upper Chamber
like Demosthenes. <br>
> And next to Tea Partier Sharron Angle, a former state
legislator, O’Donnell <br>
> sounded like Aristotle.<br>
> <br>
> Reid is a career politician, veteran of the stump speech,
the extempore oration, <br>
> not to mention the formal rhetoric of a seasoned Solon. So
how come he can <br>
> barely frame a sentence, or convey a simple thought? In his
two-minute opener he <br>
> evoked his childhood in Searchlight, his mom taking in the
washing from the <br>
> brothels. Checking his notes and speaking in the halting
tones of one unfamiliar <br>
> with the English language, he limped through his core
credo: "I believe my No. 1 <br>
> job is to create jobs as United States senator."<br>
> <br>
> Both Reid and Angle speak as though rejects from the Disney
animation shop. <br>
> “Stiff” is too limber an epithet to toss at them. The
brightest bulb on the <br>
> platform in Vegas PBS was Mitch Fox, host of Nevada Week in
Review. Citing <br>
> Angle’s notorious remark Fox asks, "Do you believe getting
jobs is not your job?"<br>
> <br>
> Angle: "My job is to create the policies to encourage the
private sector to do <br>
> what they do best, and that is creating jobs."<br>
> <br>
> Fox: "So that means 'no'?"<br>
> <br>
> Angle nods in agreement.<br>
> <br>
> Reid responds. He boasts of ways he's helped bring jobs to
Nevada through tax <br>
> policy -- at McCarran Airport, at Harrah's, where, he said,
"We saved 31,000 <br>
> jobs alone. My opponent is against those. My job is to
create jobs. ... My <br>
> opponent is extreme."<br>
> <br>
> Angle responds: "Harry Reid, it's not your job to create
jobs. It's your job to <br>
> create confidence to get the private sector to create
jobs."<br>
> <br>
> This is insanity. We are in Nevada, as dependent on federal
dollars as Limbaugh <br>
> was once on Oxycontin. Nevada, home of the Hoover dam, of
the nuclear test <br>
> sites, of… of…. Vegas is filled with laid-off construction
workers utterly <br>
> dependent on a government check. And Harry can’t muster the
strength to ridicule <br>
> the utter absurdity of Angle denouncing the role of
government. Already the <br>
> audience is groaning and beginning to shuffle out.<br>
> <br>
> Mitch Fox again. He quizzes Angle on the fact that before
the Republican primary <br>
> she had referred to the need to "privatize" Social
Security. Now she uses the <br>
> term "personalize," as though the nature of one’s pension
is a matter of <br>
> aesthetic discrimination, like chosing an underarm spray.<br>
> <br>
> "Why did you change your position on Social Security?" Fox
asked.<br>
> <br>
> She said she used the word "personalize" because it
described a type of personal <br>
> retirement account that lawmakers, such as Harry Reid,
have.<br>
> <br>
> Reid says other nations have tried personalizing retirement
accounts with <br>
> disastrous results. He doesn’t say simply that if the
Social Security accounts <br>
> had been handed to Wall Street, as George Bush had
attempted to do back in 2004, <br>
> anyone opting to withdraw their retirement money from
Social Security would by <br>
> now have starved to death.<br>
> <br>
> It’s time for the closing statements. Harry fumbles for his
notes. "I am a <br>
> fighter. I will continue to fight for what I believe is
best for the American <br>
> people"...<br>
<br>
</div>
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