Because of his high profile, Harry Reid is a lightning rod in the state and is widely disliked. That is understandable. However, what is being proposed as an alternative is truly scary. Whether voters are that stupid to throw out somebody who has served the state many years and is the most powerful person in Washington outside of Obama in favor of a race-baiting idiot who makes Chic Hecht look like Einstein is the pressing and depressing question.
Nevadans have fucked up before with Hecht, Gibbons, and Ensign, to name just a few examples of wingnuttery gone apeshit. Are they willing to continue this shameful tradition with the election of Angle? If they are, this country has indeed hit rock-bottom.
The Times:
Ms. Angle said last week that every state should have a sheriff like Mr. Arpaio, and he returned the compliment, in his own particular, chilling way. “You guys have got a desert here,” he told the cheering, foot-stomping crowd. “Why don’t you put up some tents?” The laughter of his audience of about 2,000 people, most wearing free Angle T-shirts or buttons, practically shook the walls of Stoney’s Rockin’ Country nightclub, where hand-held signs proclaimed Mr. Reid, the Senate majority leader, a traitor, a socialist and garbage.
Mr. Reid’s campaign had once looked forward to running against Ms. Angle, figuring that her extreme positions would quickly marginalize her in the minds of voters. But he somehow failed to recognize just how attractive those positions would be in a state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate and highest rates of foreclosure and bankruptcy. And he was lifeless in last week’s debate instead of making the forceful, animated challenge to Ms. Angle’s radicalism that might have motivated his supporters.
Nevada has had a long tradition of libertarian idiocy, which Sharron Angle is peddling and pandering. It infected the GOP in all kinds of ways. When I moved there 26 years ago, it was like being on another planet, and I came from--and returned to--a part of Oregon which is largely red. Over the years this right-wing idiocy was increasingly marginalized as more people from other states migrated to the Silver State. Despite Nevada going into the gutter economically and despite many people having left the state, including yours truly, political attitudes aren't as stupid as they were when Reagan was president (and almost deified there).
This commenter has it right and knows what he is talking about:
Nevada has been a libertarian anti-tax structure state for many years. The majority of the country changed with this past Presidential election, the most pivotal change since 1980. Education is now a must.
Regional transportation infrastructure is now a must. Healthcare reform became a must. Financial regulations for Wall Street and mortgage lending became a must. It wasn't socialism, Senator Reid or the Obama Administration which built all those vacant homes in Southern Nevada during 20 years of supply side frenzy. It was all the customers-partners of gaming who too the appreciation and flips to the tables, where the gaming gated communities gladly took it. When the bubble busted in September 2007 and the party ended, all the money fled, with losses protected by the words LLC in other places. The big losers were Clark County residents with homes still remaining 40-60 percent underwater 2004-2007 prices. Ironically, the gated community now needs Senator Reid's seniority in Washington to bring home the bacon for economic and energy diversity. In a strange twist of fate, not assigning the proper amount of funding for two decades into quality of life and education has left the gated communities surrounded by retired people who do not want to pay any taxes and many of those who work lacking the education to make an educated choice for Senator. They are simply mad and looking to assign blame to an elected official. Meanwhile, the energy sector of the US economy fears cap and trade legislation, and through Karl Rove is funding candidates such as Angle to purchase the kind of opposition they are buying to block legislation that reaches too far. Republicans want power back, and oppostion to cap and trade is their issue. Uninformated or undereducated Nevadans thinkg they are voting Angle for jobs, in fact they are voting Angle for no new job diversity.
link
I still expect Harry Reid to eke out a victory, even if it ends up being a few hundred votes.
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