Political joking, some car bombings are easier to forget than others

How could she not remember? It was news, for cryin’ out loud. She was a Las Vegas television reporter in 1981 when it happened. Over the years, it was resurrected repeatedly in profiles of Reid’s career. When the movie "Casino" came out in 1995, the bombing attempt was news again. Reid himself wrote about it vividly in his book, "The Good Fight."

So, when I listened to a recording of Lowden yucking it up with radio talk show host Heidi Harris, insisting they had never heard about it, so it never happened, the women sounded callous and stupid.

But I started asking around. While I remembered it vividly, other newspaper-reading long-timers didn’t. So I have to cut Lowden and Harris some slack.

Lowden, a Republican challenging the Senate majority leader, was in friendly interview territory on Oct. 21 when Harris began nitpicking Reid’s new television ad. It includes this line: "When the mob tried to take over Vegas, Harry Reid took them on and didn’t blink, even when they put a bomb in the family station wagon."

Harris said she lived here all her life and didn’t remember any bomb attempt on Reid and had "talked to sources" and nobody could verify it happened.

Lowden said she didn’t remember it either, then laughed. Then they talked about other bombing attempts in Las Vegas.

The Reid campaign went ballistic, sending out the audio portion and making a quick online ad that was effective in making both Harris and Lowden sound like, well, twits.

Lowden, who worked for KLAS-TV, Channel 8 from 1978 until 1986, first as a reporter, later as an anchor, isn’t backing down.

"I think both Harry and Landra Reid know I don’t think this is funny," she said Wednesday. "All I said is, I didn’t remember it."

Lowden could have said she had no intention to make light of a car bombing. But she chose not to make nice.

A one-day story stretched into a two-day story (reporters had to show, yes, there was a bomb attempt), then into a weeklong story when Gov. Jim Gibbons went on Harris’ show Tuesday and said he didn’t remember the bomb attempt either. He spoke nonsensically about making bombs with telephone books and shoe boxes.

Then the New York Times and Los Angeles Times weighed in, taking a mocking approach of, "Is this the best Nevada Republicans can do?"

Heidi, Sue and Jim, for future reference here’s a cheat sheet of notable car bombings in Las Vegas. None is laughable:

• 1972: Former FBI agent William Coulthard is killed starting his car in a downtown garage.

• 1974: Eight sticks of dynamite are found under casino executive Ash Resnick’s car in a Caesars Palace parking lot.

• 1977: Car bombs are discovered outside two Las Vegas restaurants, the Village Pub and the Starboard Tack, during union organizing efforts. Neither detonates.

• 1981: In May, a device was found in former Gaming Commissioner George Swarts’ car. It didn’t explode.

• 1981: In June, Reid’s wife Landra found a device in the family car. It didn’t explode, and is found to be similar to the one in Swarts’ car. (Check my blog for details about who was thought to be behind the bombing and who offered to kill for Reid.)

• October 1982: Mob associate Frank Rosenthal’s car explodes, injuring him as he left Tony Roma’s Restaurant.

• 1986: Newsman Ned Day’s Volvo is torched (not bombed). He wasn’t in the car, but mourned the tragic loss of his golf clubs.

• May 2007: A Luxor hotel employee is killed by a bomb placed atop a vehicle. Two men are convicted. Motive: jealousy. He was dating one man’s girlfriend.

There was speculation at the time the crude devices were found in the cars of Swarts and Reid that the bombs were meant to "send a message."

Don’t need a bomb to send this message: Sue Lowden is going to have a hard time gaining sympathy for union members rocking a car containing her children in 1996 when she shows no empathy for another family’s horror.

However, it won’t be long before Harry Reid says something weird or dumb, balancing out one flapdoodle with another.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.