Harry in costume

Halloween approaches, and Sen. Harry Reid apparently can't wait.

Earlier this month, Sen. Reid donned his Santa Claus suit to promise senior citizens he'd work to ensure they receive a $250 check because a lack of inflation meant they wouldn't see any cost-of-living increases next year in their Social Security stipends.

Now the Senate majority leader -- desperately fighting to keep his seat against a previously little-known Nevada Republican activist -- is in costume again. After stripping off the billowing white beard, red suit and black boots, Sen. Reid apparently snuck into a beltway phone booth and changed into a red cape and blue jumpsuit with a big "S" emblazoned on his chest.

Interviewed later by a left-wing cable network on Thursday, Sen. Reid lamented that the American public simply hasn't appreciated all his good work.

"People have been hurting, and I understand that," Sen. Reid said. "And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression. They want to know what I've done for them."

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look, up in the sky -- it's Harry Reid, Superman, saving the world from economic calamity!

It's hard to know what to make of this latest Reid inanity. Sen. Reid has been full of himself for years. It's clear now, though, that he's also full of something else.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers tried his best spin. "Sen. Reid was making the point that he gets how people are struggling and that long explanations about policy aren't what they are looking for," he said, "but that we have passed policies that have prevented a bad situation from becoming worse."

What a ringing endorsement!

Next time Sen. Reid decides to dress up, we recommend the garb favored by the Unknown Comic.