There’s no joy in Mudville after Reid win
To the editor:
Like Casey of "Casey at the Bat" fame, Sherman Frederick was the cleanup hitter for the Review-Journal. For several years, Mr. Frederick, publisher of the newspaper, batted weekly line drives against Sen. Harry Reid. No perceived transgression was too small for him to highlight.
It was something to look forward to.
When Sharron Angle was nominated as the Republican to oppose Sen. Reid this year, I was sure Mr. Frederick couldn't possibly support this Neanderthal. I misjudged his hatred of Sen. Reid.
In fact, Mr. Frederick became even more hostile to Sen. Reid. It was clear he was for anyone but Sen. Reid. Added to the multimillions funneled to Ms. Angle, the Review-Journal's daily barrage of anti-Harry editorials gave her an even larger edge.
Why, then, in this year of GOP dominance, did Sen. Reid overcome the polls showing him three or four points behind? The answer is clear: Nevadans may not love Harry but enough realized the election of Ms. Angle would send to Washington someone who would become a laughingstock in the Senate.
Kudos to Nevadans -- and condolences to Sherman Frederick and his fellow travelers.
Irwin Kaufman
Las Vegas
Plain crazy
To the editor:
It's been said that the perfect definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over the same way and expecting different results.
Nevada leads the nation in foreclosures, unemployment, bankruptcies, etc. And yet we just re-elected Sen. Harry Reid ... again. The same thing, over and over again.
For those of you who voted for Sen. Reid, do you really expect things will be different now? Are you insane? Apparently so.
Steve Gammell
Las Vegas
Voters are suckers
To the editor:
There was a great episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer Simpson decided to run for sanitation engineer. His city was having some problems with garbage collection, so Homer made wild, unbelievable promises that could never be fulfilled. The sheep in Springfield ate it up and elected the incompetent Mr. Simpson. It wasn't long before the residents realized what suckers they had been.
Tuesday night, multitudes across the country elected a horde of Homer Simpsons to the Senate, House and governorships. And like the fools in Springfield, it won't be long before they -- and rest of us, except the rich and connected -- will regret it.
As we brace for a repeat of the Bush-Cheney financial incompetency, one word immediately comes to mind -- Doh!
Randall Buie
Henderson
Ditzy candidate
To the editor:
Is Las Vegas America's dumbest city? Well, we re-elected Harry Reid, didn't we?
Yep, we sent the plodding dullard back to represent us in Washington, where he'll do Barack Obama's bidding and cut deals in the smoke-filled back rooms of D.C. that will keep us a solid 49th in tax dollars returned to the state from the feds.
How did this happen? Easy. We ran a ditzy, uncharismatic, polarizing candidate against him, and he beat us with the old, hackneyed union/special favors coalition.
If we're ever going to fix this nation, we're going to have to run bright, knowledgeable, conservative, charismatic candidates who have a positive message and a plan for fixing what's wrong with Washington.
If we continue to pass up the Danny Tarkanians in favor of the Sharron Angles, we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over ... and the Harry Reids of this world will control our government and our fates.
Ronnie Garner
Henderson
Not so dumb
To the editor:
The city of Las Vegas proved it is not the dumbest by helping to reject, emphatically, Sharron Angle in her Senate challenge to Harry Reid.
Tea partiers, however, will be pleased that the effort is under way to "take back the country" -- but from what?
Presumably, from the president and his liberal agenda. But what is there to retake? Reinstatement of the Bush tax cuts? Repeal of the president's health care overhaul, and return of obscene profits to pharmaceutical and insurance companies and their old gouging and "disqualified" policies?
It will be interesting to see how the self-righteous right led by John Boehner navigates through the complex business of "setting a new course" in the United States without disrupting the costly social safety nets already in place.
John Esperian
Las Vegas
Republican for Harry
To the editor:
Yes, "man up," Sharron Angle. You hid from the media during the campaign and hid from hundreds of supporters at The Venetian. You should have had the courtesy to let people know you would not be showing up till everyone finally left. Or would you have showed up if you had won?
And now an investigation into Harrah's employees being "coerced" and "intimidated" into voting for the only viable candidate (Harry Reid)? Please. I personally wonder about the legitimacy of the large number of votes you received.
As a Republican who voted for Sen. Reid, I find it mind-boggling that with so many bizarre ideas and no plan, Ms. Angle had such a large following.
Lyn Patrick
Henderson
