Senator Reid's Not So Subtle Message to Tom DeLay (Houston Chronical Edit)

[kpete]

Jan. 12, 2006, 8:39PM
If we can beat mob, we can fight DeLay-style politics
Experience in Las Vegas similar to D.C. corruption


By SEN. HARRY REID


In 1977, I was appointed chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. It was a difficult time for the gaming industry and Las Vegas, which were being overrun by organized crime. To that point in my life, I had served in the Nevada Assembly and even as lieutenant governor, but nothing prepared me for my fight with the mob.

Over the next few years, there would be threats on my life, bribes, FBI stings and even a car bomb placed in my family's station wagon. It was a terrifying experience, but at the end of the day, we cleaned up Las Vegas and ushered in a new era of responsibility.

My term on the gaming commission came to an end in 1981, and when it did, I thought I had seen such corruption for the last time. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. It is not quite the mafia of Las Vegas in the 1970s, but what is happening today in Washington is every bit as corrupt and the consequences for our country have been severe.

Our nation's capital has been overrun by organized crime — Tom DeLay-style.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3584174.html

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd!! This is a great opinion piece! Give 'em hell, Harry! nt

[wordpix]

2. thanks, Harry, Delay IS part of organized crime

family, one that includes * cabal.

[Hissyspit]

35. And they get people killed. n/t

[Benhurst]

3. Thanks. I didn't know this about Reid. Recommended. NT

[PATRICK]

4. Excellent

he should repeat and repeat this. It is something I didn't even know and yet should have been asking about considering Reid's state.

And he might want to keep rechecking under the station wagon.

[Oceansaway]

5. Touche !!..n/t

[AnneD]

6. Well.....

that explains how and why the DEM Senator from Nevada has a set of brass balls. Give 'em hell Harry.

[madokie]

32. Yeah he does

he must be all balls because he doesn't seem to be too big.

[AnneD]

56. As my signature line says...

it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. I heard that a lot from the old timers here in Texas.

[electropop]

66. He used to be a boxer.

Sounds like a ticket to me: Barbara Boxer/Harry The Boxer.

[madokie]

88. You got it.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. K & R!!!! Reid ROCKS!

:yourock::yourock:

[dae]

8. Great article, K and R! eom

[Roland99]

9. Harry knows about terrorism, then! Fight on, Harry!

[Straight Shooter]

10. Does Harry Reid recognize the organized crime involving Alito?

I hope so. And I'm not saying that because Alito is Italian.

Speaking of which, since when are Italian women such wussies? Every Italian woman I've ever encountered has been of strong character. They would never reduce themselves to a sniveling conniving drama queen, selling their soul to the devil as Mrs. Alito did. They will wail in public over a true heartbreak, or cry in anguish in private, but never ever commit such a debacle of histrionics.

She can't be Catholic, not a true Catholic. She can't be Catholic and have participated in that charade, because what she did earns her a one-way ticket to hell. And she can't use the rationalization that her tears will save thousands of unborn. Thousands more will die with Alito on the bench. Count on it.

Sorry to rant off topic.

[babylonsister]

14. FWIW, her maiden name is Baumgartner. Is that Italian? nt

[bigscott]

15. German?

Austrian? Jesus - that is what MY grandmother was - she could spit nails - never saw HER cry!!

[babylonsister]

17. I was thinking German, too, which is part of my heritage. nt

[Straight Shooter]

20. Maybe she is half-Italian, if that's her father's name.

Seems like I read somewhere that she is Italian. I could be wrong, it's been known to happen before.

Regardless, I find her offensive if she is Italian, because I am Italian and I know how strong Italian women can be. But, all the same, it was a charade, and she and Sam were probably high-fiving each other all night long. Mission Accomplished.

[FreedomAngel82]

28. It was a pure set up

Just watch the video. Right before she "cried" she had that smug look on her face. The look that's "I'm better than you are" smug.

[Straight Shooter]

38. Yes, I saw it. A complete charade.

Sold her soul to the devil, she did.

[azureblue]

59. well co-ordinated

with the near instant swift boaters attack campaign. Nothing more than a badly acted soap opera.

[bikebloke]

49. Literally translated...

tree gardner

[druidity33]

55. definately German

It means tender/gardener of trees. Kindergarten means garden of children... for reference.


...little bathroom stickers...

[sofa king]

79. It's actually spelled, "Bomgardner."

Which is a spelling which I've never seen before and which may or may not suggest an Austro-Italian heritage.

I had the pleasure of meeting Sen. Reid once. It was at a fundraiser on Capitol Hill for Sen. Tim Johnson's desperately-fought 2002 reelection. At the time I was three parts researcher and one part lobbyist for a firm which represented tribal governments (it was the turnout of the Lakota which narrowly tipped the vote in Johnson's favor that year). It was one of the few professional jobs in Washington in which I could get away with having really long hair.

Reid wandered into the room with this sort of, "I hate this shit" look on his face. I was nervously pretending to chat with Sen. Johnson, who hooked Reid by the arm and introduced him to me and the others who were standing around.

Suddenly, he fixed me with this sort of contemptuous stare that went straight through my soul. It was so straightforward and obvious that he might as well have just come out and said, "you're a fucking perp and I know it." He muttered something half-cordial and wisped away.

I was stunned, and a little offended (compared to everyone else around here, I'm a saint). More than that, I'd seen that look before, and fairly often. Rather than go home, I went back to the office and fired up the Lobbytron 2000, and read up on the guy. Sure enough, Harry Reid was once on the U.S. Capitol Police force, and the look he gave me was the same look I got every time I was "randomly selected" for extra attention as I tilted at my windmills in the House and Senate offices.

[Tigress DEM]

83. I think Harry is looking at the whole Bush Crime Family...

as a whole. Going back 30 years to all the people along the way who helped build up this pile of shit to fling at America and who are presently flinging away with abandon despite the mess it's making of our country.

[BR_Parkway]

11. Talk about a must read article:

There is a price to pay for the culture of corruption, and we can see it in the state of our union.

Consider the state of our economy. On one side is Big Oil, which reaped $100 billion in profits in 2005. On the other side are middle-class families. Their wages are declining at the same time they are paying more for gas, heat, education and other needs.

Take the state of health care. On one side are the HMOs that benefited greatly from a $10 billion slush fund in the Medicare bill. On the other side are seniors who face gaps in their coverage and the high cost of prescription drugs.

<snip>

In our country today, we are seeing what happens when lawmakers and lobbyists conspire to put the needs of special interests before the needs of the American people. We have a country that grows more dependent on foreign oil each day. We have cronyism like that exposed by Hurricane Katrina, and we have a national security policy that does a good job of protecting Halliburton's bottom-line but not a good enough job protecting the American people.

[Cooley Hurd]

12. K&R! Damn... Harry's one tough mofo!!!!

I really like this guy!!!:thumbsup:

[zbdent]

13. And if you're tough enough to face up to the Mafia

then a bunch of whiney-ass repigs is a piece of cake . . .

[KingFlorez]

16. That's pretty heavy

[tex-wyo-dem]

18. Excellent! Keep it up Harry!

The entire GOP is nothing more than a huge organized crime family, difference being that not only is their the usual mafia type activities (money laundering, racketeering, etc. and the occasional dead body), but the slow and steady destruction of entire countries (Iraq and our own...probably as well as others too numerous to name).

In short, I think the GOP falls under RICO status.

[Trevelyan]

47. The assassination of David Rosenbaum + Alito's confirmation hearings

"David Rosenbaum, a reporter and editor for the New York Times, died as a result of a head injury allegedly received when he was mugged in his upper-scale neighborhood in Washington. Problems with this:
...http://www.xymphora.blogspot.com/
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/andy8/113687947384619953/

"Rosenbaum's last piece for the TIMES was published on 12/24/2005, and reported that Samuel Alito had authored a 1984 memo arguing that then-President Reagan had the right to order wiretaps without warrants.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30C12F83E540C778EDDAB0994DD404482

Rosenbaum was mugged to death two weeks later, as Alito's confirmation hearings are about to begin?

Small world, isn't it? And full of odd coincidences.A lot of unknowns remain regarding this story. It very well may have been a "legitimate" mugging...a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then again, it may have been a "message" to the NYT.

[rambler_american]

58. Mafia Tactics

Small world, isn't it? And full of odd coincidences

Off topic, but another coincidence involving Reagan...

Neil Bush, son of the then vice president of the United States, was scheduled to have dinner on March 31, 1981, with Scott Hinckley, brother of John Hinckley, the day after a bullet came within an inch of making Neil Bush's father the new president of the United States.

http://www.nathanielblumberg.com/neil.htm

Almost like having Tony Soprano's family running the country.

[troubleinwinter]

19. "organized crime — Tom DeLay-style" *ZING*

[Trevelyan]

48. Brian Williams has been scared stupid by the BFEE threats

Williams showed a lot of courage after Katrina and even set up base in NOLA and reported that a member of the 82nd Airborne pointed a gun at him and his staff and that Potemkin Village photo op of POTUS. I think Crooks and Liars is unfair in it's characterization of Williams but glad they posted this:

"Brian Williams: NRO-Rent Boy

Brian Williams, the main man for NBC news joined Don Imus this morning and was talking about the Alito nomination when the subject of Joe Biden came up. Brian couldn't pimp the NRO quick enough in his response to Don-and to top it all off he didn't even know WTF he was talking about. Don looked as surprised as I did with his response-you'll see here.

emailer GT: Williams said with these bloggers now you have to be on your toes. Joe Biden made a point about his daughters and ivy league schools and then the National Review...

Video-WMP Video-QT (rough transcript)

Imus: Well what was the issue.

Williams: Well, he (Biden) was talking about Ivy league schools at the hearings and the National Review had video refuting what he said with an earlier statement. I mean this Joe Biden thing was just UNBELIEVABLE! (emphasis by Brian Williams).

Imus: Well what did he (Biden) say about Ivy league schools initially?

Williams: Well, um..., I am not sure exactly but whatever point he had the National Review put up an immediate counterpoint.

Imus: Counterpoint to what?

Williams: Well, I am sorry. I don't have that. Maybe you can get your crack staff over there to find it out.

Imus: Well, geez, you have just completely lost... us here this morning.

Yes Brian, you should have taken your own advice and stayed on your toes. Why is Williams quoting the NRO at all? Media Matters has noted his proclivity to shill for the Republican party, I mean who can forget his "ode" to Rush Limbaugh, but this was beyond the pale. So far this week has turned into one big circle jerk of republican talking points for Alito and the fact that Brian Williams brought up the NRO as a resource tool without even knowing the story seals the deal.

[seabeyond]

21. where are the people that say dems have no spine, say nothing, doesnt

get in the face of the repugs.........?

anyone hear this on msm, yet there is reid. it was said. and profound. and good. still, no one but a few even know reid say this

ergo

those that say dems are spineless regardless of facts that show otherwise and will continue to throw hissy for dem spine, as this post will go into the nethers, unheard by many

[Dr Fate]

33. What some of us say, is that he needs to say it on TV, to their faces...

Press conferences or "Smack-downs" that are only on the internet websites can be easily ignored or unheard by swing-voters.

Some of the critcs you refer to, like me, argue that most of the "fighting" DEMs do is for the benefit of the donor base- we argue that they need to be ON TV, where EVERYONE will hear it.

Reid's presentation is great- it would be 20 times more effective if he and 10 other Democrats were repeatedly saying it to Wolf Blitzers & tim Russerts face.

I've also said that Op-Eds are great- i'm glad harry wrote such a scathing one!

I know, I know- here is the part where DUers present a conspiracy theory about how top, household name Democrats are somehow banned from appearances on major TV news/interview shows. Spare me.

Harry is awesome- I'd like to hear more DEMs say what he said on TV, to their faces.

[cyberpj]

70. Dr. Fate, you and I have agreed on this before. SAY IT TO THE CAMERAS!

Say it loud.
Say it proud.
And say it often.
We're the ones with EVIDENCE!

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Whoever said that Reid was the right guy for the position, knew

what they were talking about. All is forgiven.

[TheFarseer]

23. the letters to the editor are going to be ugly tomorrow!

so many people right at the epicenter are still in denial.

[savemefromdumbya]

24. A fine line between the ......

......mob and DeLay/Bush.

Go get them Harry

[Hissyspit]

36. Unfortunately, this crime family/cabal is getting to remake the Supreme

Court.

[lyonn]

82. Hell, the mob couldn't compare to this bunch

crowding around and in the White House. Now that's some real money were talking about along with a small but powerful crime family.

[Dr Fate]

25. Hell yeah- top it off with a Filibuster and I'll even open my check book!

Give 'em hell, Harry!!!

[pauldp]

30. I second that! n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

26. Great letter!

Reid is tough shit. He's the best!

[Matariki]

27. It's ABOUT TIME someone said it publicly

these people, the Bush Cartel and their cronies, are not LIKE organized crime - they ARE organized crime

[Trevelyan]

46. Where is the gold in Ft. Know since Bush, Sr. was VP???

http://www.johnconyers.com/ Sign petition to begin Impeachment Inquiry

http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm
Bush Jr.'s Skeleton Closet

Talk about the billions the bush family stole to conservatives:
http://www.freedomdomain.com/News/nnorfed.html
The organization chaired by Alan Greenspan is a coalition of private international banks, that does not answer to the United States Government. And there is no precious metal warehoused in Fort Knox or elsewhere that backs the money that they issue.

http://www.anomalous-images.com/text/NAZNWO08.TXT
Large shipment of gold leaves Fort Knox, public doesn't know that their national gold 'reserves' are being secretly depleted by one-world national socialist agents working in U.S. government. Gold at Fort Knox replaced with gold-plated lead bars, making it the biggest heist in history. Rockefellers involved. James MacDonald becomes critical of Air Force and the CIA.

http://hardtruth.topcities.com/treason_new_world_order.htm

Throughout the 20th century this movement toward a one world government has been marching on. This is not new or recent. In his book Critical Path Buckminster Fuller gives a very impressive sweep of the 20th century, about the large corporations and their agents and the lawyers who basically control the country far more than the people understand. He talked about how
all the gold was removed from Fort Knox by the 1960's.
Where did it go?

I think Dem Underground's encyclopedia has a lot of links on this but rarely discussed - might panic the AOL Messageboard FReepers if they knew.

[pauldp]

29. OMFG! Somebody finally told the TRUTH!

:applause:

[Dr Fate]

31. It's the easiest damn thing in the world to do. Hardly rocket-science!

I'm glad to see someone using this most obvious tactic against the pukes.

[Hissyspit]

34. Kick some ass, Harry. There is 'truthiness,' and then there is the TRUTH.

You go, bro.

[Deep13]

37. Stop trying to candy-coat it. What do you REALLY think?

:wow:
Um, wow. That's pretty direct. Republicans = mafia.

[tmooses]

39. I like these words from Reid. He seems not to have grown up in the

world of privilege and had to struggle himself. The mob analogy should also be extended to the way Bush has operated his family operation. Those who are disloyal are smeared (wiped out) and those who are loyal to the boss are rewarded no matter their qualifications.

[Surya Gayatri]

40. Speak truth to these power-mad

fraudsters, Harry. Make your stand and don't budge. :kick: SG

[ClintonTyree]

41. This is the message that will result in Democrats winning in November

We must say it over, and over and over again until it finally sticks in the minds of the American people. We cannot let fear and greed hold sway over our country any longer. Our government is BY the people, OF the people and FOR the people, NOT for special interests and corrupt lawmakers.

[Lena inRI]

42. "Pugilio" Reid. . .knock'em down!

maybe Senator Reid is a Mike Malloy listener. . .calling them what they really are. . .the Bush Crime Family.

:headbang:

[Coexist]

43. Give 'em Hell, Harry!

[Deep13]

44. He just tells the truth. They only think it is hell.

[Nothing Without Hope]

45. I like that the Houston Chronicle carried this. In your face, Bug-Boy!

[Spazito]

73. ohhhhh, great graphic!

My 'hat' is off to AllHatNoCattle.net, love it!

[formercia]

50. Glad to hear him say it.

better late than never. Time to kick some ass.

[Borgnine]

51. I wish more people knew this about Reid.

Hell, I just learned it myself.

[greiner3]

52. I like where this is going;

Even though aloser is probably going to be approved:crazy:

[SharonRB]

53. Give 'em Hell, Harry!

[Old and In the Way]

54. Can't wait for the Republican rebuttal.

They'll have to smear and slime the messenger because they sure can't refute the message.

I don't hear a whole lot from the Right disagreeing with Reid's observations....

[eppur_se_muova]

57. But they're not as competent...maybe SEMI-organized crime ? nt

[sonias]

60. Give'em hell Harry!

We can clean up Washington. And by the way Las Vegas is much cleaner than D.C. right now, so thank you Senator Harry Reid. You absolutely have our support in cleaning up the culture of corruption in Washington D.C. Ridding ourselves of Tom DeLay is a big start.

Sonia

[rambler_american]

61. Memo to Harry Reid

Please stay out of small planes. Those bastards will kill you if they can.

[Not_Giving_Up]

62. Give 'Em Hell, Harry!

He was on This Week months ago, and I remember him talking about dealing with the mobsters. I knew then that we had a chance.

[0007]

63. Now organized crime has moved into the White House

[0007]

64. Great article

The gangsters are the lobbyists, cronies and lawmakers who have banded together and abused their power to serve their own self-interest. The casinos are the Capitol, which has had its doors thrown open for special interests to waltz in and help themselves, and the victims, of course, are the American people.

There is a price to pay for the culture of corruption, and we can see it in the state of our union.

Consider the state of our economy. On one side is Big Oil, which reaped $100 billion in profits in 2005. On the other side are middle-class families. Their wages are declining at the same time they are paying more for gas, heat, education and other needs....

more

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

65. Reid's Awesome! I also saw in another thread today a quote of his that

I don't know how it got by me before (or how I forgot it if it hadn't). It was something like "we don't give them hell, we give them truth and they think it's hell"

I love that quote, and want someone (distressedamerican maybe?) to make a photoshop with Harry's best face shot and that quote on it so I can hang it up on my wall 'o politics at work.

[yardwork]

67. I love it!

[Melissa G]

68. YESSSS! Way to go Harry! n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

69. E-mail Reid a thank you for his bravery and honesty

http://reid.senate.gov/

[lyonn]

84. Thanks for e-mail, insisted Alito be filibustered

We have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Gotta let the rest of the crowd know how Dems feel and we are pissed.

[sasquatch]

71. The Stormin' Mormon strikes again

:patriot:

[Hotler]

72. SWEET! Nicely done Mr. Reid. This is one that....

can be copied and passed along everywhere, really good food for thought for the average working stiff.

[TankLV]

74. Wonderfully thought-out and composed statement.

Harry grows in my opinion of him every single day.

There may be bumps along the way, where I cannot fathom why he does or does not do a particular thing, but overall, he is growing in stature every day.

I will definitely campaign for his re-election next time around - he is my senator after all.

[ovidsen]

75. Priceless

This nails DeLay very nicely

UPDATED DELAY MUG SHOT

[Imagevision]

76. Delay and the current admonistration make the mob look like child's play!

[autorank]

77. Harry gave 'em hell! This is great positioning and the truth.

I like his trip to the Heart of Darkness. He's a warrior and he'll get a chance to show it next week.

We'll see what kind of moves he has. I'm giving 60-40 that they're pretty damn good.

[opusprime]

78. Standing "O" for Harry Reid...

This should be required reading for anyone voting in 2006.

[Tigress DEM]

80. What a MAN! What a MAN! Yehaw!

"Honest leadership should not be a partisan goal. It is the key to a stronger union."

HONEST LEADERSHIP SHOULD BE OUR DEMAND IN 2006 / 2008 and beyond. NO MORE FREE RIDES.... all politicians are _________ (insert stereotype) is BOGUS! Gives them a way to say, but everyone is doing it. Bullshit. NO MORE.

[lyonn]

81. Really liked his style, gutsy attitute and ideas, but

How can Reid make it happen? We are back to square one when we can't even get a bill on the floor. If he had said he had other Senators behind him and were willing to speak clearly about what is really happening to this government I would feel more confident.

[ngGale]

85. Has Scorsese fictionalized your U.S. senator? ...

Harry Reid Is Not Boring
Has Scorsese fictionalized your U.S. senator?

By Chris Suellentrop
Posted Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004

Like flies to wanton boys are politicians to the press. We kill them for our sport. But rarely has a public figure been subject to a campaign of character assassination as unfair as the one that's targeted Harry Reid since the Nevada senator was chosen to replace Tom Daschle as Senate minority leader. A vast conspiracy has lacerated Reid as "plain," or worse, boring. "As dry as the martinis he never drinks," Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist Steve Sebelius told Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard, though Continetti devised an even better insult for the Democratic leader's "soporific public persona": Reid "might be taken for the man in the gray flannel suit's shorter, quieter second cousin," he wrote. The attacks on Reid's charm deficit aren't new—Congressional Quarterly noted 10 years ago, "Even Reid's supporters call him 'colorless'"—but Charles Babington of the Washington Post took the rhetoric to a new low last month when he declared that Reid "lacks Daschle's flair."

There was a time when a remark like that—akin to saying that someone lacks Emmanuel Lewis's height—was considered out of the bounds of respectable Washington discourse. Granted, Reid compares poorly to say, Mary Lou Retton when it comes to charisma. But what congressional leader doesn't? The Republican leadership, after all, includes Bill Frist and Mitch McConnell.

Reid may not be the most colorful figure in Washington, but his career is far more interesting than that of the average senator. In politics, Nevada is the next best thing to Louisiana. To take just one example, is there another U.S. senator who has been part of the inspiration for a character in a Martin Scorsese film? (A character played by Dick Smothers, no less.) In Casino, Robert DeNiro's character melts down in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission after the commission denies him a license to operate a casino. The scene is loosely based on a December 1978 hearing when Reid was the commission's chairman, and some of the dialogue spoken by Smothers is taken directly from Reid's words during the hearing. (The rest of the scenes involving Smothers, who plays a composite politician known only as "Senator," have nothing to do with Reid.) OK, it's lackluster Scorsese, but at least it's not Gangs of New York. And there are other Reid echoes in Casino: Joe Pesci's character refers to a "Mr. Cleanface," which gangster Joe Agosto said was his nickname for an in-his-pocket Reid, but a five-month investigation of Agosto's claims cleared Reid of wrongdoing.

http://www.slate.com/id/2111392

The article that introduced me to "Harry" - I was impressed.

[BuyingThyme]

86. kcik

[psychopomp]

87. Bravo!

I am beginning to like this man!