…and Rest in Peace, Harry Reid

 

A tough day all around. Veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston announced Tuesday night that former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has died at age 82.

Reid served as a US Senator from Nevada for 30 years, retiring in 2017. He led the Senate Democrats from 2005 until his retirement and was the Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015.

Prior to that, Reid was a city attorney for Henderson, NV, a member of the Nevada State Assembly, Lieutenant Governor, and Chairman of the Gaming Commission. Before being elected to the Senate, he represented Nevada’s 1st District in the US House for two terms.

Reid had long been a thorn in the side for Republicans, famous for bare-knuckle politics beneath a mild-mannered demeanor. He is survived by his wife, Landra Gould, and their five children.

Rest in peace, Senator.

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  1. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

    Franco (View Comment):

    Actually, not a “tough day all around”. Serial liar, fraud and corruptocrat dead at 82.

    John Madden’s death is what makes it a tough day all around.

    • #31
  2. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    I’m gonna check out to help resist making ever-more pungent comments.  Have fun!

    • #32
  3. James Salerno Inactive
    James Salerno
    @JamesSalerno

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I expect a well attended funeral. Many will want to make sure the son of a bitch is really dead.

    An enormous, unmasked funeral that the elites will allow themselves to break the rules to attend.

    He was an awful person. Too bad he didn’t croak before he got to work some of his magic on the 2020 election.

    • #33
  4. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Normally I don’t speak ill of the dead, but this man lived an unmitigated life of complete corruption, and he did more to put this nation on a downward slope than any else in our history except for Pelosi. Good riddance.

    Same way I felt about Ted Kennedy.

    • #34
  5. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    With him dead, both he and the world …  well, at least the world is in a better state. 

    • #35
  6. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    To paraphrase Abe Lincoln: I tremble for Harry Reid when I reflect that God is just. . .

    Actually that was Thomas Jefferson.

    • #36
  7. genferei Member
    genferei
    @genferei

    The equanimity with which Americans accept a system where the likes of Harry Reid can amass wealth and power is staggering. Only by sustained and widespread condemnation can a start be made on cleansing these Augean stables. 

    • #37
  8. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    genferei (View Comment):

    The equanimity with which Americans accept a system where the likes of Harry Reid can amass wealth and power is staggering. Only by sustained and widespread condemnation can a start be made on cleansing these Augean stables.

    I’m stealing that line.  

    • #38
  9. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    JustmeinAZ (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Normally I don’t speak ill of the dead, but this man lived an unmitigated life of complete corruption, and he did more to put this nation on a downward slope than any else in our history except for Pelosi. Good riddance.

    Same way I felt about Ted Kennedy.

    Mary Jo Kopechne wasn’t available for comment.

    • #39
  10. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Rest in …the judgement the Almighty passes on his life in eternity. I know what my evaluation would be. 

    • #40
  11. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    I actually do not want him in hell. I,hope he made peace with God.

    • #41
  12. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Not to pick on Jon – okay the anniversary of January 6th is approaching with nary a walk-back , so I’m giving myself a pass.

    What is it with the graciousness and cordiality from our right- leaning (centrist?) pundits. Harry Reid’s friends and family aren’t reading Ricochet. No one’s dancing on his grave or throwing parties, but do we have to pretend it was some kind of loss and solemnly bow our heads?

    These expressions show me that Jon Gabriel doesn’t feel very strongly about corruption in our politics. But he sure cared about random people trespassing on our Capitol encouraged by FBI operatives!

    • #42
  13. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    BDB (View Comment):
    “Word on the street is” that he’s burning in Hell.

    Reid was such a terrible person, I believe he was refused entry . . .

    • #43
  14. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    To paraphrase Abe Lincoln: I tremble for Harry Reid when I reflect that God is just. . .

    Actually that was Thomas Jefferson.

    Him too.

    /danged mumble mumble internet. . .

    • #44
  15. The Scarecrow Thatcher
    The Scarecrow
    @TheScarecrow

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    In 2012 Reid made JW’s corrupt politician list because he was embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal involving a Chinese “green energy” client of a Nevada law firm run by his son Rory. The senator was one of the Nevada projects most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on its behalf, according to a mainstream news report. Reid’s son was an attorney at the prominent Las Vegas firm that represented the Chinese Company, ENN Energy Group, and helped it locate a 9,000-acre desert site for well below its appraised value from Clark County.

    Hmm, this sounds strangely familiar. His son Rory didn’t abandon a laptop at a repair shop by any chance, did he?

    • #45
  16. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Stad (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):
    “Word on the street is” that he’s burning in Hell.

    Reid was such a terrible person, I believe he was refused entry . . .

    Satan didn’t want to spend eternity looking over his shoulder?

    • #46
  17. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Franco (View Comment):
    What is it with the graciousness and cordiality from our right- leaning (centrist?) pundits. Harry Reid’s friends and family aren’t reading Ricochet. No one’s dancing on his grave or throwing parties, but do we have to pretend it was some kind of loss and solemnly bow our heads?

    Sure, it’s a form of virtue-signalling. But in this case we’re signalling actual virtues.

    • #47
  18. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    I actually do not want him in hell. I,hope he made peace with God.

    That would be a best and unexpected outcome. I will not however pretend that his passing leaves the world any poorer. Harry Reid could have been a good and decent man, but he repeatedly made the decision not to. Yes, God’s grace and mercy were available to him, but …he showed no sign of availing himself of them that I know of. 

    • #48
  19. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    There are some adversaries who deserve a tip of the hat. He is not one of them. 

    • #49
  20. Roberto, [This space available for advertising] Inactive
    Roberto, [This space available for advertising]
    @Roberto

    Percival (View Comment):

    De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.

    Let us take this moment to honor his greatest accomplishment.

    “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think,” then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2013 upon Senate Democrats’ invoking the “nuclear option” to prevent Senate Republicans from filibustering all lower-court judicial nominations. And so it was: In 2017, facing fierce Democratic opposition on the nomination of then-Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, then-Majority Leader McConnell galvanized Republicans to extend Reid’s precedent to Supreme Court nominees. Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett all ended up benefiting by means of razor-thin confirmation margins on the Senate floor that would not have been possible with traditional filibuster rules in place.

    A legacy you can be proud of Mr. Reid.

    • #50
  21. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    Franco (View Comment):
    Not to pick on Jon – okay the anniversary of January 6th is approaching with nary a walk-back , so I’m giving myself a pass.

    Don’t hold your breath-glad I didn’t while waiting for a response, any response, to my requests for an explanation of the guidelines for promotion to Main Page, for both one of my posts and another most deserving post, both of which happened to touch the third rail of — quelle horreur! — explaining why January 6 was not, repeat not, an armed insurrection. We Southerners are taught, in the words of the credo of the superb journal, The New Criterion, to call things by their real name– the real name for conduct of that nature is, quite simply, rudeness. 

    Franco (View Comment):
    These expressions show me that Jon Gabriel doesn’t feel very strongly about corruption in our politics. But he sure cared about random people trespassing on our Capitol encouraged by FBI operatives!

    I also sense a  somewhat baffling lack of alarm on the part of some members to excuse or turn a blind eye to what I consider some of the most dangerous developments in American history – if having a President who does not know where he is half the time (half? more and more?) not dangerous then I guess we really are home-free — and these are not only those who refuse to face the reality of what January 6 really was but others generically referred to as NTers, devotees of The Lincoln Project, etc. 

    Skyler (View Comment):

    genferei (View Comment):

    The equanimity with which Americans accept a system where the likes of Harry Reid can amass wealth and power is staggering. Only by sustained and widespread condemnation can a start be made on cleansing these Augean stables.

     

    I’m stealing that line.

    I am too and I’ll go one step further- this is clearly one of the best, if not the best, comments I have ever had the pleasure of reading on Ricochet, or any other site. Thank you, @genferei.  

     

    • #51
  22. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Franco (View Comment):
    Not to pick on Jon – okay the anniversary of January 6th is approaching with nary a walk-back , so I’m giving myself a pass.

    Don’t hold your breath-glad I didn’t while waiting for a response, any response, to my requests for an explanation of the guidelines for promotion to Main Page, for both one of my posts and another most deserving post, both of which happened to touch the third rail of — quelle horreur! — explaining why January 6 was not, repeat not, an armed insurrection. We Southerners are taught, in the words of the credo of the superb journal, The New Criterion, to call things by their real name– the real name for conduct of that nature is, quite simply, rudeness.

    Franco (View Comment):
    These expressions show me that Jon Gabriel doesn’t feel very strongly about corruption in our politics. But he sure cared about random people trespassing on our Capitol encouraged by FBI operatives!

    I also sense a somewhat baffling lack of alarm on the part of some members to excuse or turn a blind eye to what I consider some of the most dangerous developments in American history – if having a President who does not know where he is half the time (half? more and more?) not dangerous then I guess we really are home-free — and these are not only those who refuse to face the reality of what January 6 really was but others generically referred to as NTers, devotees of The Lincoln Project, etc.

    Skyler (View Comment):

    genferei (View Comment):

    The equanimity with which Americans accept a system where the likes of Harry Reid can amass wealth and power is staggering. Only by sustained and widespread condemnation can a start be made on cleansing these Augean stables.

     

    I’m stealing that line.

    I am too and I’ll go one step further- this is clearly one of the best, if not the best, comments I have ever had the pleasure of reading on Ricochet, or any other site. Thank you, @ genferei.

     

    But all we get is “Rest in peace, Harry Reid.”

    • #52
  23. Jon Gabriel, Ed. Contributor
    Jon Gabriel, Ed.
    @jon

    Franco (View Comment):

    What is it with the graciousness and cordiality from our right- leaning (centrist?) pundits. Harry Reid’s friends and family aren’t reading Ricochet. No one’s dancing on his grave or throwing parties, but do we have to pretend it was some kind of loss and solemnly bow our heads?

    Because it was a breaking news item, not an opinion piece. I started writing it the second the news broke and before any major news sites posted a story. It was a bland transmission of facts, I knew the comments would provide the context.

    • #53
  24. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    He couldn’t take it with him. 

    • #54
  25. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    EHerring (View Comment):

    He couldn’t take it with him.

    He left a lot of corruption behind, and the resources to produce a lot more.

    • #55
  26. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    I actually do not want him in hell. I, hope he made peace with God.

    Reminds me of Shakespeare when Hamlet wants to kill Claudius. 

    HAMLET

    Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying.75And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven.And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned.A villain kills my father, and, for that,I, his sole son, do this same villain sendTo heaven.

    According to European folk Catholicism, you can exit a deal with the devil but people rarely do it because you have to give up what you got wrongly As Claudius himself notes while he prays.  

    CLAUDIUSMy fault is past. But oh, what form of prayerCan serve my turn, “Forgive me my foul murder”?That cannot be, since I am still possessedOf those effects for which I did the murder:My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.May one be pardoned and retain th’ offense?In the corrupted currents of this worldOffense’s gilded hand may shove by justice,And oft ’tis seen the wicked prize itselfBuys out the law. But ’tis not so above.There is no shuffling. There the action liesIn his true nature, and we ourselves compelled,Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, 

    With a pithy summation, pithy summation he arises after attempting redemption Claudius rise up and says,

    (rises) My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

    Perhaps this story doesn’t have enough grace for the Protestant view of Christianity. But with respect to the Catholics, the idea that you have to give up what you have gotten through corruption would certainly improve one’s soul. 

    • #56
  27. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I expect a well attended funeral. Many will want to make sure the son of a bitch is really dead.

    Yup; don’t be surprised if you see Mitt Romney holding a mirror under his nostrils…

    • #57
  28. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I expect a well attended funeral. Many will want to make sure the son of a bitch is really dead.

    Yup; don’t be surprised if you see Mitt Romney holding a mirror under his nostrils…

    Romney never met an enemy he didn’t kiss up to. 

    • #58
  29. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Skyler (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I expect a well attended funeral. Many will want to make sure the son of a bitch is really dead.

    Yup; don’t be surprised if you see Mitt Romney holding a mirror under his nostrils…

    Romney never met an enemy he didn’t kiss up to.

    Oh, except Trump.

    • #59
  30. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    I expect a well attended funeral. Many will want to make sure the son of a bitch is really dead.

    Yup; don’t be surprised if you see Mitt Romney holding a mirror under his nostrils…

    Romney never met an enemy he didn’t kiss up to.

    Oh, except Trump.

    Nah, he kissed up to Trump. He did some serious kissing-up. Romney called Trump a fraud all through the campaign, but when Trump won, Romney came groveling for a position. Wanted desperately to be Secretary of State, remember? He kept kissing-up until Trump finally named someone else. At which point Romney reverted to back-stabber mode.

    This is who Romney is. And it’s why good people hate his guts.

     

    • #60
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