Watching Harry Reid and Sharron Angle debate for an hour, what became most
clear is that as Reid ticked off the things he has done for Nevadans,
Angle responded that senators should not be doing things for the folks back home.
While Reid fought for thousands of jobs at City Center and Harrah’s and a
long list of other projects, Angle says it is not the job of the senator
to fight for jobs. This is incredible.
Think about it. If Sharron Angle had been senator instead of Reid,
many tens of thousands of workers who have jobs in the projects Harry
Reid successfully fought for would be added to the jobless lines today.
In Angle’s world, if you are jobless, there is something wrong with you.
If you are in small business and cannot get a loan from banks, tough
luck — it is not the job of a senator to help small businesses get loans.
If are a veteran, it is not the job of a senator to help a major vets
center get built in Nevada, as Reid did. Tough luck, Angle says, go to California
to get your care.
While Reid fights to protect consumers from abuses by insurers,
Angle believes that it is not the job of a senator to protect
consumers from insurance-company abuses. While Reid champions fair
treatment of women, for example through his fight to make certain that
mammograms are covered by insurance, Angle says no, women should trust the
insurers to protect them.
No wonder that the Republican leader in the Nevada state Senate endorses
Harry Reid, along with a list of prominent Republicans including
former first ladies to Nevada Republican governors.
While Harry Reid fights to protect homeowners from abuses in foreclosure
actions, Angle says no, trust the banks, they will protect
the homeowners. While Reid battles for a foreclosure freeze, Angle
battles for more power to banks to foreclose on more
homeowners, because in Angle’s world, the banks are to be trusted,
and it is not the job of a senator to protect Nevada homeowners.
While Harry Reid successfully fights to keep Yucca Mountain from making
Nevada the dumping ground for the poisons of nuclear waste, Angle
says no, it is not the job of the senator to protect Nevadans even from their
communities becoming a nuclear-waste dump.
If Angle had been senator, the jobs Reid won would not have been created.
The women Reid protected would not be protected in insurance. Consumers
Reid fought for would face even higher insurance premiums. Young people
Reid battled for would have fewer student loans at a far higher cost.
Yucca Mountain would be on the way to making Nevada the great nuclear-waste
dump of the nation. Veterans Reid fought for would have to go to
California to get care.
What we heard in the debate was that on issue after issue where Harry Reid
said how he believed it is the job of a senator to fight for jobs and for
people, Sharron Angle said it is not the role of the senator to fight for
jobs, and she does not believe it is the job of the senator to protect
the people from the abuses of insurers, banks or polluters.
The Nevada Senate debate was the first time in my memory that a senator
was attacked for fighting so many uphill battles to help his people
back home. Sharron Angle would not have fought those battles, because in
her world, if you are hurting, tough luck — it is not the job of your
senator to fight for you.