That private Washington fundraiser for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes with Harry Reid, last Thursday, is making all kinds of headlines – none of them good.
The Politico reported that Grimes didn’t mention coal in her speech, after promising voters in Kentucky that she would use the event to demand that the Senate invest in clean coal technology.
Alison Lundergan Grimes’ campaign insisted last week that she’d use a high-dollar fundraiser with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a forum to promote Kentucky’s coal industry and demand action to protect the use of fossil fuel.
That didn’t happen, according to an audio recording of the 45-minute affair obtained by POLITICO through a source at the event.
Instead, when the Kentucky Democrat spoke at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill last Thursday, she stuck to a partisan script, railing against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s record on jobs, the minimum wage and women’s issues.
The one word she didn’t say during her 11-minute speech: “coal.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid earned his nickname “Dingy Harry” by trash-talking Republicans, but not so much – as Senator Rand Paul described it – as a former boxer engaging in political fisticuffs. No, that’s being too charitable. To me, Reid sounds more like a 15 year old mean-girl sneering at rivals from another clique.
He bluntly called the GOP Senate candidate in Colorado — Cory Gardner — a “real loser.” Michigan Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land “fell on her face” in recent weeks, Reid said. And he said that “everyone is pulling for” tea party favorite Chris McDaniel to win his runoff fight against GOP Sen. Thad Cochran in Mississippi, a scenario that the Democratic leader believes would make the general election even more competitive for his party.
Terri Lynn Land, Rep. Gardner and Chris McDaniel will have the last laugh on election day, I suspect.
And Gardner’s in good company, by the way. Dingy famously called President Bush “a loser” in May of 2005.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Harry M. Reid of Nevada, called President Bush a “loser” yesterday just about the time Air Force One was touching down on foreign soil.
He had made that disgraceful remark not at a political event, but during an appearance before about 60 High School juniors in Nevada. (For a near-complete list of Harry Reid’s episodic verbal diarrhea, click here.)
Gardner’s candidacy has apparently unnerved Reid, because that Senate seat was not supposed to be competitive and thus is a direct threat to his job as the highest-ranking Democrat in Congress.
Via the Colorado Observer:
“Sen. Reid is engaging in a little political fisticuffs and as a former boxer he’s throwing a punch,” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said, alluding to Reid’s history as an amateur boxer in Nevada. “Colorado was never on the political map and desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Added Rep. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican Senate candidate: “You can expect Sen. Reid to sink too low.”
Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, also defended Gardner. “Where is that coming from? You could say that about some of the people here, but Cory Gardner? There are few people as thoughtful, capable, and energetic.”
Colorado Republican Rep. Scott Tipton too defended Gardner and criticized Reid’s efforts to thwart Republican legislation. “There’s going to be one winner in November, and it’s going to be Cory Gardner,” Tipton said.
In contrast to the effusiveness of Republican lawmakers, Colorado’s two Democratic senators were tight lipped about Reid’s remark. “I’ve never heard Sen. Reid say anything about congressman Gardner,” Sen. Michael Bennet told TCO. “I didn’t hear about it,” Udall said in an interview.
Added Rep. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican Senate candidate: “You can expect Sen. Reid to sink too low.”
Here’s “real loser” Cory Gardner grilling HHS Sec. Sebelius, last October in one of my all-time favorite House moments:
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