Kirsten Gillibrand the 'hottest' senator? What is Harry Reid thinking?
| Washington
What鈥檚 up with Harry Reid? The Senate majority leader lately has been saying stuff about other Democrats that he means as compliments but come across as kind of, well, off. Cringe-inducing, in a mild sort of way.
In the latest such gaffelette, Senator Reid, speaking in New York City at a fundraiser hosted by Mayor Bloomberg, referred to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) of New York as 鈥渢he hottest member鈥� of the Senate. Senator Gillibrand, who was there, turned red at this remark, according to , which broke the story.
To be fair, Gillibrand in the past has made the 鈥淢ost Beautiful鈥� list of The Hill, a Congress-oriented newspaper. And Reid did go on to discuss Gillibrand鈥檚 depth of knowledge about securities law.
(Hmm. Fundraiser. New York. Brings up securities. Maybe some of the people there were ... Wall Street bankers?)
This comment follows last week鈥檚 鈥減et鈥� remark. If you didn鈥檛 hear about that one, last Wednesday Reid referred to the Democratic candidate for Delaware鈥檚 open Senate seat, Chris Coons, as 鈥�my pet鈥� and 鈥渕y favorite candidate鈥� 鈥� something GOP candidate Christine O鈥橠onnell could use against him in the fall.
Mr. Coons quickly issued a statement vowing to be no one鈥檚 pet if he wins in November.
Why is Reid talking like this? Perhaps he also dabbled in witchcraft once (or Harry Potter, at least), and that 鈥溾�� charm is finally kicking in.
Just kidding.
Reid has always been known as a bit of a loose cannon on Capitol Hill. In January, he was involved in another controversy, when a book about the 2008 presidential campaign quoted him as saying that the US was ready to embrace Barack Obama because he was 鈥�light-skinned鈥� and had 鈥渘o Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.鈥�
Others might just say he is blunt, or plain-spoken, or someone who worked his way up from poverty.
Whatever the reason, the comments aren鈥檛 coming at a good time. In his bid for reelection this fall Reid remains locked in a dead heat with GOP candidate Sharron Angle, who鈥檚 backed by many "tea party" organizations. Their battle has featured some of the aired anywhere in the country in this election cycle.
Reid鈥檚 newest ad criticizes Ms. Angle for comments which seemed to suggest that the Department of Veterans Affairs should be privatized.
Meanwhile, the independent GOP political organization 鈥�American Crossroads,鈥� backed by former Bush operative Karl Rove, has aired a new ad tying Reid to the soft economy. It says he has 鈥渇ailed鈥� to do enough to help a state where the unemployment rate is more than 14 percent
鈥淗arry Reid 鈥� extremely out of touch with Nevada,鈥� the ad concludes.
