Op-Ed: Harry Reid - stimulus check stamper

The Democratic Party is starting to receive real scrutiny from a growing number of Americans. These folks have a stacked deck in Congress and a big spending President.

Obama produced his own economic shock and awe by introducing the largest spending bill in the history of the world that explodes deficits as far as the mind’s eye can see. But whose rubber stamps are those on the backside of Obama’s blank checks? One of the more shadowy figures behind the Democratic Party’s frenzied government and banker's bail-out is Senator Harry Reid. Reid was born in 1939 and grew up in the small town of Searchlight, Nevada, a tiny desert town that according to 2000 Census figures was 95 percent white with an average annual household income of $24,407. In 2007, the population of the entire state of Nevada was just over 2,500,000. Recently, Harry Reid signed for phase one of Barack Obama’s wild spending spree, a 3.5 trillion dollar bill laden with pork that some say threatens the future of an entire generation of young Americans. While many Americans might believe Harry Reid wandered through Nevada deserts without a hat for too long, or was kicked in the head by a wild horse, others accept this small town Mormon and his mega-spending of tax dollars as though he were actually an economist. Of course, in reality, Reid was a lawyer before he entered politics. Senator Reid has also voiced his favor of the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. He views the current US mission creep that will expand US troop levels in Afghanistan from 38,000 to 64,000 by next year as sound strategic policy. Despite Reid’s eagerness to fund another war, many Americans are concerned by President Obama’s failure to secure meaningful troop deployments from Europe and other countries. Still more believe that Europe and other nations must learn to defend against terrorists instead of being dependent on Americans to sacrifice in unequal proportions. Harry Reid never served in our military; however on April 19, 2007 he declared the war in Iraq “Lost” and the surge “unsuccessful.” Many believe his public statements made at a press conference for the world to hear demoralized our military and gave aid and comfort to our enemies. Many Americans feel that Reid was irresponsible because the surge had not yet taken place when he spoke and ultimately proved to be highly successful. During April of 2007, Harry Reid was busy lobbying against US efforts in Iraq. He proposed cutting off all funding for our combat troops in Iraq. This occurred just prior to Reid throwing in the towel and claiming the US had already lost the war. In Afghanistan, a lawless Middle Eastern country whose extremists and militants have been tested by many other countries, Reid sees US occupation as a brilliant war strategy. Meanwhile, more than one hundred forty thousand troops remain in Iraq. Between now and 2010, the US will have ample time to decide whether the Democratic Party has earned the right to govern unchallenged by Republican or Independent voices. As for Harry Reid, a growing number of Americans feel that he has “already lost” the war for his credibility. Like outdated wallpaper, eventually Harry Reid will need to be painted over or peeled off by voters. However, in 2010 this can only be accomplished by a shift in the balance of power in Congress because Reid has nearly four more years to rubber-stamp the back of those “stimulus” checks.