• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

This really is a full service blog.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

A consequence of cucumbers

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

People are weird.

No Justins, No Peace

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Absent Friends / RIP / RIP, Harry Reid

RIP, Harry Reid

by John Cole|  December 28, 20218:51 pm| 65 Comments

This post is in: RIP

FacebookTweetEmail

Dead at 82:

Harry M. Reid, the Democrat who rose from childhood poverty in the rural Nevada desert to the heights of power in Washington, where he steered the Affordable Care Act to passage as Senate majority leader, died on Tuesday in Henderson, Nev. He was 82.

Mr. Reid had been treated for pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed in 2018, but lived to see the Las Vegas airport renamed for him earlier this month. His death was confirmed in statements from Gov. Steve Sisolak of Nevada and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader.

Even by the standards of the political profession, where against-the-odds biographies are common and modest roots an asset, what Mr. Reid overcame was extraordinary. He was raised in almost Dickensian circumstances in tiny Searchlight, Nev.: His home had no indoor plumbing, his father was an alcoholic miner who eventually committed suicide, and his mother helped the family survive by taking in laundry from local brothels.

RIP.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Punching Owls (Open Thread)
Next Post: For Entertainment Purposes Only: ‘The Political Life of Dr. Oz’ »

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    HeleninEire

    December 28, 2021 at 8:53 pm

    RIP. He had a life!!!

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    December 28, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    This is really hitting me hard.  Harry Reid was one of the good guys.

  3. 3.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    December 28, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    Harry Reid

    A man named Jack Gordon, who later married LaToya Jackson, tried to give Reid a $12,000 bribe. Reid let the FBI videotape Gordon offering him the bribe, and then, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal account, he “put his hands around Gordon’s neck and said, ‘You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me.’”

    is there another U.S. senator who has been part of the inspiration for a character in a Martin Scorsese film? (A character played by Dick Smothers, no less.) In Casino, Robert DeNiro’s character melts down in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission after the commission denies him a license to operate a casino.

    the son of an alcoholic gold miner who killed himself. His mother did laundry for, in Reid’s words, “houses of ill repute.” He once disguised himself as a homeless man and spent the night at a mission in Las Vegas. Quirkily, he never says good-bye, even to his children, when he hangs up the phone. He once filibustered the Republicans for nine hours, by himself, by reading from the history book he wrote about his hometown of Searchlight, Nev. (Even better, the reason for the filibuster was to prevent the GOP from protesting the delaying tactics being used by Democrats.) And just this past week in Time, Reid told Joe Klein that he got into a fistfight with his future father-in-law before he eloped with his wife.

    God bless Harry Reid for delivering 60 votes for ACA (photo)

  4. 4.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    December 28, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    Well, that’s just shitty. He was so soft spoken, and yet he could stick a knife into the gut of a Republican while looking into his face and smiling.

  5. 5.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    December 28, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    Through the years he has called President George W. Bush “a loser” and “a liar”, named then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan “a political hack” and gone after Sen. John McCain during the 2008 presidential race as someone too temperamental to be president.

    Reid attacked Romney for refusing to publicly release tax returns prior to 2010. Reid said, “His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son,” referring to George Romney’s decision to release 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in the late 1960s.

    Reid told the website that about a month earlier, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office and said, “Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years.”

    ***
    And later that day, Reid tripled down on the accusation, releasing a statement that said in part, “I was told by an extremely credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for 10 years.”

    Rest in peace, Harry.

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 28, 2021 at 8:56 pm

    A good life, well lived.

  7. 7.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    December 28, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    A man named Jack Gordon, who later married LaToya Jackson, tried to give Reid a $12,000 bribe. Reid let the FBI videotape Gordon offering him the bribe, and then, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal account, he “put his hands around Gordon’s neck and said, ‘You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me.’”

    is there another U.S. senator who has been part of the inspiration for a character in a Martin Scorsese film? (A character played by Dick Smothers, no less.) In Casino, Robert DeNiro’s character melts down in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission after the commission denies him a license to operate a casino.

    the son of an alcoholic gold miner who killed himself. His mother did laundry for, in Reid’s words, “houses of ill repute.” He once disguised himself as a homeless man and spent the night at a mission in Las Vegas. Quirkily, he never says good-bye, even to his children, when he hangs up the phone. He once filibustered the Republicans for nine hours, by himself, by reading from the history book he wrote about his hometown of Searchlight, Nev. (Even better, the reason for the filibuster was to prevent the GOP from protesting the delaying tactics being used by Democrats.) And… got into a fistfight with his future father-in-law before he eloped with his wife.

    God bless Harry Reid for delivering 60 votes for ACA (photo)

  8. 8.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    This saddens me very much. Harry Reid was definitely one of the good guys. Our country is a little bit diminished because he’s no longer here — but it is better because he was.

    RIP, Mr Leader.

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    December 28, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Damn.

    A hell of a life, that’s for sure.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    December 28, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    He punched above his weight, that’s for sure. RIP.

  11. 11.

    Suzanne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:06 pm

    Man. Harry. What an icon.

    Lots of good ones have left us this week.

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    December 28, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    He made an important difference to America, and was his own person.

    Thank you Harry. RIP.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    In just the past three days, we’ve lost:

     

    Harry Reid

    John Madden

    Sarah Weddington

    E. O. Wilson

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu

     

    That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m forgetting other equally distinguished names. Tough final week of 2021.

  14. 14.

    Sure Lurkalot

    December 28, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    I didn’t know about his humblest of beginnings. I liked his soft spoken chutzpah and I’m listening to MSNBC to learn all the things I never knew. Sad day.

  15. 15.

    Miss Bianca

    December 28, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    Ugh, why does it always seem like we lose a string of the good guys to every one of the bad ones? Why *do* “the wicked flourish like the green bay tree,” huh?

    RIP, Harry.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I’ll bet it’s also hitting President Biden hard. I feel certain they were good friends as well as Senate colleagues.

  17. 17.

    dr. bloor

    December 28, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    The political world changed a bit faster than he was able to realize toward the end, IMHO, but one of the good guys and underrated as a force for positive change.

  18. 18.

    raven

    December 28, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    nah

  19. 19.

    Suzanne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Wayne Thiebaud and Joan Didion.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    December 28, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    Ugh, why does it always seem like we lose a string of the good guys to every one of the bad ones? Why *do* “the wicked flourish like the green bay tree,” huh?

    I think we lose more good people than bad ones because your second statement is wrong.  There are more good people than bad ones.  It’s just that one bad person can destroy the work of many good ones, so we need many good people for every bad one to keep moving forward.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Yes, of course! Thank you.

    (Week’s even tougher than I thought it was.)

  22. 22.

    Suzanne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I am comforted by the fact that they were all old and all of them improved the world with their presence for many years.

  23. 23.

    dr. luba

    December 28, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    Reid is dead and Trump lives.  Proof there is no loving god.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    December 28, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yes.  Absolutely.  Harry Reid was a helluva colleague and a helluva man.  You did us all proud, Harry.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 28, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    a wily old cuss, we could use more of those

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I agree with you, of course. It’s only … there are so many in such a short time.

  27. 27.

    The Dangerman

    December 28, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    RIP Harry and Coach Madden. Next time I’m in Harry’s (Pismo Beach, where he met his wife), I’ll do something appropriate.

  28. 28.

    prostratedragon

    December 28, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    bell hooks a couple of weeks ago at most.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 28, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    Reid once called the Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan a “political hack,” Justice Clarence Thomas “an embarrassment” and President George W. Bush a “loser” (for which he later apologized) and a “liar” (for which he did not). In 2016, he dismissed Trump as “a big fat guy” who “didn’t win many fights.” Reid himself was more than ready to fight, and fight dirty: “I was always willing to do things that others were not willing to do,” he told me.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 28, 2021 at 9:36 pm

    I think it’s been about a year since I read Obama’s memoir, but I remember being struck by the role Reid played in his decision to run for President, and then securing the Dem nomination. This seems to confirm that recollection

    Barack Obama @BarackObama

    When Harry Reid was nearing the end, his wife Landra asked some of us to share letters that she could read to him. In lieu of a statement, here’s what I wrote to my friend:

  31. 31.

    stinger

    December 28, 2021 at 9:39 pm

    @dr. luba: Also, Dick Cheney’s still breathing.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    A beautiful, human, funny, and comforting letter from the most gracious and classy man ever to occupy the Oval Office. Thank you.

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    December 28, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    @stinger:

    Also, Dick Cheney’s still breathing. 

    As is fellow war criminal and thief, George Warcriminal Bush.

  34. 34.

    Dan B

    December 28, 2021 at 9:46 pm

    Here’s hoping all the bad ends up in 2021.  I’m looking at a photo of Pramila Jayapal who would probably enjoyed Harry Reid.  When Pramila is mincing, or parsing, her words she’s taking someone down a notch and when, like Harry, she speaks the simple truth, she’s already completed the task.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    @stinger:

    Actually, at this point, I don’t care if he hangs on a while longer. Liz doesn’t need any personal distractions right now.

  36. 36.

    Viva BrisVegas

    December 28, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    @stinger: Not to mention Kissinger.

    Sorry for mentioning Kissinger.

  37. 37.

    Raoul Paste

    December 28, 2021 at 9:53 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: what do you write to a person who knows his days are numbered?
    I felt like an insider reading Obama’s note to Harry Reid.  It just doesn’t get more personal

  38. 38.

    debbie

    December 28, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    Fitting for a boxer. RIP.

  39. 39.

    Alice

    December 28, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    I met Senator Reid a number of times – Nevada is a small state – and he was unfailing kind. But he took no prisoners and if he said something was going to get done, it did. An old school politician in the best way. We will miss him here.

  40. 40.

    NobodySpecial

    December 28, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    I’m so old I remember when everyone thought Harry Reid was a Blue Dog.

    Rest in Peace, good sir. It was an honor to shake your hand.

  41. 41.

    stinger

    December 28, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Maybe, for the good of the 1/6 investigation, I will grudgingly grant you that.

     

    @Viva BrisVegas: As well you should be!

  42. 42.

    Miss Bianca

    December 28, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Damn. From one class act to another.

  43. 43.

    stinger

    December 28, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Yep. The list is long.

  44. 44.

    Mai Naem mobile

    December 28, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    This one really saddens me. Harry Reid just came across as a good principled person who gave a crap about regular people.  Reid did incredibly well given the crappy hand he was given as majority and minority leader. Also an incredible tactician turning Nevada into at least a light blue state.

  45. 45.

    mali muso

    December 28, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    I was just thinking about him the other day and wondering how he would be handling the current senate situation if he were still in charge. He was such a fighter. A life well lived.

  46. 46.

    persistentillusion

    December 28, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    @stinger: Dick Cheney still drawing breathe with the aid of his non-human (really) heart? For shame!

  47. 47.

    Yutsano

    December 28, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:  I was scared because Nichelle Nichols was trending on Twitter. Fortunately it’s her 89th birthday. It’s so unfortunate that she’s suffering from dementia now. She touched so many lives just by being graceful.

  48. 48.

    kindness

    December 28, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    I remember all the times Harry would be polite and let Republicans appear to walk all over him and then he’d come back with a zinger that would turn the whole conversation around. Liberal web sites would castigate him in the morning and praise him in the afternoon.

  49. 49.

    feebog

    December 28, 2021 at 10:21 pm

    A loss for the country. Harry Reid was a brilliant political tactician and a take no prisoners Democrat. RIP Harry.

  50. 50.

    danielx

    December 28, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @Viva BrisVegas:

    Sorry for mentioning Kissinger.

    As you should be – name him three times and he appears in a cloud of smoke and odor of brimstone.

    And we certainly do not want that.

  51. 51.

    L85NJGT

    December 28, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    He pushed through the repeal of DADT because it was the right thing to do.

    Godspeed.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 28, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Yup. I noticed that too, today, and in recent days Betty White — but those were simply anticipating her 100th birthday in January.

  53. 53.

    James E Powell

    December 28, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    Election night, 2004. I had been working as a volunteer for Kerry in Las Vegas for the last week of the campaign. All afternoon people had been honking horns & telling us that Kerry won Ohio (remember Zogby?) so we were all in a grand good mood. Another guy & I returned the rented vans and drove to the Rio where the Reid’s big campaign party was. I lost my way walking through the casino and came upon one of those movable walls they use in such places. I saw a door, opened it, walked through & found myself right in the middle of Senator Reid’s entourage. Didn’t seem to be anyone who was security, just a bunch of suits. Right as I walked in, an aide told the senator that Kerry was about to give his concession speech. That was the first I knew for sure that Kerry lost. Senator Reid was about to go up on stage, he started shaking everybody’s hand and shook mine. I said “good luck senator” and he said “thank you” and that’s my Harry Reid story.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    December 28, 2021 at 11:17 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    The good ones you know, because they are good.

    The good ones leave a far better mark on the world, because they are good.

    The good ones give more than they take, because they are good.

    The good ones are not a waste of protoplasm, because they are good.

    The good ones are not trying to screw everyone else, because they are good.

    You miss the good ones, because they are good

    The years always end with a list of the good ones no longer with us as a reminder that we are all here temporarily and that at least attempting to be good is worth more than one can imagine.

  55. 55.

    Fake Irishman

    December 28, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    He was quirky and amazing. a young man with courage and anger facing a nearly impossible childhood situation found love, God, boxing and politics and managed to put it all together into something truly spectacular.

    Also, interesting to see how his politics evolved over time, in part out of pragmatism: look at how he approached LGBT issues and immigration. Perhaps he wasn’t always the biggest idealist, but he never let racism or homophobia blind him to potential political alliances, and I suspect he learned a lot about life through merely recognizing many of his constituents and being open to their needs. He went from being anti-immigrant to handpicking a Hispanic woman to replace him.

    And like Pelosi is, he was a master of politics. He knew where his caucus was, took care of its needs and made the hard trades to maximize its leverage (fighting no the urge to dump on Lieberman after 2008 and giving up things to keep him onside during the ACA debate was a decision that was and is distasteful, but has been shown by history to be the right one.) His work on the ACA, which he took a lot of crap for at the time, was extraordinary. And he shepherded through the legislative end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the last hours of the Large Dem majorities in 2010, which prevented a lot of mischief starting 6 years later.

  56. 56.

    Fake Irishman

    December 28, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    @L85NJGT:

    and it’s amazing how uncontroversial the repeal is now. There’s a bill that has gotten out of committee in the senate that would make the repeal retroactive and restore benefits to those the policy harmed. That bill is cosponsored by Joni Ernst, of all people.

  57. 57.

    Fake Irishman

    December 28, 2021 at 11:38 pm

    @kindness:

    He patiently waited and worked for to get the votes. Then he ran right over you. Mitch McConnell still has several very attractive sets of tire tracks on his back from this very reason.

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    December 28, 2021 at 11:38 pm

    Short thread.

    Today, America lost a titan of public service. Senator Harry Reid was a leader of immense courage and ferocious conviction who worked tirelessly to achieve historic progress for the American people.

    — Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 29, 2021

    Well said.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    Kelly

    December 28, 2021 at 11:48 pm

    @Miss Bianca: why does it always seem like we lose a string of the good guys to every one of the bad ones?

    There are more good guys than bad ones.

  60. 60.

    Geeno

    December 29, 2021 at 12:04 am

    This saddens me. Reid was one of the “Good Guys”. His position in the Senate often required that he not lead the attack, but he always had a shiv in his pocket for enemy passers by.

  61. 61.

    Anyway

    December 29, 2021 at 1:52 am

    Deleted

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    December 29, 2021 at 3:47 am

    Harry Reid was a good, good guy. And a decent one.

    We are lucky to have had him as Senate Majority Leader.  Rest well.

  63. 63.

    Mike in NC

    December 29, 2021 at 10:34 am

    Yes, he was a very good guy. RIP.

  64. 64.

    Ramalama

    December 29, 2021 at 12:36 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Can we add Phil Saviano to the list

  65. 65.

    Ramalama

    December 29, 2021 at 12:42 pm

    Jamison Foser on Twitter:

    When we launched Media Matters, Harry Reid was way ahead of the curve among prominent elected Democrats in understanding the need to hold the media accountable from the left, and was supportive at a time when we were getting a lot of funny looks.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Martin on Cold, Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: #DonSnoreleone (Apr 16, 2024 @ 4:58am)
  • Baud on Cold, Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: #DonSnoreleone (Apr 16, 2024 @ 4:55am)
  • lgerard on Cold, Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: #DonSnoreleone (Apr 16, 2024 @ 4:55am)
  • Jesse on War for Ukraine Day 782: If the Opposite of Pro Is Con, Then the Opposite of Progress is a GOP Majority in Congress (Apr 16, 2024 @ 4:54am)
  • Princess on Cold, Cruel Grey Dawn Open Thread: #DonSnoreleone (Apr 16, 2024 @ 4:53am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!