RNC Ad blasts Obama-Reid, Obama mocks Angle
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/07/09/art.obama.reid.0708y.gi.jpg caption ="President Obama campaigned in Nevada for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday."](CNN) - Hours after President Barack Obama teamed up with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas and criticized Reid's GOP challenger, the Republican National Committee is putting out a new ad that slams the two men.
"It took thousands of men to build Hoover Dam and modern Nevada. But it only took two men to help tear down its economy," says the narrator in the commercial, which begins running Friday on cable television in Las Vegas, according to an RNC official.
Nevada currently has the highest state unemployment rate in the nation at 14 percent. The state's unemployment rate stood at 9.6 percent when Obama took over in the White House at beginning of last year.
Thursday night Obama headlined two campaign events for the top Democrat in the Senate, who polls suggest faces a difficult re-election this year as he bids for a fifth term in office. A Reid campaign spokesman says two events at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas were expected to raise $800,000, according to a pool report.
The president called Reid "a man of principle. He is a straight shooter. He is a man of his word," as he urged the estimated crowd of around 3,000 to send Nevada's embattled senior senator back to Washington.
Obama mocked Reid in jest, saying Reid is soft spoken.
"Harry is always in a tough race. He's just not a flashy guy. You'd think that since we're in Vegas, somebody could give him some tips," said Obama.
But the president said Reid is a fight who knows how to win.
"Anybody who knows Harry knows he is made of strong stuff. This is one tough guy," said the president. "He does not give up, he does not give in, he keeps on fighting and he outlasts them."
The RNC ad has a different message, blaming Obama and Reid for Nevada's extremely difficult economic times.
"Barack Obama and Harry Reid. They've dealt bailouts, handouts, and takeovers, giving us a $1.5 trillion deficit, a $13 trillion national debt, 14 percent unemployment for Nevada. When it comes to Nevada's economy, Obama and Reid are a bust," ads the narrator in the commercial.
At the campaign event, Obama mocked Sharron Angle, Reid's Republican opponent. He said Angle wants to phase out Medicare and Social Security, end education funding, and called the compensation fund for BP "a slush fund," a statement Obama said Angle's campaign later said was a kind of mistake.
Angle made the comments Wednesday in an interview on a radio program. Thursday Angle walked back the comments a bit, saying she shouldn't have used the term "slush fund" and saying she supported the BP escrow fund.
"I'm sure she meant slush fund the nicest possible way," the president joked, to much applause from the audience, some of whom yelled that Angle was a "lunatic" and an "idiot," according to a pool report.
"Basically, you have President Obama and Senator Reid together in a giant glass house raising money to throw rocks at Sharron Angle during a time when 192,000 Nevadans are unemployed," said Angle spokesman Jerry Stacy, prior to Thursday night's event.
"Harry Reid knows he can't win by running on his own dismal record, so he is attacking Sharron Angle in an attempt to distract voters from who he is. He's not getting away with it that easily - Nevadans are tired of Harry Reid's rubber-stamping higher taxes and irresponsible spending policies in Washington, and it's time for him to go," added Stacy.
Angle beat 12 other candidates in the June 8 GOP primary to capture her party's Senate nomination. Angle, a former Nevada state lawmaker, enjoys strong support from many in the Tea Party movement.
Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn
With Obama's "help", Reid has to go. He is a blight on Nevada and the country with his only interests being himself, keeping his job and a socialist agenda. It's just a pity that Angle is such a right-wing kook. Tough choice.
The Repubs are liars and thieves. The 99 (Chris Mathews term) tune those clowns, crooks and drunks out.
Obama and Reid destroyed our economy?
Nice stretching of the truth, RNC.
You got the wrong pair.
Can't wait to watch Reid lose and liberals fume. Call her a nutjob and maybe she is, but the polls don't lie. Reid better start packing.
The current Republican party has become completely irrational and so out of touch with reality it's turned so many people off. The Bush administration started the financial avalanche and now Republicans want to blame the Obama Administration for the downfall. If Obama weren't in office to minimize the disaster caused by the previous administration the global economy, as well as the U.S. economy, would be in much, much worse shape that it currently is . The Republicans know this but will never admit to it. They need to stop criticizing (and erroneously placing blame) and come up with realistice solutions - and, yes, sometimes that means being bi-partisan. GOP, pull your head out of the sand... the quicker the better!
Ahhh, the great uniter. Bringing the people together again at one of what must be more than two dozen campaign stumps now (Never seen Bush stump this much for people while POTUS even in 8 yrs).
It's a slush fund when the administration seeks to use it for political leverage. A presidential appointee may claim impartiality; allegiance is in the loyalty.
Keep an eye on who gets the funds. We know this administration has a forked tongue by the way it twist the meanings of words.
I must say she does provide a big target. Her positions on the issues are hard to support. While Harry is no gem he is not that bad either.
Reid is the poster child for dysfunctional government, a real lifer with no other skills than to pander for power. He would sell his mother if he thought it would raise campaign funds. If Nevada sends him to Washington again, they deserve no less than the ongoing economic misery they are in. US bankruptcy is an 'Obama'nation...
My the Republican party has a short memory:
"They've dealt bailouts, handouts, and takeovers, giving us a $1.5 trillion deficit, a $13 trillion national debt, 14 percent unemployment for Nevada"
All this happened under Bush. They're always attacking Democrats for their own short comings.
With Obama's "help", Reid has to go. He is a blight on Nevada and the country with his only interests being himself, keeping his job, and a socialist agenda. It's just a pity that Angle is such a right-wing kook. Tough choice.
Reid and Obama tore down the economy?? Do Republicans actually think that they can re-write history?? The economy began to tank in the summer of 2008. George W. Bush was very much the president at that time.
I don't know why the Republicans are whining about job loss in Nevada.
After all, their candidate Angle said "Senators are not in the business
of creating jobs" – she also called unemployed people "spoiled"
because they would rather draw unemployment than take the jobs
that are available.
So, either there are jobs who people won't take, OR
Senator Reid is not responsible for high unemployment because
that is not his job, OR she just lives in the land of the Tea Party,
sitting under a tree, sipping lala juice.
I lived in Las Vegas when the economy collapsed. And if it was caused by two men, those men were Bush and Cheney. It was under bush that the layoffs started. And it was under him that unemployment soared. this woman is an idiot. It's not that easy to rewrite history.
Living in Nevda, I say people here need to take responsibility. We are one of the worst in the nation for economic recovery. I don't believe the feds have the largest fault in that. It is the Nevada GOP. We don't elect people with brains in their heads, just worms in their pants. Look at Gibbons and Ensign. If they spent more time representing the interests of their state than their libido, we'd all be better off. As far as the right wing conservative Nevadans, they are the Al Quaida of the west. Narrow minded, judgmental and unable to take responsibility for their own actions. This state is a mess, and it is not all Harry Reid's fault. And if this idiot Sharron Angle makes it into office, we may as well throw in the towel. The woman is mentally ill in my opinion.
A man is judged by his manners..... and mocking is the ploy of one who has no manners.
Dear Mr President – campaigning for Democrats for the Midterm is not going to help them when the president is a sitting duck about the BP Oil Spill.
For you to help Democrats this midterm, get nitty gritty, go to Louisiana, set up a temporary war room for yourself and your cabinet, and show Americans that right now fixing the oil spill is priority.
This will boost your numbers and will boost the Democrats' numbers.
We liked you because you said you're going to work with the two parties, and stop politics-as-usual in Washington. I thought you were going to change things. But this tastes like the familiar politics-as-usual. You're not the Congress' puppy. You're your own office. Please stick to your campaign promise and demeanor
Sincerely,
Archie – Democrat from Maryland
Obama once more takes a quote out of context. Welcome to 1984.
The one that is the really bad joke uses a teleprompter.........