Saturday, May 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DEL SOL HIGH SCHOOL APPEARANCE: Reid calls Bush 'a loser'

Comment draws sharp rebuke from GOP; senator admits afterward he crossed line, apologizes

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada talks to an American Studies class Friday at Del Sol High School. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

Sen. Harry Reid went to Del Sol High School on Friday to teach students "Checks and Balances 101."

But in the course of a discussion on filibusters and Senate rules, Washington's top Democrat ended up giving the 60 juniors a good lesson in partisan politics, particularly about the commander in chief.

"The man's father is a wonderful human being," Reid said in response to a question about President Bush's policies. "I think this guy is a loser.

"I think President Bush is doing a bad job," he added to a handful of chuckles.

The "loser" comment drew a quick response from the GOP.

Friday afternoon, Republican National Committee Communications Director Brian Jones issued a statement calling Reid's comments "a sad development but not surprising from the leader of a party devoid of optimism, ideas or solutions to the issues people care about most."

After the statement was released, Reid phoned the Review-Journal to acknowledge he thought he crossed the line.

"You know the president is in Europe, probably sleeping," Reid said in an interview. "But I called (Bush adviser Karl) Rove and apologized for what I said."

Reid's classroom comments came after he praised Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush as good leaders with whom he disagreed about policy, but generally liked.

The current president was cast in a different role.

"He's driving this country into bankruptcy," Reid said, referring to the deficit. "He's got us in this intractable war in Iraq where we now have about 1,600 American soldiers dead and another 15,000 injured."

Reid also disputed the planning for the war, saying soldiers lacked "proper equipment and body armor.

"I think he's a bad president," Reid added.

Rodney Lee, one of the two team teachers of the American Studies class, said he was pleased students got to see a politician in an open and frank discussion.

"It wasn't mealy-mouthed like we see with so many politicians," Lee said. "He didn't try to walk down the middle of the road."

Before Reid's address, students at the southeast Las Vegas school had been studying Senate rules, judicial nominees and the so-called nuclear option Republicans have vowed to use to prevent Democrats from filibustering Bush's nominees.

They also checked out Reid's bio.

"They knew he was a straight shooter from Nevada," Lee said.

Kyle Hurley, 17, said he learned a lot from Reid's statements.

"He's very influential, and he was really straight with his comments," Hurley said.

Hurley said he did not consider himself aligned with any political party, but that he probably "leans more to (Reid's) side" after hearing Reid discuss the 111 Bush nominees already approved by the Senate.

"They did support so many and only turned down 10," he said.

Reid took students through a primer of the five most-disputed judicial nominees, arguing some were opposed to the 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion. He charged others with trying to dismantle government programs like Social Security.

"I don't want them. I think they're bad people," Reid said of the nominees

He described California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, one of the Bush nominees Republicans will probably float first for approval, as an African-American opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus.

"She is a woman who wants to take us back to the Civil War days," Reid said.

Reid apparently felt pretty sure Friday of the Democrats' footing on the filibuster issue.

Although Democrats only have 45 members in the Senate, Reid said he feels confident Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., doesn't have the support needed to overturn the filibuster rules.

One student asked him what Democrats would do if Republicans invoke the "nuclear option," under which Republicans would change the rules with a simple majority vote so that a filibuster could be ended with 51 votes instead of 60.

"We won't shut down the government, but President Bush will rue the day he let this happen," Reid said.

A moment later he added: "President Bush will get nothing done that he wants."

Reid's statements came during a weeklong Senate recess and after negotiations between Reid and Frist on the judicial nominees. Those negotiations are at an impasse.

Reid's statements Friday were not unique for the senator, who in 2004 routinely criticized Bush and his policies while campaigning around the country for John Kerry. Reid has also drawn criticism for comments he has made in television interviews this year.

During a March 3 interview with Judy Woodruff on CNN's "Inside Politics," Reid denounced Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's policies and said he is "one of the biggest political hacks we have here in Washington."

Shortly after taking the reins as Senate minority leader, Reid drew criticism for comments he made in an interview with NBC's Tim Russert. He said he might vote to approve Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for chief justice if the nomination arose but that he considered Justice Clarence Thomas to be a bad judge.

The comments angered those who oppose Scalia's stance on abortion and upset Republicans who support Thomas.