Reid ad hits Angle for ‘spoiled’ comment

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's new TV ad slams his GOP opponent Sharron Angle for saying people getting jobless benefits are "spoiled."

Angle has since apologized for the comment, but in a state with the highest rate of unemployment in the nation her remarks are sure to haunt her through November.

But it's also a reminder that Reid and the Democrats' stimulus spending hasn't stopped joblessness from rising in Nevada to a record 14.3 percent. Reid says things would be worse if not for him, but Angle says the Senate leader has failed Nevadans.

In the ad, a Las Vegas woman identified as Debra Harding says she's been out of work for 12 months.

"I’m not spoiled, and I don’t want to be dependent on anybody," Harding says. "If Sharron Angle doesn’t get that, she should be out of work, not people like me."

The 30-second spot doesn't say what Harding did for a living or explain why she lost her job.

In May, Angle suggested jobless benefits could keep people from accepting low-wage work.

"We really have spoiled our citizenry," she said on KRNV.

Later, the ad notes Angle said she would not have voted to extend jobless benefits as the issue prompted heated debate in Congress this summer. The ad doesn't note that Angle and other Republicans said the government should have found a way to pay for the benefits instead of increasing the nation's debt. Democrats, who won the debate, argued such benefits have always been treated as emergency spending.

"No, I wouldn’t have voted for unemployment extensions," Angle said in a July interview with the editorial board of the Las Vegas Review-Journal shown in the ad.

Not included in the clip is her apology and explanation of why.