Reid criticizes McCain in convention speech

DENVER -- Nevada's senior senator is one of the most powerful people in his party and one of the most powerful people in the United States.

Yet Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did not bring the Democratic National Convention to its feet with his Wednesday night speech, given less than an hour before the convention speech by President Clinton.

A hum of conversation continued on the floor as Reid, in his thin, high voice, spoke of the need for energy independence to ensure national security, bashed Republican candidate John McCain and President Bush, and praised his party's nominee, Barack Obama.

Just another moment in the political spotlight for Reid, who combines a mild personality with a relentless attack-dog mentality.

Rarely does he speak these days without mentioning that he believes McCain "doesn't have the temperament to be president." Recently he went further, telling the Review-Journal that he "can't stand John McCain," a comment that lit up right-wing radio but which he does not apologize for or retreat from.

In Wednesday night's speech, Reid conjured an image of McCain as a "snake oil" salesman, a pun on his theme of ending dependence on foreign oil.

Like the quack medicine men of old, Reid said, McCain peddles a solution -- offshore drilling -- that won't work and has the potential to hurt tourism and the environment.

It might or might not have those negative consequences, Reid said. "Nobody really knows. But kindly old Doc McCain would like to sell it to you anyway."

The speech reflected Reid's current obsession with the energy solutions proposed by former Texas oilman and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens, once a top enemy of Democrats for his funding of the "Swift Boating" of 2004 nominee John Kerry.

Reid brought Pickens to speak at the Nevada delegation's breakfast Wednesday morning, where Pickens touted his proposal to run cars on natural gas instead of petroleum. He also advocated investing in wind and other renewable energy to provide the electricity currently generated by natural gas.

In his speech, Reid referenced his new friend, saying, "T. Boone Pickens said it right: 'We can't drill our way out of this crisis.' "

Reid's remarks also were heavy on criticism of Bush as he charged that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney follow the orders of Big Oil.

"For the past eight years, the man in the Oval Office has tipped his hat over his eyes, kicked back his chair and snoozed at his desk," Reid said. "Charged with protecting our national interests, he slept on duty while his vice president conspired with oil industry cronies. ... Faced with a new kind of war, this president and his vice president helped their friends the old-fashioned way: through war profiteering, tax cuts for billionaires and in many cases, out-and-out corruption."

A Republican National Committee spokesman hit back at Reid.

"Harry Reid and Barack Obama embrace an energy plan grounded in failed Carter-era policies that rely on higher taxes and inflated tires," Bill Riggs said in a statement.

In fact, Reid praised President Carter in his speech, saying he did not deserve the ridicule he got for calling the energy crisis "the moral equivalent of war."

In an interview, Reid said he does not believe he has been unduly negative or partisan in his criticism of Bush and McCain.

"I feel I would not be doing my duty as a citizen of the United States if I did not warn the people in Nevada and around the country who this man (McCain) is and how he is trying to mislead the American people as to who he is," Reid said. "This is a guy that's a clone of George Bush. He votes with him 95 percent of the time. ...This is not somebody that the American people want. Another four years of Bush? I don't think so, and I'm going to say that to anyone who will listen because it's the truth."

Reid has taken to pulling a quotation out of his wallet from Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, attesting to McCain's temper and saying, "The thought of him being president sends a cold chill down my spine." Cochran, who made that remark back in January, has since thrown his support behind McCain.

"I think you could search the Senate, everybody I've served with, and (find that) I have never insulted anyone, OK?" Reid said. "Nobody. You'd have to search long and hard for someone who served in Congress with John McCain who he hasn't insulted in some way. He doesn't have the temperament to be president of the United States."

Reid said he was assigned to talk about national security and decided to take the energy angle.

"Because I feel so strongly about our security being threatened because of oil, that's what I decided I was going to talk about, rather than ... bombs and bullets and airplanes," he said. "What I decided to talk about was energy and how insecure it makes us to have to import 70 percent of our oil."

The other states' delegations might not have been paying much attention to Reid's speech, but the Nevada delegates on the floor listened and applauded.

Reid does not get enough credit back home for what his position brings to the state, said Nevada Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas.

"People should really grasp what opportunities we have in Nevada by having a senator who is the majority leader," Atkinson said. "Look at where we're seated on the (convention) floor. We're in Row 8. That speaks volumes."

Reid's son, Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid, who is openly considering a gubernatorial run in two years, called it "a proud moment for Nevada and for me as a son."

Rory Reid said he didn't think any of the attacks were over the top. "This is a political convention," he said. "You've got to expect some politics at a political convention. What he said was fair."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com.