What’s wrong with Sen. Reid?

With apologies to Mr. Magoo, Nevadans must periodically say to themselves: "Oh, Harry, you've done it again."

Just when you think Nevada's long-time senator can't find another way to stumble into a sticky situation and at the same time poke Nevadans in the eye, he finds a way.

This time it's a proposed law called "DREAM" -- the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act, which Sen. Reid plans to attach as a rider to a defense spending bill. It would give citizenship to children of illegal aliens. All the kiddos have to do is serve in the military or go to college. (I presume the bill specifies that it is the U.S. military, but given the Magoo nature of Congress, somebody needs to check.)

Look, the general topic of illegal immigration is a hot button for a large majority of Nevadans. Every poll shows that. Yet now, as we head into the home stretch of the election, Harry unveils this controversial bit of legislation? I guarantee you most Nevadans will see it as plain old amnesty, and it won't be popular.

It'll rub some constituents wrong because it smacks of indentured servitude. For others it will catch flak as a traveling salesman's elixir to an ailment that requires serious surgery. Amnesty without so much as a thought to border security and enforcement of existing laws? How does that work? And for policy wonks, it will be a process issue. If you're serious about fixing complicated problems, you don't piecemeal it by hitchhiking onto an unrelated defense spending bill. That smacks of the kind of D.C. politics Nevadans love to hate.

What's the political upside for Sen. Reid in this? Unless he has found a way to tap into the illegal alien vote, it can't be even a small winner for him, can it? For many Nevadans, this might be the last straw for an elected official who's done a one-eighty on the electorate on so many issues. Remember, when Nevadans first sent Sen. Reid the halls of Congress, he opposed the extension of citizenship to the American-born children of illegal aliens.

Now he's for a program that will only reward and encourage more illegal immigration?

But this isn't the first time Sen. Reid has cut against the grain of mainstream Nevada.

-- He opposed Arizona's attempt to enforce current federal immigration law.

-- He supported President Obama's lawsuit against Arizona on the matter.

-- He rammed through health care "reform" over the objections of most Nevadans, and he did so by giving other states benefits he would deny to Nevadans.

-- He pushes federally subsidized "green" energy plans in Nevada and calls it sustainable economic development. In the meanwhile, Nevada's unemployment shoots past 14 percent with a bullet.

-- He watches Nevadans grow poorer through declining home prices and foreclosures, but as leader of the U.S. Senate he pretends he's been an innocent bystander to it all. In fact, he still supports the laws, policies and subsidies that contributed to the housing meltdown, not to mention the key players: Sen. Chris Dodd, Rep. Barney Frank, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

-- Finally, and perhaps most detrimentally, he supports Obama's fiscal and social agenda virtually down the line. That means he's been key to raising America's debt, he promises to spend us further into debt if he's re-elected and he's perfectly happy to move Americans further toward dependence on a bigger and bigger federal government.

That isn't the Nevada I know.

This is 'stimulus'

In case you missed it, the federal government spent $823,200 of "stimulus" money on a study to teach African men how to wash their genitals after having sex.

Researchers at UCLA, as part of a larger $12 million study on HIV prevention, pitched the federal government on the idea by writing: "We propose to evaluate the feasibility of a post-coital genital hygiene study among men unwilling to be circumcised." Team Obama bought it.

Hello? Las Vegas suffers massive unemployment and a housing nightmare and you're spending eight hundred grand on this? Who is minding the store?

Hall of famer

Can't conclude this morning without a tip of the hat to Review-Journal reporter and editor A.D. Hopkins, who was inducted into the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame on Saturday. As a member of the hall, I can honestly say that A.D.'s body of work in Nevada journalism easily earns him the honor.

Welcome to the club, A.D. You're classing up the joint.

Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@ reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.