Harry Reid runs away from his extremist record

Washington Times:

She's billed as a nut-job, and he's portrayed as a one-man economic wrecking crew. It appears she wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, while he wants to tax and regulate the nation into oblivion.

The Senate race in Nevada is less than a week old, and already the campaign themes are clear. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is intent on portraying Republican challenger Sharron Angle as a wacko, while she's intent on portraying him as out of touch with supply-and-demand reality.

Former President Bill Clinton fired the first salvo Thursday night at a campaign appearance for the embattled Democratic senator, blaming Republicans for the economic mess and accusing Mrs. Angle of "hiding out" from the public after her come-from-behind June 8 primary win.

"I might hide out, too, if I said I wanted to get rid of Social Security and Medicare," Mr. Clinton said.

Angle spokesman Jerry Stacy said Mr. Reid is attempting to divert attention from his own record and Nevada's 13.5 percent unemployment rate, the highest in the nation.

"Sharron Angle's not the one proposing dangerous ideas for the economy, like the stimulus package, cap-and-trade legislation, and amnesty [for illegal aliens]," said Mr. Stacy. "He can try to paint Sharron as an extremist, but it's Harry Reid who's the extremist."

Mrs. Angle's dark-horse victory came as a gift to the Reid campaign, given that she was widely viewed as the least formidable of the top Republican primary candidates. The former state legislator has no personal wealth, little name recognition in Clark County - the state's population base - and a lengthy record as a hard-core conservative who's unlikely to appeal to moderates.

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Clinton has been framing every race that way for decades, but he can't hide the record of Reid as the guy who wanted to lose in Iran and who worked to impose the health care monstrosity on the country. Reid has quite a record of liberalism to run away from and it is no wonder he wants to make his opponent the issue.