It’s not the policy of this blog to rip out an entire piece and re-run it. But for some reason I do not think the writer will care much. Apparently the biggest paper in Nevada is going after the biggest US Senator (its own) in DC. FUN!!
This newspaper traces its roots to before Las Vegas was Las Vegas.
We’ve seen cattle ranches give way to railroads. We chronicled the construction of Hoover Dam. We reported on the first day of legalized gambling. The first hospital. The first school. The first church. We survived the mob, Howard Hughes, the Great Depression, several recessions, two world wars, dozens of news competitors and any number of two-bit politicians who couldn’t stand scrutiny, much less criticism.
We’re still here doing what we do for the people of Las Vegas and Nevada. So, let me assure you, if we weathered all of that, we can damn sure outlast the bully threats of Sen. Harry Reid.
On Wednesday, before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Reid joined the chamber’s board members for a meet-‘n’-greet and a photo. One of the last in line was the Review-Journal’s director of advertising, Bob Brown, a hard-working Nevadan who toils every day on behalf of advertisers. He has nothing to do with news coverage or the opinion pages of the Review-Journal.
Yet, as Bob shook hands with our senior U.S. senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting, Reid said: “I hope you go out of business.”
Later, in his public speech, Reid said he wanted to let everyone know that he wants the Review-Journal to continue selling advertising because the Las Vegas Sun is delivered inside the Review-Journal.
Such behavior cannot go unchallenged.
You could call Reid’s remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying.
But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid’s remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was — a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he’s shaking them down.
No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. Senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.
If he thinks he can push the state’s largest newspaper around by exacting some kind of economic punishment in retaliation for not seeing eye to eye with him on matters of politics, I can only imagine how he pressures businesses and individuals who don’t have the wherewithal of the Review-Journal.
For the sake of all who live and work in Nevada, we can’t let this bully behavior pass without calling out Sen. Reid. If he’ll try it with the Review-Journal, you can bet that he’s tried it with others. So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated.
We won’t allow you to bully us. And if you try it with anyone else, count on going through us first.
That’s a promise, not a threat.
And it’s a promise to our readers, not to you, Sen. Reid.
Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.
Found by Keith Ray.
noname, it’s one of those “Have you stopped beating your wife” questions that he keeps trying to sucker someone into answering.
# 68 Phydeau,
Yeah, I fully agree.
It could be a genuine question, if the positing person first answered it themselves, then ask others.
# 70 pedro
Excellent pedro, excellent…
Stephens Media is based out of Little Rock and own the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Northwest Arkansas Times (formerly the Fort Smith Times-Record). Both are soulless Republican rags who never met a right-wing cause that they would not support.
Stephens Media is not to be trusted.
Of course, this does not mean that Harry Reid is a good guy.
#69, I would let the entire fucking world die to save my wife. And I would do it because I love her.
Fido/Nosense — Would you let 10 strangers die to save your wife?
#64 Phydeau,
There you go again, labeling anyone that doesn’t agree with you a “wingnut”. Typical I guess, you can’t debate facts, so you resort to call names.
I got you, you know it and your ego just can’t let it go. I only criticize Obama when criticism is due. I did the same to Bush. If you can prove I’ve done otherwise, please let me know.
Tine for some new blood in office.