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Published Friday, July 2, 2010 | 9:46 a.m.
Updated Friday, July 2, 2010 | 9:48 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s campaign today launched a new television ad focused on the construction of the new veterans hospital in Las Vegas—the funding for which he helped secure.
The ad fits into Reid’s strategy of seeking to convince voters his leadership position is critical for Nevada, a small western state with little other clout.
So far, Reid has spent a fair amount of time defending and building support for major pieces of legislation such as the stimulus and health care bill, which weren’t solely targeted at Nevada.
But political analysts say to be successful, he’ll have to point to very specific projects that voters have a tangible connection to—projects that, as analyst Jennifer Duffy with the Cook Report says, voters pass on their way to work.
While Republicans have spent millions demonizing the health care bill and stimulus, it’s a bit harder to attack a veterans hospital that will keep some Southern Nevada’s ill veterans from having to travel to California for care.
I have seen and spent time in many of the hospitals in Las Vegas, my mother spent 7 weeks in one and died in the ICU of that hospital.
Yesterday I went for the first time to the VA hospital to visit a 20 year veteran of the military.
The facility was spotless, the staff was warm and engaging, the people inside were spirited and hopeful. And the rooms were not that much different than in the For Profit hospitals.
But there was a staff comprised of people with sleep, good time to recharge their batteries and no zombie like stares. It was like hospitals used to be, before corporatism took hold.
Making any hospital a for profit venture is just wrong. The line between paying a stock dividend and reinvesting in new or existing treatments should not exist.
Harry Reid has moved one step closer to me voting for him in November when I am done seeing what his actual involvement was here.
This speaks volumes to me. I have to tell the tea people to go check this place out with their own eyes.
Oh please! I saw this coming. Taking the credit for something that should have been built 20 years ago.
dhvincent1, this is Ms. Damon's blog space, so some bias is going to be present.
If anything, that fact should be made more clear to readers. That said, Ms. Damon has been considerably more objective that other blog spaces on the Sun.
I am a Veteran. I called Reid's office on a Veteran issue and was "PROMISED" a return call within 24 hours. It's been over 24 months now and still no reply. His staff is heartless when it comes to working with Veterans.
Hopefully that rat hole clinic on Owens will get condemned soon. That place is a travesty and it's a shame any human being has to be seen and treated there. This hospital should have been done years ago.
The VA is building 4 free standing outpatient clinics in Las Vegas. These will replace the existing ones (Owens, East, etc). This is in addition to the hospital under construction near the speedway.
That hospital isn't even scheduled to be open for a year. Yeah, good job there Reid.
Reid sure knows how to spend government money, but he is clueless on how to save any government money.
What a track record.
They're just trying to put lipstick on a pig.
Has anyone forgotten what happened to the last "brand new" VA facility built by the government? It was on Vegas Drive and was the Addelair Guy Hospital. It was so poorly constructed it had to literally be condemned and the VA had to leave. The shoddy construction of the hospital caused a lot of damage to the VA care system here. This new hospital was meant to solve the boondoggle that the other one created. Thanks Harry. We've no paid twice for this hospital.
We've NOW paid twice for this hospital. Apologies.
I am a 100% VA veteran of the Korean war. The VA used to treat 100% veterans and service connected veterans who were injured in combat.
Politicians like Reid have now opened the doors to all so called veterans whether they participated in fighting units or not.
Frankly service connection means nothing any more.
They might have exposed 1800 people to hep C and HIV, but THE Private Sector clinics run by Desai Exposed 50,000 people, I guess the private sector is better?
Angle said the VA is socialistic.
Massachusetts provides orphans of military people with $40,000 for higher education.
Nevada is shaken down by a questionable charity founded by Ollie North that won't disclose if any scholarships are awarded to Nevadans. How many and how much?
mred-How pathetic of you. Trying to deflect the topic to Ollie North??
I suppose that a Senator who's closed his eyes to TRILLIONS of unfunded liabilities in Social Security and Medicare is the logical answer for you? Wow...
"Nevada is shaken down"?? In the context here, what a foolish statement.
You have no idea of how the Reid's of the world will shake us all down given the chance.
All you Reid haters...can you tell me one thing Old Faithful John Ensign has done for Nevada...and Chuckles you big cry baby now you wanna cry about the government saving money (blaming the reason we America can't save money on good old Harry Reid) where you the 8 years Bush was in office and destroyed the American economy with everything from a illegitimate Iraqi war to unregulated banking industry the ran wild and made a ton of old GOP corporate heads rich as all get out " i bet you have a good job" don't you?
Harry, I hear, is the "green job fairy". He is going to shake his magic wand and all our troubles are going to go away.
The new VA Hospital will be a draw for this community and a boon for local veterans.
Quoting an article in The Sun from last fall, "...With an expected completion date in 2011, the campus will house a 90-bed hospital, a 120-bed nursing home and a veterans' benefits office...." The funding was apparently committed in 2004.
It's logical to assume Senator Reid was involved, but why does he need to tout a six or seven year old funding decision instead of something tangible from 2009 or 2010? Hmmm.
When will the Yucca Mountain campaign ad come out? That must be next. The old saying.... a strong offence is the best defence. It doesn't matter if any politician had anything to do with an issue, say it enough and it becomes accepted behavior. And mred, if you find your significant other cheating on you, make sure you blame Bush.
Rory is now so ashamed of his father that he's dropped his last name.
A VA hospital.
That should bring the tourists back.
Sorry Harry, but you have destroyed the economy shoving the Obama agenda down our throats. Come November we get to vote you out.
Thanks for the INFO on the VA hospital there. My wife and I had just decided to buy a home in the area due to deals. However, Reid is a problem, and; this VA will keep me in Nashville where Vets from Florida come. We are run by Vanderbilt MD's here. My wife has beat cancer at Vandy and I get better care at the VA then she does.
You free loaders, Dems and progressives will find more and more people like myself will not blow money in your city.I will not spend a lousey 5K there this year.
Blame Obama and Reid. Keep your unions. How many of you are laid off?
Jeff: how did you visit someone in the VA hospital if it isn't finished and there are no patients? It doesn't open until 2012.
Anyone who has done research on the VA hospital will tell you that the following information explains how NV was selected by VA. It was not brought here by Berkley and not Reid for the hospital. Berkley claims on camera and in the news that she brought it here via an earmark. She claims it was one of the largest ever requested and approved. She claims she won't even consider giving the earmark back. She can't give it back because it was never an earmark and she never brought it to Nevada.
Look on You-Tube for video of her making this claim.
In reality, it was Rep. Brown and Rep. Michaud who introduce HR 5815 in the 109th Congress.
Berkley didn't even sign onto the bill until months after HR 5815 was introduced. In other words, she is claiming to bring the hospital here when she had nothing to do with it. To take it one further, she never even showed up for the initial hearing to have the VA hospital approved. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32961.... and http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/...
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 17, 2006
Mr. BROWN of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. MICHAUD) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
On Thursday, May 11, 2006, the full Committee held a hearing
that preceded the introduction of H.R. 5815, to consider the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs request for authorization for several
major construction projects and leases which would improve, renovate
and/or update patient care facilities at various locations.
Witnesses who appeared before the Committee included Honorable
Richard H. Baker, Member of Congress from the State of Louisiana;
Honorable Charlie Melancon, Member of Congress from the
State of Louisiana; Honorable Tom Feeney, Member of Congress
from the State of Florida; Honorable Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D.,
Ph.D., M.S.H.A., F.A.C.P., Under Secretary for Health, Veterans
Health Administration, accompanied by the following individuals
from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): Honorable Tim S.
McClain, General Counsel; Mr. Robert L. Neary, Jr., Acting Chief
Facilities Management Officer, Veterans Health Administration;
Cathleen C. Wiblemo, Deputy Director, Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation
Commission, The American Legion; Mr. Dennis Cullinan,
Director National Legislative Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars.
On July 17, 2006, Honorable Henry E. Brown, Jr. and Honorable
Michael H. Michaud, introduced H.R. 5815.
On July 20, 2006, the full Committee met and ordered H.R. 5815
reported favorably to the House by unanimous voice vote.
Now, someone should check to see if her husband has the emergency room Kidney Dialysis contract at UMC, which is costing taxpayers $24 million dollars a year.
Health Care is a human right you shouldn't have to lose your leg or get your brain scambled in a contrived war to get it !
Reid, should move back in to his trailer park in SearchLight...he has betrayed the American People and all Veterans!
Now REID...is looking for Veterans Votes..."You can fool some of the people, some of the time, but not all the people all the time" He must think all Veterans are stupid, he has done enough damage to this Country! He'd sell out his mother for a vote!
@bbtbrain
You make a good point: faulty construction is a problem. The government does not build anything, but government hired private contractors will stoop to any low to improve the bottom line, you site a good example, others would be Iraq, Afghanistan and Haliburton in the Gulf.
I think many people are missing a big part of this argument here. This hospital will only have 90 inpatient beds. So this "big" new hospital will not change much in Las Vegas. Harry Reid ... glad you will stand behind making a hospital with millions of dollars that won't really change much here. Why build this hospital with just 90 beds?? Please Harry explain that one.
Thanks Harry. Do nothing Angle would never work to get a VA hospital here. She also would Not get any of the jobs that are connected with the construction of such a site. We already have a wasted vote in the Senate,John Can't Keep my **** in my Pants Ensign. Nevada doesn't need two do nothings from the Party of No. Harry in November. Wacky Angle out the door.
Reid is an arrogant old fool only out to save his miserable career. Hint to Harry - you lost any credibility when you tied yourself so closely to Obama's radical regime and all of your drug company lobbyists.
How about those ads of Harry's in which he he is praised for saving jobs and for understanding that "good jobs with good benefits mean a better future.
Those ads were paid for by the big drug industry to pay Harry back for keeping Byron Dorgan's drug reimportation amendment off the floor for 7 days, despite the fact that Dorgan had the 60 votes he needed for cloture. Senate Democrats effectively had to filibuster their own health care bill for a week to do so, something they could not have done without Reid's coordination.
So, thanks to Harry Reid our prescription drugs will cost more. That's just one example of Reid's kind of "help" for families.
Get down on your knees and thank the heavens that there is a new Veteran's hospital soon for those who will be coming home in bits and pieces from the wonderful simpering wimp that is George W. Bush and all of his and his Daddy's political friends in the oil fields of Iran, Irag, Saudi and the miles deep off-shore drilling that is costing every day those people who live in the Gulf of Mexico and the other Southern States. If you read the NEW YORK TIMES, the Sunday front page has a story that is four pages of a young man who SURVIVED a GWB simpering piece of military fire. His survival lost him his two arms, his two legs above both knees, oh yeah, both arms above the elbow. His younger brother lives with him in the Walter Reed Hospital during the day to take care of him by taking him to his p/t and other rehab classes where he has been fitted with limbs that have sensors in the knees that help him walk with normal gait; his arms are programmed to move almost better than bionic limbs and he will be getting better fittings as his limbs become USE TO THE USE OF THE FITTINGS.
GROW UP AMERICA AND BE WHAT YOU CLAIM YOU ARE INSTEAD OF A SIMPERING GWB WHO ALWAYS IS ON VACATION SOMEWHERE IN THE DARK RECESSES OF THE OIL FIELDS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.
Get a load of STARBEAMS, bet he's drinking more than Starbucks Coffee (lol). He's clueless, must be a Paid Harry Reid campaigner! Reid has been in the SEAT for a long time,and did nothing BUT if you vote him in again, this time he promisses to be different (lol). Obama coming to campaign for him proves he an OB agenda stuge! Obama was in office only a few months and wanted to refuse returning Gulf War Vets medical attention a V.A. Hospitals! Reid should go back where he came from in a Hoea House in Searchlight! I'm a Vet. and all Vets. & Patriots should Vote Him Out!
How can anyone vote for this back door man ?This man and his ideology is just what is destroying our nation.Nevada is doing the worst it has EVER done and the problems are becoming more and more insolvent each day.Remember when he put his politics over the safety of are troops by emboldening the enemy with his"The war is lost and the surge will never work"comment ?Anyone is better then the Reid's.Why isn't his son mentioning his fathers name ?Are we better off then before ?It really is that simple!!Time for a better NEW direction that will truly bring back jobs,because their answer to everything is to throw 'other'peopls money at it and see if it sticks.There is know more wiggle room and we cant afford another mistake like Harry REID!!!!!