Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Public apathetic to liberal agenda

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid apologized last week for going too far in attacking individual GOP senators as part of the Democrats' aggressive campaign to blame Republicans for a "culture of corruption" in Washington.

But to voters, the whole thing might be just a bunch of obscure noise.

Reid and other Democratic leaders are wagering that the key to the party's fate is convincing voters that Republicans are ethically challenged. They point to Republican involvement in the burgeoning scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff as proof.

But early polling suggests the message isn't playing in Pahrump -- at least not yet. In a recent national poll, only 18 percent of respondents said they were following "very closely" the Abramoff scandal.

They were far more interested in West Virginia miners story (47 percent following very closely); the situation in Iraq (40 percent); and President Bush authorizing wiretaps (32 percent). Even flooding California rated more interesting (20 percent) than Abramoff. The poll of 1,503 adults was conducted Jan. 4-8 by the Pew Research Center.

More bad news for all lawmakers: 81 percent of poll respondents said reports of lobbyists bribing members of Congress was "common behavior," compared to 11 percent who said the reports were "isolated incidents."

And while Republican leaders earned just a 33 percent job approval rating in the poll, Democrats probably would be well-advised to not draw too much attention to that point. Their job approval rating was only 34 percent.

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Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has for years been considered among the most sporting members of Congress. Now here's more proof: Ensign is ranked among the best in a competitive golfing town where power brokers often make a round of 18 part of the work day.

Golf Digest last fall reported that Ensign's 6.5 handicap makes him the top-ranked golfer in the Senate and No. 8 in all of Congress. (No. 1: Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind.). Ensign was a respectable No. 29 when the magazine expanded its list to include more of Washington's power elite (mostly lobbyists). No other Nevada lawmakers made the top 200.

Liberal blogger Hugh Jackson (lasvegasgleaner.com) first researched Ensign's golf game and ribbed the senator in a Jan. 11 posting, noting that Ensign's hours on the course have paid off, further lowering his handicap to a U.S. Golf Association-rated 4.4 handicap since the Golf Digest ranking. (Ensign has played 27 rounds since the beginning of September, according to the association.)

Jackson noted that Ensign was golfing on Dec. 20 in Las Vegas, a Tuesday, when the Senate was debating federal spending cuts, an issue on which Ensign has positioned himself as a leader.

Ensign golfed on six of the last 65 days of the Senate session last year, Jackson noted. "Which, really, makes his 4.4 handicap all the more impressive," the blogger wrote.

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Some Washington insiders did a double take when they saw U.S. labor leaders on the same stage last week with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The strange bedfellows joined a coalition that including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the American Health Care Association. It threw support behind a plan that would give undocumented workers a path to citizenship.

They generally back a bill introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would allow illegal immigrants' access to work visas for six years, and the chance to obtain permanent residency.

Congress as early as next month could begin debating immigration reform that could affect an estimated 11 million people who crossed the borders illegally, a scorchingly controversial issue in states, including Nevada, with concentrations of undocumented workers. Nevada ranked No. 3 in immigrant births in one study last year.

Another pending bill introduced by Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, proposes sending illegal workers back to their home country before they could get in line for a work visa.

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The Humane Society of the United States named Ensign its Legislator of the Year for 2005 for the veterinarian-turned-lawmaker's efforts to end cock fighting, ban horse slaughter at three U.S. plants and better regulate puppy mills.

The Humane Society also honored Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., noting that she scored 100 percent on the association's legislative report card, which ranks lawmakers based on their animal-friendly votes.

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