Jon Ralston on how Harry Reid got backed into a corner and why he came out swinging

Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 | 8:03 a.m.

The unfortunate state of modern political discourse played out this week as a national story questioning Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's land dealings catalyzed an inexorable chain reaction.

From the blogosphere's partisan blinders to the senator's Newtonian damage control reaction to the story's perception-tainted realities, truth struggled to escape the fog. And the facts continue to compete with the relentless spin and endless froth over what is either a clerical error or a scandal - or something in between.

The trajectory went like this:

The national Associated Press, with an assist from the Las Vegas bureau, put out a story Wednesday that asserted the senator "collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show. In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews." Read the entire story here: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061012/ap_on_go_co/reid_land_windfall_9

The story went on for 2,000 words, some of it sensational because of Reid's association in the land deal with a shadowy local insider named Jay Brown and some of it turgid because of its recitation of details of complicated land transactions.

It's what happened next that is so emblematic.

Team Reid engaged its D.C. War Room, usually deployed to maim Republicans, to kill the messenger - a national AP reporter named John Solomon. The Reid lieutenants disseminated information about Solomon to the media and friendly bloggers and eventually a dozen pages under the headline, "The AP Gets It Wrong."

Therein, Solomon, who has written critically about Reid, is tarred as a "discredited reporter (who) uses innuendo, intrigue and sensationalism to support a theory that simply isn't true."

The ad hominem attack behind them, the Reid folks then try to deconstruct the story while insisting (without a shred of evidence) that it was fed to Solomon by Republican operatives.

Then came the partisans. The Democratic blogs reflexively exploded into an echo chamber of defense (of Reid) and attack (on Solomon). Reid must be innocent, this must be a Republican plot. The facts were summarily dismissed.

The Republicans were no better. The local GOP put out a release headlined "1.1 Million Reasons Harry Reid Has Failed Nevada" and state Chairman Paul Adams, who has been pummeling the senator for months, said the story proves his "complete inability to avoid the corruption of power."

Ah, the lofty erudition of the public debate. Take that, Lincoln and Douglas.

Ignorance is no governor on the loudly expressed opinions of these partisans and bloggers. Anger and vehemence substitute for thought and analysis.

The problem for Reid is not so much what the 2,000 words say but what they seem to say. And they seem to say his old pal Brown, who is known for his local government juice, pulled off some sneaky real estate maneuvers to make Reid a fortune - and it was all done under the radar because the senator did not fully disclose what was happening.

These political tragicomedies always have a hint of Shakespeare. The Reid folks insist this is much ado about nothing - he and Brown bought some land, he and Brown sold some land, he disclosed it, perhaps not completely but he will fix it, end of story. But others will believe, especially with the ferocity of the response, that the senator protests too much, that he tried to hide the land and at least one partner inside a limited-liability company for years.

Either way, Team Reid had no choice but to respond this way for a couple of reasons.

First, he's not just a senator anymore; he's a national leader and what happens to the Senate minority leader in Las Vegas doesn't stay in Las Vegas. Second, the Reidites are trying to cripple the story before it gets what are known in the business as "legs." Once a scandal story starts running, it is almost impossible to catch. Hence, the War Room mobilizes.

But before we let this story simply fade away, there are some questions that linger. And when Reid appears tonight on "Face to Face," I hope to get them.