Clean Harry

I think the old Senate Minority Leader has hit on a theme that will resonate with the American people. They might not like it, but, then again, they aren't supposed to in this case. This is the second time in a week that Harry Reid has compared the Republican Party --- not just the lobbyists --- to mobsters:

The idea of Republicans reforming themselves is like asking John Gotti to clean up organized crime. I thought I’d seen the last of corruption when I helped clean up Las Vegas thirty years ago. But, while its not quite the mafia of Las Vegas in the 1970s, what is happening today in Washington is every bit as corrupt and the consequences for our country have been just as severe.

Is it really that simple? Hell no. But is it a message that will get people thinking? Yes. This is what leads to the proverbial "water cooler talk." If people start identifying the Republicans with mobsters (thanks for wearing the black fedora on your way out of the courthouse, Jack), or at least questioning whether maybe that's an apt comparison, then we've already pushed the debate in the right direction. Right now people aren't questioning anything and we can't win unless they start.

Of course, the fact that Dirty Clean Harry has vast experience in cleaning up this kind of mess is only helpful. Everyone associates Vegas with Casino and the Rat Pack and what not. They see it as some mob-infested fantasy. Yet, if and when they visit Vegas, they see Disney in the Desert. Harry is implying --- forcefully --- that he and the Democrats can clean this mess up. Hell, he's done it before.

Granted, this could backfire if the Republicans get a running start on cleaning this up on their own. But I will gladly take a backfiring rather than a sitting-and-waiting any day. I think Clean Harry might be on to something.