What I Heard About Harry Reid

RUSH: Dingy Harry is back at it. The last we heard from Dingy Harry he was explaining that some sort of elastic band on an exercise machine in his bathroom malfunctioned and left him blind in his right eye and otherwise severely injured.

Prior to that, Dingy Harry was out there suggesting that Mitt Romney had not paid his taxes for ten years. He was on the floor of the Senate claiming a friend of his told him that. The media said (paraphrasing), "Who's your friend?" Dingy Harry said, "Doesn't matter." The media said, "Where's your evidence?" Dingy Harry said, "I don't need any. What you need to do is go ask Romney why he hasn't paid his taxes in ten years." The media said, "But you don't have any evidence?" "No. That doesn't matter. The onus is on Romney to prove that he's paid his taxes and we gotta see his taxes."

The media dutifully went over and assumed the charge that Romney had not paid his taxes was true and began treating him as such. Dingy Harry has now called the Republican presidential field a bunch of losers and compared Senator McConnell to a lump of coal. This was an interview today.

What is it with all this? What is it with this juvenile high school-like name-calling that we get from Debbie "Blabbermouth" Schultz and Dingy Harry. Called Rubio a prune in tinsel, that's what Debbie "Blabbermouth" Schultz called him. Mika Brzezinski called Rubio a boy. They call Rand Paul a woman hater. Is this all they've got?

RUSH: Dingy Harry, who was interviewing him, what does it say here? Well, it's in TheHill.com. I guess they did the interview. No, it was CNBC. He was asked about the Republican contenders. He said (paraphrasing), "I don't really care. I think they're all losers." He said "McConnell's a lump of coal. He thinks coal is the salvation of the world." Childish schoolyard names and so forth. And then, of course, ladies and gentlemen, my name came up, as it tends to do now and then with Dingy Harry. CNBC Squawk Box, they played a clip of the chief Washington correspondent John Harwood's interview with Senator Reid in which they had this exchange.

HARWOOD: The last few days a bunch of people are saying, "Reid, he didn't have an exercise accident. He got beat up by the mob."

REID: It shows the credibility of Rush Limbaugh. He's the guy that got all this started. Why in the world would I come up with a story that I got hurt in my own bathroom with my wife standing there? How could anyone say anything like that? I think a lot of people, as I read, they kind of don't like me as a person and I think that's unfortunate.

RUSH: Okay. Okay, so I'm the guy responsible for the story that Dingy Harry got beat up by the mob in his bathroom. Now, I did offer here that I don't think the nature of his injuries was such that this wasn't a run-in with an exercise machine or the elastic band, whatever the story was. I did raise the specter that it did appear to me that Dingy Harry got beat up. I don't know by who, although I might now. Bottom line is, I might now know who did it. And I wasn't even gonna bring this up.

But here's Dingy Harry, who seems free and clear to go lie about Mitt Romney and his taxes, and then when asked about it after the fact, said, "Well, he didn't win, did he?" Meaning, "Hey, my lie worked. Romney didn't win." So here's a guy who thinks that he can lie with impunity. And let's not forget Dingy Harry's role in this whole sordid phony soldier tale in which he attempted to have my syndication partner censor me, apologize for me, and basically impugn me and my character.

He sent a letter -- you know the story now -- that we auctioned off on eBay that raised a total of $4.2 million, half of which was matched by me for the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. And after that, Dingy Harry tried to take credit for it! The man is a reprobate. He's actually shameless.

Let me tell you a little story. It's a couple of weeks ago now, I got an e-mail from John Hinderaker at Power Line, and he said that he had been in contact with somebody in Las Vegas who claimed to know what happened to Harry Reid, and that this man wanted to tell the story to both Hinderaker and me, on the phone. I was asked if I would join a phone call and listen to the story, and I said, "Sure, but I'm not committing to using any of it. I'm making no commitments about anything." Everybody understood that.

So after the program one day a couple of weeks ago I got on the phone with John Hinderaker and this caller from Las Vegas who claimed to know what happened to Dingy Harry Reid. Hinderaker wrote the story up and published it on Power Line. I don't know what the date was because I didn't print. But it's just a couple, three weeks ago. And here's the upshot of it.

Hinderaker writes: "On Monday I got a phone call from a man named Easton Elliott. We talked briefly on Monday, and have had additional telephone conversations since then. Elliott*," with an asterisk, "is a businessman who lives in the Las Vegas area, and he thinks he knows what really happened to Harry Reid. This is the story as he related it to me."

Here you go. Elliott, the caller, who wanted to speak to Hinderaker and me, "Elliott spent a portion of last New Year’s Eve at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Henderson, Nevada," which, for all intents and purposes, is Vegas. "His AA group has meetings every hour on New Year’s Eve, along with a pot luck supper. There were approximately 20 people present at the meeting during the events," that you will next hear about.

"Some time between 10:00 and 11:30 p.m., a man entered the meeting. His appearance was striking: there was blood on his clothing, beginning around his midsection. His left hand was swollen. He appeared to be somewhat intoxicated and was visibly agitated," and he wanted to share, at this AA meeting.

"He introduced himself as 'Larry.' In a group discussion that was heard by a number of people, Larry said that he had just had a fight with a family member. Larry said he had been at a family get-together, and he didn’t remember much about the fight because he had blacked out. When he came to, he was rolling on the ground, fighting with a family member, and his clothes were bloody," and in fact that's how he showed up at the AA meeting. "Now, he said, he was frightened that the Secret Service would come after him."

So here you have these people at the AA meeting who don't know this guy. He walks in for the first time ever and says his name is Larry. He's drunk. He's bloody. His left fist, his left hand is swollen, and he says he just had a fight with a family member. He blacked out, came to, wanted to come to the meeting, and is looking for a place to hide out because he fears the Secret Service is gonna be coming after him.

Now, according to the guy talking to John Hinderaker and me, the group did not take the Secret Service reference seriously. They thought that it was just some conspiracy kook that was drunk that wandered in and for some reason needed the comfort of an AA meeting. They all did agree that it was obvious he had indeed been in a fight, but they thought the Secret Service was tinfoil hat type stuff.

So this guy, Larry, "stayed for the rest of the meeting, and for a while afterward. There is a front room where coffee is served, and he remained there for a while. At some point during that time, he asked whether anyone could give him a ride to Searchlight. Larry’s appearance at the AA meeting was memorable, as references to fighting, bloody clothes and so on are extraordinary in that group." It's not something that happens at every AA meeting.

And the guy we were talking to, Easton Elliott, he didn't think much more about this guy, Larry, until several weeks later when "he saw a newspaper story about Larry Reid, Harry Reid’s brother, being arrested for DUI and assaulting a highway patrolman. The story was accompanied by a photograph, and Elliott --" again, the guy talking to John Hinderaker and me "-- immediately recognized Larry Reid as the 'Larry' who had attended the AA meeting," weeks previous, who was drunk, who was bloody, who had a swollen left fist, and claimed he had been in a fight with a family member and was worried the Secret Service was gonna follow him.

Then everybody said, "Whoa, wait a minute! The guy who came in here who we thought was a kook is Harry Reid's brother?" So they started putting two and two together because this story's accompanied by a photograph. Easton Elliott "immediately recognized Larry Reid as the 'Larry' who had attended the AA meeting on New Year’s Eve. Putting that fact together with news stories about Harry Reid being admitted to a hospital on New Year’s Day, and with Larry’s references to the Secret Service, he concluded that the family member with whom Larry fought was Harry Reid. He also knew that Harry Reid’s home is within a short distance of the location of the AA meeting."

So these guys at the AA meeting who think a kook came in, weeks later see his picture in the paper after being arrested for DUI, and, lo and behold, it's Harry Reid's brother. So now they are starting to think they know what happened to Harry Reid: Family fight and his brother beat him up. Larry Reid is 73, a short, pugnacious guy, and is a well-known brawler, by the way, subsequent research has indicated.

Now, "Subsequent to the news story about Larry Reid’s arrest, Elliott discussed with several others who had been present on New Year’s Eve his belief that 'Larry' had been Larry Reid. They, too, recognized Larry from the newspaper photograph. One of those who had been present at the AA meeting called Las Vegas's Channel 8 to tell them about Larry Reid’s account of fighting with a family member, but that person said that whoever he spoke with at the television station told him they were not interested."

Channel 8 Vegas said they weren't interested. I mean, some AA member calling, claiming a guy came in all bloodied, swollen hand, family fight, Secret Service after him, he feared. The same guy arrested weeks later, it turns out to be Harry Reid's brother. Anyway, that's the account, that's the story of this man who identified himself as Easton Elliott.

Hinderaker can't vouch for it. Neither can I. But if what he says about the AA meeting is accurate, then the inferences seem reasonable. I mean, if you're sitting in the AA meeting and this guy comes wandering in, you've never seen him before, he's bloodied, swollen left hand, says he just had a fight with a family member, woke up, blacked out, woke up, seeking refuge at the AA meeting.

He hangs around even after the meeting for coffee, claims Secret Service is after him, and then weeks later he's spotted in the newspaper. His picture next to a DUI story, it's Harry Reid's brother. They put two and two together, and figured out that Harry Reid was beaten up by his brother. They tried to get a Las Vegas TV station interested in the story, and they wouldn't take it.

So, bottom line, somebody attacked Harry Reid on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. That much seems clear from pictures and from the nature of his injuries. Nobody's investigated this. I don't know who else Easton Elliott called. He claimed he wanted to talk to us because he had previously encountered both of us, Hinderaker and me, speculating that Dingy Harry had had something more happen to him than just an encounter with a rowing machine or a elliptical machine or whatever the excuse was.

As Hinderaker wrote, his investigation "consisted of answering my telephone." And he posits maybe "those reporters who were so eager to dig through Sarah Palin’s dumpster and track down Mitt Romney’s high school classmates," or to find out whether Romney had paid his taxes or not, "will now swing into action, carry out an actual investigation, and either confirm or refute the events described by Mr. Elliott," and the people at the AA meeting.

And, by the way, the man known as Easton Elliott was more than willing to come on the radio. In fact, he wanted to. He was more than willing to tell the story himself. He's willing to go on TV. He said: "I’m a citizen who believes in God and feels compelled to do the right thing -- tell the truth. Harry Reid could learn a lesson from me in being truthful!

He also made a point over and over of saying he's not a political guy. He's a small businessman. He's had several businesses in the Vegas area. Hinderaker called Harry Reid's spokesman, gave him an opportunity to comment, and they didn't deny it, but they said they're not gonna comment, either.

OK, I'll say it again:

What I heard involves an AA meeting. Those people are serious about anonymity and sobriety, many know that for them it is a matter of life and death, literally. Outing a fellow recover-er by name is a grievous offense. I ain't buyin' it.

I doubt you can count on 100% of people who attend AA meetings to strictly respect the anonymity of others. I find the story that Larry beat the hell out of Harry more plausible than any other explanation that has been proffered.

The AA connection notwithstanding, the case of plausibility of Reid’s injuries caused by malfunctioning exercise equipment strapped to a shower door, or being pummeled by a disgruntled sibling seems to be not a hard choice for me.

It would be easy to look around media, etc. for pictures of the brother soon afterward to see signs of a possible fight.

All this said, Harry Reid has inflicted great injury to this country, and there are multiple accounts out there about his potential shady activities in real estate, etc. Apparently, he is a rich man now. In my mind, you don’t get that way on a government salary, even 20-30 years worth of it.

He’s a vile, hateful, conniving deceitful ogre of the left and whatever ills befall him, physical or via ‘talk’ is deserved IMO. The sooner he is out and gone the better.

Who said Larry is in recovery? He attends one meeting, is drunk and had been fighting. I attended several meeting before I got sober. I would never say I was in recovery while drunk at a meeting.

I don’t think Larry Reid was a fellow recoverer. I think he pretty much stumbled into the meeting as a place to get off the street. He was a stranger to the people at the meeting - and they thought he was a kook. They recognized him a week later when his picture was on the news. I don’t think it was a case of them outing a fellow member of AA.

Outing a fellow recover-er by name is a grievous offense. I ain't buyin' it.

Oh, please... The Reid brothers are notorious public figures (Larry was contemporaneously arrested for DUI) and the story is background to what appears to be a hoax foisted on the public.

No one was 'outed' for anything, except Elliot, and he did so of his own volition.

Your self-referential Oprah-esque outrage is laughable.

Outing a fellow recover-er by name is a grievous offense. I ain't buyin' it.

Frankly I find it at least as believable as Reid's claim that Romney paid no taxes for 10 years.

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