Patterico's Pontifications

1/6/2015

Harry Reid Video Explains What Happened

Filed under: General — Dana @ 3:14 pm



[guest post by Dana]

On the same day that the GOP took over Congress, Harry Reid, sporting a black eye, discussed his exercise injuries (a concussion, three broken ribs and broken facial bones near his right eye), and his seeming disappointment in not being in the chamber today:

“After any one of those fights I didn’t look like I do now. I didn’t get this black eye by sparring with Manny (Pacquaio), by challenging Floyd Mayweather,” Reid said. “I didn’t go bull riding. I wasn’t riding a motorcycle. I was exercising in my new home and the doctors have told me I better take it easy.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to fulfill the expectations that the middle class has,” he said. “We will continue to fight for them.”

–Dana

45 Responses to “Harry Reid Video Explains What Happened”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (8e74ce)

  2. How old was the underage kid he had with him?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  3. Many years ago he was a boxer, thus the boxin reference.

    The New York Times reported, or the Associated Press did, that it was piece of exercise equipment and Harry Reid’s staff said it might have been damaged in his move from Searchlight, Nevada to Henderson, Nevada, but I can’t find that bit about the move.

    Here is the report published in the New York Times:

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/01/02/us/politics/ap-us-reid-accident.html

    The accident happened when an elastic exercise band broke, striking Reid in the face and causing him to fall, said spokesman Adam Jentleson. Reid struck some equipment as he fell, breaking multiple bones near his right eye.

    As he hit the floor, he broke several ribs, Jentleson said.

    Tests found no internal bleeding, Jentleson said, and his vision should not be affected. ..

    …Jentleson said Reid is likely to have severe facial bruises

    At that time they did tell anyone about the concussion.

    The article then describes previous accidents in recent years:

    In May 2011, Reid dislocated a shoulder and suffered a contusion above his left eye when he slipped after an early morning run in the rain. He fell when he leaned against a parked car.

    In October 2012, Reid suffered rib and hip contusions in a chain-reaction car
    crash.

    so that looks like it wasn’t really blood pressure pills, although maybe that could have been a contributing factor, as well as slow reflexes, and a badly positioned piece of equipment.

    He’s probably really banged up now.

    Sammy Finkelman (6b5229)

  4. I say he was exercising his right elbow hoisting Manhattans just before he took this spill.

    Skeptical Voter (12e67d)

  5. Dingy Harry was making excuses for the loss of the Senate. Barack didn’t want to hear it and ordered Harry to Shut UP!

    But, Harry’s old and can’t hear very well, he thought Barack said, stand up.

    Note that Barack is left handed.

    ropelight (ef7142)

  6. Senator Reid used to be a (Barbara) boxer? That explains a lot; way too many blows to the head!

    The snarky Dana (1b79fa)

  7. Someone should have finished the job.

    Otto Maddox (990b3b)

  8. The last time I fell, my foot caught on the nap of the carpet, and not a thick carpet at that, and I could not regain my balance.

    The Greeks have a saying, “The old go falling or pooping”. And it’s true. They’re found on the floor and it’s not clear whether the fall caused the bleed in the head or the bleed in the head caused the fall. Or they’re found dead on the toilet.

    What a drag it is getting old.

    nk (dbc370)

  9. Somebody get that man a helmet. As he does in the chamber, so it goes in his private life.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  10. If he is that fragile, they should consider having him live in a bubble.

    JD (86a5eb)

  11. That’s a pretty good saying the Greeks have.

    elissa (7b73cd)

  12. We all know this was already discussed to some degree on the other thread,
    and while I made the case that the given explanation was plausible,
    when you see the chronology of past injuries along with this one,
    a good ER doc would be thinking child abuse (if the patient was a child), spouse abuse (more likely if a woman, but could be a man that doesn’t hit back), or elder abuse,
    though I suppose if he has some subtle (or not so subtle…) neuro deficits from his boxing history he could be more accident prone than the average person.

    Some of us who go way back into the last millennium remember that lots of jokes were made about Gerald Ford’s clumsiness likely resulting from brain damage as an offensive lineman for Michigan in college,
    but he was a repub, which made him an acceptable target.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  13. Mini TIAs?

    nk (dbc370)

  14. MD,

    In an effort to provide an opportunity for commenters wishing to discuss this rather than today’s vote on the other thread, I put this post up (plus Reid’s video was just posted). While you may have already discussed it, others might want to, and most importantly, my inner-organizer could not be denied.

    Dana (8e74ce)

  15. Ace got it just about right.

    LeContredicteur @AceofSpadesHQ
    Follow

    just like Senator Harry Reid, one time an exercise band snapped and hit me hard in the face when I was sucking its dick
    1:03 PM – 6 Jan 2015

    Gazzer (c44509)

  16. Reid misinterpreted the “Boys Pants Half-off” sale Macy’s advert and misjudged the little hombre’s strength and quickness.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  17. For a little levity watch Chris Coons’ daughter rebuff Slow Joe who wants to kiss her. She’s thinkin’ Euuuw !!

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/no-kiss-for-joe-biden#.df3k68Ye3d

    Hey, maybe Hairy tried to kiss somebody and got slugged.

    elissa (7b73cd)

  18. Scrappy Reid has taken too many balls blows to the chin…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  19. Sigh. If you guys want to look for a human agency, MD gave us the hint with “spousal abuse”. He’s a Mormon. It’s difficult to keep six or seven (or forty) wives happy.

    nk (dbc370)

  20. dana,
    I hope you realize I wasn’t being critical of you at all, I was just trying to put my comment in context of what had already been said, instead of repeating it

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  21. With Ali as an example, it appears the brain damage in pugilists may result in Parkinson’s like symptoms, which clearly affect motor control and could increase the risk of falling,
    and being to some degree progressive, he might want to hide the reality that his brain is in fact not functioning as well as it once had.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  22. a bit too late for that, MD. The evidence is clear.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  23. …fulfill the expectations that the middle class has…

    i’m easy Hairy… just up and die tomorrow and i’d be thrilled!

    redc1c4 (4db2c8)

  24. Joe Biden take 2:

    Joni Ernst made her imprint on the political world with her now infamous “Squeal” ad, but apparently, that wasn’t enough to make the VP remember her name. When the Iowa Republican senator approached the vice president for her swearing-in reenactment, Biden turned around and loudly said “Gail!” Ernst politely corrected him, saying, “Joni. My husband is Gail.”

    elissa (7b73cd)

  25. For a little levity watch Chris Coons’ daughter rebuff Slow Joe who wants to kiss her.

    That scene didn’t seem to show the young girl rebuffing him as much as I thought it would (or would have liked), but it sure did make Biden look like a letch. Moreover, it’s not like he has uplifting traits in general to offset that.

    Mark (c160ec)

  26. Old dingy looks as if he needs a chris christie breast feeding.

    mg (31009b)

  27. Last time that happened to me it involved tequila mixed with jagermeister… I think I punched myself in the eye and then jumped off a balcony. None of which would have happened if that damn moving company had not damaged my exercise equipment.

    So.. most insurance claims that involve defects caused by other parties require “zee paperwork” and BS called “discovery”. Everyone involved will cut their nuts off to avoid enduring Harry’s wrath, which is too bad because the entertainment value will get lost.

    steveg (794291)

  28. Too many injuries for the described incident. Somebody did a number on him.

    But his supporters, the press included, will help to cover it up, and his detractors will be happy to let the perp skate, so the details will remain under wraps, for a while at least.

    ras (2067f2)

  29. “Mini TIAs?”

    Stokes Adams attacks.

    Mike K (90dfdc)

  30. Ho. Lee. Shit.

    Talk about projection.

    It’s pretty clear who’s winning the Koch Brothers’ fight and it’s not Hairy Reed.

    someguy (37038b)

  31. His new home? Did he move to a bigger suite at the Washington Ritz-Carlton?

    JVW (60ca93)

  32. Blofeld was unhappy. Harry’s just lucky the sharks weren’t hungry.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  33. Might have encountered Bambi and Thumper, more like.

    Gazzer (c44509)

  34. Old Harry is really an old guy. I have a lot of sympathy for him, because I am fast approaching his age. I am old, too. Regardless, he probably just fell down as old people do. My father fell down and six months later he was dead and he was younger than Harry. So Harry is a tough old bird, albeit a tough old bird that is full of crap.

    All of the leadership of the Democrat Party is old. Bill and Hillary are old. Nancy and Harry are old. The queen of Native Americans is old. Ralph Nader became famous because he wrote a book about a car that was available when I was a toddler. I read James Webb books when I was in my 20s, so old. Joe Biden was elected to Congress in 1972 when I was a sophomore in high school. Debbie Washerwoman Schultzenhiemer is younger than me, but even the Dems don’t care much for her anymore. Howard Dean, old. Bernie the socialist, old. Louis Gutierrez, close to my age, so old. Ed Rendell, also old. Manchin, not old, but really? He might become a Republican at some point. Martin O’Malley is not going to happen. That guy who used be governor of Montana, not much of chance.

    So, who is the party of old white people? You be the judge.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  35. George Thorogood and the Destroyers song “I Drink Alone” comes to mind.

    mg (31009b)

  36. the Republican Party is the party of old white people Mr. 80

    you can tell by how they have a bona fide white supremacist as their #3 leadership guy

    happyfeet (831175)

  37. Joe Biden was elected to Congress in 1972 when I was a sophomore in high school.

    That would make you 57, Ag80. Eighteen years younger than Reid. Everything Julius Caesar did that made him famous happened in the last eighteen years of his life. Including Cleopatra. You really ought to dust off those Presidential ambitions again for 2016. With a better campaign staff this time. And stay out of Colorado, too.

    nk (dbc370)

  38. nk, Ag80 burned a lot of bridges when he purged his staff for the pettiest of reasons,
    he would have to go on an apology tour reminiscent of President Obama to even regain his base of support.
    “I’m a badger, and we remember”.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  39. @Harry Reid and boxing

    Harry Reid was a boxer during high school, and it continued a little bit after that. Buzzfeed (in 2013) said he fought 20 fights “between Utah and Vegas” whatever that means. Buzzfeed also has a newspaper picture or two.

    Item number 3 here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/very-badass-things-you-should-not-forget-about-harry-reid#.fe74VAog5

    With toothy grin, Harry Reed [sic] goes afterRex Lancaster of Snow College. Harry put Rex down fort the full count to win with the only knockout of the evening in a recent pugilist match. (Photo by George Barrus

    He didn’t always win, otherwise he’d have been more famous as a boxer.

    Harry Reid wrote about this in his 2008 autobiography, which he entitled “The Good Fight: Hard Lessons from Searchlight to Washington”

    Google link to quote about boxing in Harry Reid’s book

    A manager named Spike Bybe found me, and over the next two years, I had fifteen or twenty fights, mostly in Utah — Hurricane, Kanab, Beaver, Price, Cedar City, maybe St. George — but I also fought in Las Vegas. I had boxing shoes. I was a full-fledged fighter.

    And I sparred many, many rounds with professional fighters, which is kind of dumb, because you can get hurt, especially sparring out of your weight class. I remember one very good middleweight named Armand Caudal, who was a pro. He was fighting Don Fullmer. Spike got me to spar with him. I can still remember my forehead being sore afterward. But I didn’t care. Like the blood from football., the black eyes and soreness were badges of honor to wear the next day, and I’d fight every chance I got.

    It got to where my roommates were calling me Puppet, because anytime Spike Bybe called me, I’d go.

    In Kanab, I fought a guy named Al Swiderski, who would turn pro afterward. He was much bigger than I was. It was a set-up. They said my fight couldn’t go, as my opponent hadn’t shown up. They also said that if I took it easy on this inexperienced fighter, I could have a fight. We hurt each other pretty bad, and he took the decision. This was the first time I ever had broken ribs.

    And I fought another professional named Andrew Richard, who was an Indian. They called these fights exhibitions, and they threw me a little expense money. Those were my only purses…

    Spike would tell him, when the other guy was big, that he was muscle bound and could hardly move. Harry Reid said that wasn’t true, but it helped, because he believed him and he would spring to his feet thinking he could take that guy. He says he won more than he lost because of spike’s advice.

    He used to fight in bars, too, and when the father of the woman he wanted to marry refused to agree to let him marry his daughter, because Reid wasn’t Jewish, he punched him in the face, and they eloped. That’s from Buzzfeed. It’s also in the book, where he says as far as he knew the only objection the father had was that he wasn’t Jewish. One day when he came to pick her up, the father was red in the face and was blocking his way and “talking too much” and started pushing (him out?) and then he (Harry Reid) threw a punch and a fight broke in the front yard – not a very fair fight because Earl Gould was smaller. Harry and the girl got into his car and he says he doesn’t remember what they did or where they went that night.

    He and his future father-in-law later reconciled, and he wears the ring from his finger.

    He was also a Capitol Hill police officer for a while.

    Sammy Finkelman (6b5229)

  40. Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 1/6/2015 @ 9:53 pm

    So, who is the party of old white people? You be the judge.

    Barack Obama is younger than all of the people you mentioned
    except for Martin O’Malley and DWS, and he’s not even white. Manchin is ten years older than you are (He was born on August 24, 1947)

    It’s interesting. Almost all the proposed Democratic successors to Barack Obama are older than he is, but many of the Republicans are younger, but in the 1988 Presidential election, the Democratic candidates were about ten years younger at least than the Republican contenders for the nomination.

    Well, JFK was also younger than most of the contenders till at least 1976.

    Sammy Finkelman (6b5229)

  41. You really ought to dust off those Presidential ambitions again for 2016.

    I’d write a check (albeit a modest one, commensurate with my income) to the Ag80 for President 2016 campaign.

    JVW (60fabf)

  42. Harry Reid did have a stroke during the summer recess in 2005 that he tried to cover up, but word leaked out and his team tried to minimize its significance. No word if naked minor children were involved in that incident.

    http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/19/reid.stroke/index.html?_s=PM:POLITICS

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  43. I suppose a bowflex type of exersize equipment would be attractive for a guy like harry. You don’t have to fiddle with putting weight on bars. The only downside would be when the rubberbands get old and brittle. Pop followed closely by whack.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  44. Wait a minute – “new home”?

    For the last several years, Harry has been living in a penthouse suite at the Ritz Carleton hotel. Even allowing for a long-term discount, that’s pricey digs. Is the fact he is no longer Majority Leader affecting his side business of influence peddling?

    Estragon (ada867)

  45. “After any one of those fights I didn’t look like I do now. I didn’t get this black eye by sparring with Manny (Pacquaio), by challenging Floyd Mayweather,”

    It looks like he got that black eye from getting into a fight with a bottle of tequila. And losing.

    Steve57 (be0b5f)


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