Details from Reid Interview With Ralston on "Face to Face"

From Las Vegas reporter Jon Ralston on his Tuesday interview with Reid:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also said during a taping of “Face to Face” that the Supreme Court nominee will be easily confirmed, disclosed that he arranged that phone call from presidential Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to Mayor Oscar Goodman to shut up The Mouth that Roars Nonsense (my words, not the senator's, but pretty close) and he derided the controversy about the president's Vegas remarks, saying he has not seen anything Goodman has said.

Oh, and his son's gubernatorial candidacy and whether having two Reids on the ballot could hurt both of them: “It's his business....nothing I can decide.” Ringing endorsement, that.

Some more of what he said:

Sotomayor:

“I just think she has everything it takes... My job is to get it through the Senate as quickly as we can.  We'll do that ,” Harry Reid said during the program that will air shortly before the president gets to the more important business of the day than a Supreme Court nominee: Raising the Senate majority leader about $2 million for his re-election.

As for potential GOP opposition to the nominee: “I don't know how they could oppose her.  I don't know on what basis.”

Guantanamo:

Reid, who has been criticized for his contradictory positions on Guantanamo Bay, said some prisoners will be put in maximum security prisons on U.S. soil, emphasizing the safety of those facilities:

“A maximum security prison in the United States, there has never been a single escape.”

JR: “You think eventually the plan is going to be to put them in maximum security prisons here in this country, correct?”

“I think some.  Keep in mind, Jon, there's so many different issues.  There's no question that a number of these people who are there are not guilty of anything. The Uighurs, these are a group of Muslim Chinese who are guilty of nothing.  They were arrested, put in there.  They are there.  They are doing nothing.  We're going to have to find someplace to put them.  We can't send them back to China.  Should they go into a maximum security prison?  Probably not.”

On Goodman and the president's comments:

“I've met a number of times with Rossi Ralenkotter.  We've had a lot of conventions that have canceled here in Las Vegas, but they've canceled all over the country.  People just haven't been traveling as much.  Things are looking better.  That's tremendous.  We have conventions that are now booking multiple years from today.”

JR:  “You don't believe in the nexus between those comments and what's happened here do you?”

“No, I don't.”

(on whether Goodman overreacted)

“I don't want to hurt Oscar's feelings, but I don't know what it was he said.  I arranged a call.  I know that the president's chief of staff gave him a call yesterday.”

JR:   “You arranged that, huh?”

“Uh huh.”

JR: “ To try and calm him down?”

“No.  Oscar wanted to talk to him, I thought.  Either him or the president, so I said, 'All right.'”

Finally, his comments on his son's gubernatorial candidacy were telling, if you can read Reidpseak:

(on whether two Reids on one ballot will be a political liability for both)

“My son is 45 years old or however old he is.  I can't tell him what to do.  He's a wonderful young man.  He has always been a remarkably good boy.  I still consider him a good boy....It's his business.  Nothing I can decide.. to think that this is some kind of a dynasty.  I was born in Searchlight.  There's not much of a dynasty created from there.”

Oh, and one more thing: Reggie Love loves Las Vegas, too.