Opinion: Senator Brian Sandoval has a nice ring, but VP Brian Sandoval sounds better

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval in a 2011 file photo. (2011 Getty Images)

Rumors of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval’s premature exit from politics by not running for the Senate seat held by 74-year-old Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid are being published nationally.

National Senate Republicans are worried that Sandoval may not run thus leaving Harry Reid in a far better situation than if Sandoval runs.

The deposed Senate Majority Leader is giving all the signs of running for reelection despite slow hiring of political reelection help and little indication of raising huge sums of money.

Hispanics aren’t thrilled by [Harry Reid's] inability or choice of not pushing hard for bills that will help Hispanics on jobs, immigration or education. Then there is Lucy Flores.

— Raoul Lowery Contreras

Beating Harry Reid is a top political goal of national Republicans. It should also be that of Hispanics interested in a Senator who would gut the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. These are the words “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…”

That Harry Reid former position would keep children born in the U.S. to foreigners from being natural born American citizens. How many children living in the U.S. today would not be citizens if Harry Reid had had his way? Millions, maybe?

His berating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment sounds like those who claim Florida Senator Marco Rubio cannot run for President because his immigrant parents weren’t U.S. citizens when he was born in Miami. Or, how would supporters of Texas Senator Ted Cruz react if the Harry Reid position would keep Cruz from even being a citizen.

Harry Reid says he has changed his mind on the subject but that is only because the Nevada Hispanic population has grown significantly. But when he first went to the Senate, that wasn’t the case. Nevada had few Hispanics compared to today. Harry Reid’s 20-year-long metamorphosis was prompted by Census counts of Nevada Hispanics jumping off the charts; that pushed him out of his deeply anti-Mexican view on natural born citizenship.

He puts on a good show. But his flip-flop on the 14th Amendment indicates he really doesn’t care about the Constitution; he cares about votes. The Constitution hasn’t changed, Harry has.

When he was in position to pass immigration reform, he fumbled on the goal line and allowed union-sponsored amendments to prevail and those amendments killed immigration reform that President George W. Bush pushed hard.

By allowing poison pill amendments, Machiavellian Reid slyly allowed unions to hijack the immigration bill in order to kill it. Machiavellian means, the political end justify the means.

Reid was also AWOL when five Democrat Senators voted to kill President Obama’s idea to legalize those brought illegally into the United States as children. Sixty votes were needed to move the bill and to pass it into law as the House had passed it previously. Five Democrat senators voted against the bill.

Neither Majority Leader Reid, nor the President energetically campaigned to convince those five senators to vote for the bill joining enough Republicans who voted for the bill to pass it on.

Reid didn’t care, he preferred the issue and immediately blamed Republicans rather than his five Democrat senators. The same is true for President Obama. He didn’t care enough to call the senators to try and charm them into voting for the bill by, say, offering to build new bridges and roads in their states or to have them visit the White House for dinner and cocktails.

President Obama wanted the issue also. He subsequently tried to legalize those “kids” by Executive Order and then added their parents and millions of others here illegally to his orders.

What is funny about Harry Reid’s flip-flop on issues affecting his Hispanic constituents is that he has been silent about the legal challenges to President Obama’s attempt at immigration reform by Executive Order.

Is it possible that the lifelong legislator understands the Constitution’s Article 1, Section 8 that specifically states that Congress shall make a “uniform rule of naturalization ...?” Those words don’t permit the President to legalize and give work permits to five million people.

As for running next year for reelection, his New Year’s accident at home slowed Reid down in putting together a campaign. More surgery is required.

Is it possible that Reid’s accident isn’t the real reason he’s going about a campaign slowly?

Possible answers to that question:

Hispanics aren’t thrilled by his inability or choice of not pushing hard for bills that will help Hispanics on jobs, immigration or education. Then there is Lucy Flores.

Harry Reid was involved in convincing the rare Hispanic state Legislator Lucy Flores to give up her seat to run for Lt. Governor. That strategy was Harry Reid’s idea to plant Flores in the Lt. Governor’s office so Sandoval would be reluctant to run against Reid and win, turning then the governor’s office to a Democrat. Plan failed, she lost. Reid did little to help her.

If Sandoval runs against Reid, Harry will lose by 20 points or more.

United States Senator Brian Sandoval has a nice ring; or, perhaps, Vice President Brian Sandoval sounds better.