{"id":134517,"date":"2022-01-10T12:53:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T20:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=134517"},"modified":"2022-01-10T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T20:53:02","slug":"president-biden-at-the-memorial-for-senator-harry-reid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=134517","title":{"rendered":"President Biden at the Memorial for Senator Harry Reid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Las Vegas, CA&#8230;Well, Mr. President \u2014 Barack \u2014 I have to tell you: Every time I hear a dial tone, I think of Harry.  (Laughter.)  Y\u2019all think I\u2019m kidding?  I\u2019m not.  Jill and I are here for Harry, but he \u2014 if he would \u2014 he wouldn\u2019t want us to really be here for just him, as everybody has referenced.  Landra, we\u2019re here for you and for the family.  Eulogies are for the living.   <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CnHOfi24qew\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You know it\u2019s a true love story when you\u2019re still talking about your first date 60 years later.<\/p>\n<p>Harry never tired of telling of the time you two kids had to push-start his car, making your way down the road with wide smiles on your face.<\/p>\n<p>My recollection is: He called it, when he told me the story, one of those, quote, \u201cmoments that turn a life and that stay with you until the last breath.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Landra, what a life you turned together until his last breath.<\/p>\n<p>To Lana, and Rory, and Leif, Josh, Key, all the grandchildren, great-grandchildren: Seeing and hearing you talk about him today, it\u2019s clear.<\/p>\n<p>My dad used to have an expression.  He would say you are blood of his blood, bone of his bone.  You are the product of Harry and Landra Reid.  What a gift.  What a gift God gave you.  What a gift that was and is. <\/p>\n<p>Elder Ballard; President Obama; Vice President Harris; Second Gentleman; Governor Sisolak, thanks for the passport into the state; and Iris and Chuck Schumer; and all \u2014 and Nancy Pelosi; members of the Nevada congressional delegation; Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen; and Representatives Hart- \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Horsford and Lee and and Titus; members of Congress \u2014 Democrat and Republican, past and present; and distinguished guests: What a gift Harry Reid was to this state and to this nation and to so many of us individually.<\/p>\n<p>I know he\u2019s smiling right now.  Only Harry Reid, at his sendoff, would sandwich a speaker between a former President of the United States, Carole King, and The Killers.  (Laughter.)  Thanks, Harry.  (Laughter.) <\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve always had a great sense of humor.  (Laughs.)  You always had to win, and you always did. <\/p>\n<p>He got me again, but he always got me.<\/p>\n<p>The first time I met Harry, I got a call asking whether as \u2014 I had just been elected, at 29 years old, to the United States Senate; I hadn\u2019t even turned 32 yet.  He was a newly \u2014 I was a newly elected senator. <\/p>\n<p>And he asked me to campaign for his election for Nevada\u2019s Senate seat being vacated by a man I\u2019d only just begun to know, Alan Bible.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing when he met \u2014 when I met him in Nevada, we were talking about where he\u2019s from and he said, \u201cWell, I used to have a go out and shoot mad dogs.\u201d  And I thought, \u201cWhat in the hell am I doing here?\u201d  (Laughter.)  I swear to God.  \u201cI used to go out and shoot mad dogs.\u201d  And I\u2019m thinking, \u201cBless me, Father, for I have sinned.  What\u2019s going on?\u201d  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>Harry lost that general election by less than 600 votes to Paul Laxalt.  And he never let me forget thinking that I\u2019d probably cost him those 600 votes.  (Laughter.)  I\u2019m only kidding about that piece, but I probably did.  <\/p>\n<p>But when he asked me to come back and campaign for him when he ran for the House in 1982, he won that time and then he won in \u201986. <\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019d go on to serve in Congress together for more than 30 years.  We worked together with Barack during the eight years we were in office.<\/p>\n<p>And even when Harry was done in the Senate, he was never really done, as all of you from Nevada know.  He\u2019d ask me to campaign for an awful lot of Nevada Democrats, many of whom are here today.  I could never say no, although you probably said, \u201cOh, God, he invited Biden into my district?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>But I talked to him often during this last election, taking his advice \u2014 and Landra can tell you \u2014 of coming to his home on more than one occasion to visit and get his advice and where I should be going in order to win. <\/p>\n<p>After we won, one of the things that Harry did \u2014 which was sort of incongruous with Harry, as you\u2019ve heard today \u2014 he sent me a text.  I\u2019ve saved it.  He said, \u201cI\u2019m so proud.  Joe, you\u2019re my brother.  We won.\u201d  Well, it made a big deal to me \u2014 it was a big deal to me that he felt that way.  I know Harry never wrote what he didn\u2019t believe.  It made me feel good.<\/p>\n<p>And he gave me a sense on confidence.  It felt like he was my brother.  I counted on him.  And I know so many of you felt that same way about Harry as well throughout his career and your great relationship with him.<\/p>\n<p>Over five decades, we became genuine friends \u2014 the Irish Catholic kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the Latter-day Saint from Searchlight.  You think I\u2019m kidding? <\/p>\n<p>Harry was like the guys I grew up with back in Scranton and in Claymont, Delaware.  Harry would always have your back like the guys I grew up with.  Harry had mine, and he knew I had his. <\/p>\n<p>Although, I sometimes wondered, when I was trying to make an important point to Harry, about whether he really did have my back as he hung up. <\/p>\n<p>But to tell you the truth, every time \u2014 every time he would do it, I knew it was real \u2014 the real Harry.  It was him. <\/p>\n<p>He had all he needed.  He didn\u2019t want any more or need any more.  And we did share some similarities.<\/p>\n<p>As Barack said, we have loving families, wives that are smarter and better looking than we were.  And Harry and I both liked to talk a lot. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m just testing whether you\u2019re asleep yet.  (Laughter.) <\/p>\n<p>But whether you served with Harry for decades or you were new to America just a few days ago, you wanted Harry in your corner.  And that\u2019s not hyperbole. <\/p>\n<p>His toughness was distinctively Nevadan.  His story was unmistakably American.  His remarkable journey has been told so many \u2014 by so many because it has been traveled by so few.<\/p>\n<p>The desert shack he called home.  The miles he hitchhiked to school.  A boxing ring where he always got up.  The family tragedies he endured.  The cancer he and Landra fought.  The halls of power he walked.  The state he transformed.  The country he shaped.  He was proof that there is nothing ordinary about America.<\/p>\n<p>Ordinary Americans can do anything given half a chance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe, the People,\u201d are pretty damn extraordinary.  America is an idea.  An idea that anybody, given a shot, can reach their potential. <\/p>\n<p>Harry was extraordinary though.<\/p>\n<p>He and I grew up on different sides of the country, but we came from the same place, where certain values run deep: first, loyalty, faith, resolve, service, your word. <\/p>\n<p>It was pounded into my head from the time I was child.  \u201cJoey, you\u2019re a man.  You either have your word \u2014 without your word, you\u2019re not a man.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And he met the marker for what I always believed was the most important thing which you can measure a person by: their actions and keeping their word. <\/p>\n<p>If Harry said he was going to do something, he did it.  He didn\u2019t do what the modern-day rationale is: \u201cWhen I told you I would do that, I didn\u2019t realize that this would happen.\u201d  No matter what happened, if he gave you his word, he kept it.  You could bank on it. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how he got so much done for the good of the country for so many decades.  That\u2019s how he literally saved \u2014 we forget it \u2014 Social Security during the Bush years; stopped Yucca Mountain from becoming a nuclear waste site; secured the votes for the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s how he helped us rein in Wall Street \u2014 the excesses \u2014 and repealed \u201cDon\u2019t Ask Don\u2019t Tell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s how he created Nevada\u2019s first national park and conserved Lake Tahoe.<\/p>\n<p>And how he was always championed Native Americans and Tribal communities and so much more.<\/p>\n<p>None of it was easy.  Not a lot of it was particularly popular when he was doing it.  That\u2019s the thing about Harry: He never gave up.   He never gave up.  He never gave up on anybody he cared about.<\/p>\n<p>Like every great leader, he led the Democratic Caucus just \u2014 not by speaking, but by listening \u2014 by hearing all points of view and finding a common ground.<\/p>\n<p>Harry cared so much about his fellow Americans and so little about what anybody thought of him.  He was all Searchlight, no spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>I always appreciate the private comfort \u2014 and so does Jill, who is with me tonight \u2014 that he offered me and Jill in difficult moments in our lives.  We know we\u2019re not the only ones.<\/p>\n<p>Since his passing, we\u2019ve all heard those wonderful tributes.  The gracious way he would console grieving \u2014 the grieving and encourage someone living with a disability.<\/p>\n<p>I still have that picture of our buddy Max Baucus [Cleland].  Max losing three of his limbs.  He\u2019s \u2014 Harry is standing in front of him in the wheelchair, holding his cheeks.  And you know Max knew \u2014 Max knew Harry cared about him. <\/p>\n<p>The generous way he would empower a new colleague or insist that the new moms and dads on his staff would put their family first, even before their jobs \u2014 and do it always. <\/p>\n<p>And the genuine friendships he made with the Capitol Police have been recognized three times because he was one of them \u2014 he wore the uniform.<\/p>\n<p>To a friend in need, Harry\u2019s voice was soft and gentle.<\/p>\n<p>In praise of himself, he was stone-cold silent.<\/p>\n<p>In the pursuit of fairness and prosperity, his voice would echo and will echo for generations in this state.<\/p>\n<p>Look, let there be no doubt: Harry Reid will be considered one of the greatest Senate Majority Leaders in history.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve served longer than all but about 12 United States senators \u2014 served there for over 36 years.  I\u2019ve had the honor of serving with a few names of those names to be on that shortlist.<\/p>\n<p>For Harry, it wasn\u2019t about power; it was about the sake of power \u2014 about the power to be able to use power to do right by people.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why you wanted Harry in your corner, and that\u2019s what we should remember as a nation today.<\/p>\n<p>Harry knew better than most how difficult democracy is \u2014 that the idea of America itself is under attack from dark and deepening forces, that we\u2019re in a battle for the soul of America.<\/p>\n<p>Landra, I remember sitting in a room with Harry when he was supporting me for President and my explaining to him the reason I decided to run when I had decided I was never going to do that again.  I was watching all those neo-Nazis come out of the fields down in Virginia, chanting anti-Semitic bile, carrying Nazi flags.  And he asked me, \u201cWhat \u2013\u201d I said, \u201cWe have to restore the soul of America.<\/p>\n<p>No one knew it better than Harry: Protecting democracy requires vigilant stewardship.<\/p>\n<p>Harry\u2019s life shows that for all \u2014 from our darkest days, we can find light and find hope.<\/p>\n<p>Just look at his life: In just about every respect, Harry Reid came into this world with the odds against him.  He believed life \u2014 and he lived it and he left it believing anything was possible.<\/p>\n<p>He has demonstrated that anything is possible.  Look at this incredible family.<\/p>\n<p>Harry, in a small way, reminds me of my dad.  My dad used to say, \u201cJoey, never explain and never complain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I remember one day we were having an event when I was running for my \u2014 this was fifth term.  We were at my house.  I was feeling a little sorry for myself, talking about a family \u2014 loss of a daughter.  My dad said, \u201cI\u2019ll be back in a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He left the house \u2014 we were waiting for people to show up \u2014 went up to the local Hallmark store, and came back with a cartoon that was a little brass plaque with two sections to it.  There were two clips from the cartoon character H\u00e4gar the Horrible.<\/p>\n<p>And in one, H\u00e4gar the Viking, on his ship, had been moving along near the rocks, lightning comes out of the sky, charged his horns of his helmet, breaks the mast of his ship.  And he\u2019s looking up at God and he\u2019s going, \u201cGod, why me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the next frame is a picture with H\u00e4gar and the ship and a voice coming down from Heaven saying, \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was my dad: \u201cWhat makes you so special these things wouldn\u2019t happen to you?  Why not?  Stand up, get up, never bow, never bend, never yield.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was Harry.  \u201cNever complain.\u201d  That\u2019s what I admired so much about him.<\/p>\n<p>Above Harry\u2019s desk, as we all know, in his Senate office was a giant portrait of Mark Twain.<\/p>\n<p>They both \u2014 Harry and Mark Twain \u2014 loved Nevada, and they both \u2014 they both \u2014 both knew how to say things we know to be true about ourselves and about our country.<\/p>\n<p>For Harry, it was this, as he said himself \u2014 he said, quote, \u201cI grew up around people of strong values, even if they rarely talked about them.\u201d  He went on to say, \u201cThey loved their country, worshipped God, never shunned hard work, and never asked for special favors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s Harry.  That\u2019s America.<\/p>\n<p>Here is someone Mark Twain himself would\u2019ve written about as a defining character in America\u2019s story had he known Harry.<\/p>\n<p>To his staff, known as \u201cTeam Reid,\u201d you\u2019ve lost an incredibly genuine role model.  But we see you carrying on HMR\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n<p>The people of Nevada, you lost a beloved son, but his spirit is always going to burn as bright as the desert sun.<\/p>\n<p>To the nation, we lost a giant of America \u2014 a plainspoken, honorable, decent, brave, unyielding man.<\/p>\n<p>May this be his legacy: to call on each of us to be our best, to speak truth from the heart, to take up the remaining rounds of Harry Reid\u2019s good fight for the America we all love.<\/p>\n<p>What a gift.  I mean this from the bottom of my heart.  What a gift.  What a life of a nation that he turned until his last breath.<\/p>\n<p>Landra, God bless you.  God bless the entire family.  God bless my friend Harry \u2014 a great American.  And God protect our troops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Las Vegas, CA&#8230;Well, Mr. President \u2014 Barack \u2014 I have to tell you: Every time I hear a dial tone, I think of Harry. (Laughter.) Y\u2019all think I\u2019m kidding? I\u2019m not. Jill and I are here for Harry, but he \u2014 if he would \u2014 he wouldn\u2019t want us to really be here for just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","category-obituaries","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Chrome-Legacy-Window-1102022-125022-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134519,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134517\/revisions\/134519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/134518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}