Angle tells Reid to ‘man up,’ leaves pointed attacks to Gingrich

By Delen Goldberg

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 | 10:27 p.m.

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle during a speech Thursday in Summerlin stuck to her usual talking points about cutting back spending, paying back debt and taking back the country.

She let keynote speaker Newt Gingrich launch the pointed attacks on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Obama administration.

Gingrich, former speaker of the House and a possible 2012 presidential candidate, ripped into Democratic leaders. He labeled Reid “utterly irresponsible,” joked that Vice President Joe Biden can learn phrases of only five words or shorter and called President Barack Obama “confused.”

“Presumably, he’s a very smart person,” Gingrich told the crowd of about 500 conservatives gathered in a ballroom at the JW Marriott. “And yet it’s almost like he can’t slow down and take in information that’s unexpected to him.”

Gingrich also asserted that Angle understands the Constitution better than Reid, who keeps a copy of the document in his pocket.

Gingrich compared Reid to former President Jimmy Carter, whose greatest achievement, according to Gingrich, was failing so mightily that he allowed Ronald Reagan to be elected.

He cited a popular Reagan campaign slogan: “When your brother-in-law loses his job, it’s a recession. When you lose your job, it’s a depression. When Jimmy Carter loses his job, it’s a recovery.”

“If you want to replace Carter with Reid, it’s a parallel,” Gingrich said.

The Republican heavyweight, on a nationwide tour to promote jobs (and test the political waters for a possible presidential bid), lamented the nastiness of this year’s Senate race. He suggested a “positive” way to describe Reid: “Goodbye.”

The crowd loved it.

The event began with the Pledge of Allegiance and a religious invocation, a fitting start as Gingrich focused much of his speech on “American exceptionalism,” a philosophy based on the words of the Declaration of Independence that maintains Americans’ civic rights come from God. Both Angle and Gingrich advocate for American exceptionalism and argue it is what separates us from secular Europe.

Angle’s harshest attacks on Reid amounted to her ordering him to “man up,” a phrase she debuted in last week’s debate and repeated four times during her short speech Thursday.

Both Angle and Gingrich urged the crowd to vote and to tell their friends and family to vote. Turnout will likely decide the Senate race, which, according to polls, is tied.

Appearing at ease and even blowing kisses to the audience, Angle said she “knows what the American Dream looks like,” but failed to make any mention of the recent controversy concerning her comments about immigration and Hispanics.

Angle has been widely criticized for telling Hispanic students they looked Asian and for failing to denounce an ad imploring Latinos to sit out the election.

She also touted government transparency but left the event without taking questions from guests or the media. A spokeswoman said Angle had to catch a flight to Reno.

Gingrich did talk to the press but defended Angle’s silence.

“It’s not her obligation to answer questions,” he said.

Gingrich didn’t go so far as to agree with Angle’s assertion that America’s border with Canada is the most porous and is the entry point for terrorists. Gingrich said Angle’s comments were misstated and added that “if you’re serious about homeland security, you have to worry about both the borders and the coast.”