What some will give thanks for

By Jon Ralston

Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011 | 2 a.m.

If you could only listen in Thursday as some of the state’s elite give thanks before the tryptophan kicks them out, where would their gratitude be directed? I know:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: For Sharron Angle (he’ll do that every Thanksgiving until his last). For Grover Norquist. For five years before another election.

Sen. Dean Heller: For John Ensign. For Larry Lehrner. For Sheldon Adelson.

Rep. Shelley Berkley: For Harry Reid. For Clark County. For Medicare and Social Security ads.

Rep. Joe Heck: For redistricting. For a former public employee opponent (John Oceguera). For a former public employee opponent the Democrats like so much they are trying to get another former public employee (Dina Titus) into the race.

Rep. Mark Amodei: For the GOP central committee. For John Ensign. For Kate Marshall.

Gov. Brian Sandoval: For the state Supreme Court. For the Democratic legislative leadership. For everyone else’s approval numbers looking so bad that his mediocre numbers look juggernaut-like.

State Sen. Ruben Kihuen: For being Hispanic at the right time and place to be Hispanic. For Harry Reid’s beautiful, heartfelt paternal streak. For the special masters.

State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford: For 13 percentage-point partisan edges. For the state Supreme Court. For John Lee’s fundraising prowess.

Ex-Rep. Dina Titus: For experience. For indomitability. For relishing the prospect of eating young legislators for breakfast.

Speaker John Oceguera: For pyramid schemes sounding worse than double-dipping.

State Treasurer Kate Marshall: For the enduring ADD of the electorate. For four-year terms.

Secretary of State Ross Miller: For Judge Todd Russell as a foil.

Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki: For China and the Olympics — with the governor grabbing his economic development role, he still has something to do.

State Sen. Michael Roberson: For whoever told Barbara Cegavske to run for Congress.

Ex-state Senate Majority/Minority Leader Bill Raggio: For the 2011 Legislature.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman: For no one paying attention — yet.

Henderson City Council: That no one cares about the open meeting law.

North Las Vegas City Council: That you can’t really go bankrupt. That you can almost go bankrupt and still move into a gleaming, new City Hall.

North Las Vegas City Councilman Wade Wagner: For one vote really mattering — or not.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto: For Ross Miller’s diplomacy. For no one caring about Morse Arberry skating.

State Controller Kim Wallin: For no one really caring (still) about what the state controller does.

Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Wolfson: For his wife’s “Swift Justice.” For David Roger.

Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross: For his seemingly infallible recall repellent.

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani: For four-year terms.

Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown: For four-year terms.

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins: For the strict ethical standards imposed on elected officials in Nevada.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger: For cops. For cop unions. For flush cop unions.

Clark County Commission: For the Las Vegas City Council.

Las Vegas City Council: For the Clark County Commission.

Nevada Democratic Party: For Harry Reid. For Harry Reid. For the Nevada Republican Party.

Nevada Republican Party: For nothing.

Sharron Angle: For Andy Warhol being wrong. For book publishers having low standards. For Republicans across the country being willing to buy into voter fraud conspiracies — and pay to hear about them.

John Ensign: For an inept Department of Justice.

Steve Wynn: For the insatiable Fox News appetite for an anti-President Obama rant.

Sheldon Adelson: For Macau. For Macau. For Macau.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner: For the Nevada GOP’s invertebrate elite.

Ex-Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman: For the media’s insatiable and apparently enduring appetite to cover whatever he does, whenever he does it.

The Las Vegas Sun: For the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers. I give thanks for many things, including you.