Senate majority leader throws weight behind exciting scheme to bring Las Vegas closer to glorious Victorville!

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has abandoned his long-time promotion of high-speed rail service from Las Vegas to the Los Angeles Greater Metropolitan Area and will wield his magnificent power and influence on behalf of a proposed train to some freeway exit on the edge of the desert instead.

Sure, it would be nice to see the development of a legitimate, fast, efficient and affordable form of mass transit between Las Vegas and, oh, say, a useful destination that doubles as the key feedstock for the tourism plants on the Strip.

But what's more important -- that, or assuring that Sig Rogich, former fundraiser extraordinaire for the worst president in the history of the United States and choreographer of the Jim Gibbons sexual assault cover-up, collects lucrative consultant fees for helping to wrangle idiot investors with more money than brains into a half-assed project that makes about as much sense, and poses about as much return-on-investment potential, as the Las Vegas Monorail?

Why, the latter. Sillies.

In fact, with Rogich heading up "Republicans for Reid," everyone should hush. If Rogich's support of Reid scares Republican Dean Heller out of a challenge and thus helps guarantee that Reid will win reelection and continue to represent Nevada as the all-powerful Senate majority leader of these United States, well, that's the most important thing, right? After all, if not for Harry Reid's enormous political clout, Nevadans might not enjoy the newly heightened hope that someday they will be able to take a train to Victorville to eat at the truck stop.

Comments

[The Penguin]

mmmmmmmmm, truck stop food...

[NevadaSucks]

Sorry, Sig, but we still remember that you were Jim Gibbons's campaign manager (the gift that keeps on giving), and foolishly downed lots of drinks with him and Chrissy Mazzeo at a bar days before the '06 election.

Wonder how Reid rationalizes all of that, and what Rep. Dina Titus thinks about it, too.

[atdleft]

Ugh. Not Harry Reid's best day. Maybe I'm biased (I'm moving here but still have plenty of business in Orange County), but I don't understand why we'd want to build an incomplete system. I mean, how are we all supposed to get to Victorville? Are Reid & Rogich just planning to dump that on the VERY broke California transit agencies? It's a minor miracle Prop 1A passed (high-speed rail from San Diego to Sacramento), but it may be harder to convince Californians to fund a rail line from LA/OC to Victorville just to connect to this private not-so-high-speed line to Vegas?

Seriously, what are they thinking??!!

[Rich]

**Atdleft - "Seriously, what are they thinking??!!" Have you checked the monorail that starts and ends nowhere? Thinking??? We'll have none of that in Nevada!!!

[GaryIndiana]

Insane. Does creepy Rogich REALLY have that much influence?! Wasn't the whole point of this train, actually TWO points, to be a) a showpiece of the absolute latest technology, so that America could finally join Japan (nozomi) and France (TGV) in the modern world of super-highspeed train travel. And b) that the train would actually be USED by the typical tourist who could GET ON in downtown Los Angeles and Santa Ana, not have to defeat the whole purpose by having to drive to ridiculous far-away Victorville. Chicken-fried steaks at those fab I-5 truckstops, notwithstanding.

[GuideDogForBlind]

But .. but .. driving between LA and Vegas is SO much fun! .. (huge multi-car accident on the Interstate this morning) ..
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-cajon-pass11-2009jun11,0,4518393.story

[atdleft]

Rich-

I guess not. But really, don't expect "Kolyfoynya" to pick up the tab. Cali's broke, and Arnold's already trying to eviscerate whatever transit funding the state has left. I hope the Dems there fight tooth and nail, but it may be too much to try to get CA to finish a shoddy job that Desert Xpress is proposing in building an incomplete rail line from Vegas to Victorville.

Gary-

Yes, yes, yes! This IS insane. Now don't get me wrong, The Victor Valley is in need of more economic development. But still, that does NOT justify an incomplete rail line that leaves a major question mark on how people get from there to Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. Again, at least the proposed Anaheim maglev station would also be a hub for Metrolink & Amtrak trains that would connect people to everywhere from San Diego to San Francisco to Sacramento. Why not just go with the maglev?

[atdleft]

OK, I'm mad as hell and I won't take it any more!

http://mysilverstate.com/diary/911/dude-wheres-my-maglev

I couldn't help it. Should I send this as a letter to the Senator?

[Nevada Ned]

When I first moved to town two decades ago, I knew someone who was so eager for an In-and-Out Burger than he drove all the way to Victorville to get one!!

In recent years, as Las Vegas continued to grow and mature, our metropolis reached the stage of having its very own In-and-Out Burger restaurants.

That's how I know that we have really arrived as a truly great city.

Wealth! Freedom! Saturated fat!

[Drew]

Ok, I've given Harry Reid a lot of breaks but this is the last straw. How he can just give up something like that is rediculous and really shows he will just cave when faced with pressure. Rediculous. I just drove from LA to Las Vegas and there is NO WAY I would take a train from VICTORVILLE or to VICTORVILLE. It would be pointless. Apparently just like me staying on the Harry Reid bandwagon for so long.