Harry Reid’s still fighting

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a former boxer, is one tough old bird.

That’s why it took a doctor’s order to keep him off the floor as the new Senate was gaveled into session last week. Instead, Reid was working from his Ritz Carlton condo as he recovered from injuries sustained while exercising in his Henderson home on New Year’s Day.

He told KNPR’s “State of Nevada” host Dave Becker on Friday that an exercise band he has used frequently broke, snapping back into his face and sending him tumbling into a bank of cabinets. He sustained a concussion, broke four ribs and bones in his face, around his right eye. Blood pooling in that eye has left him temporarily (and maybe permanently) without sight, and made it difficult for doctors to see how bad the damage is.

But that injury hasn’t kept Reid from working: He met with his leadership team (Chuck Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Patty Murray of Washington) on Tuesday (his office released a photo), filmed a YouTube video later that day and agreed to be interviewed by KNPR on Friday.

Of course, Becker posed a key question: Has this incident changed Reid’s mind about running again in 2016? “No, not really. No. No,” Reid said. And when asked whether he was physically up to the job of Senate minority leader, Reid detailed his thrice-weekly exercise routine: push-ups, yoga, resistance bands and plenty of walking.

And while Reid conceded in his video message that he was never as badly hurt after one of his bouts as a youthful amateur boxer as he was after his single round with an exercise band, the message he wants to send is clear: His age (now 75) and his physical condition aren’t stopping him from doing his job or seeking another six-year term. (That’s probably why he made it clear that he didn’t fall off a treadmill.)

“I don’t know how many people out there could sit down and do 250 push-ups or do the strengthening exercises I did with those bands hundreds and hundreds of times — hundreds of times — every week, three times a week,” Reid said. “So, no one has questioned my physical ability, I’ve always been fairly confident in my ability to fight back, and I’m going to continue to fight back.”

As if to underscore that point, Reid parried questions from Becker on the Keystone XL pipeline (Reid is against it and hopes President Obama follows through on a promised veto threat). “The more light that is shined on Keystone, the dimmer the project becomes,” Reid said.

Or defending the administration’s economic agenda: He praised Obama for the “Cash for Clunkers” program and the bailout of American automobile companies for its impact on the economy. “We still have a long ways to go,” Reid said. “We need to do better, but we’re doing OK.”

And when Becker asked Reid whether Republicans should get any credit for the improving economy, including a good jobs report posted Friday, there was a slight pause before that patented Reid chuckle. “Of course, that’s a gross exaggeration,” Reid finally mustered. “They have done things that have hurt the economy. … If they had cooperated with us even a little bit, the economy would be even stronger than it is now.”

Reid even parried a disjointed word stream from Dean from Tonopah, who asked about corruption in government, including the CIA and DEA bringing drugs into America for decades. (Hey, Dean, this is FM talk radio, not AM talk radio. There’s a difference!)

The point of Reid’s media blitz was to convey this: If anybody thought this accident had taken Reid out of the fight, think again. Because this tough old ex-boxer still has plenty of fight left in him.

Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.