So NOW do you understand, Harry Reid?

It’s been a couple days since Reid was punked in ways Aston Kutcher could never have imagined by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, the recovering drug-addicted ass clown who, unbelievably, still broadcasts a radio show coast-to-coast in America every day. Who knew?

A lot more people now, thanks to Reid.

A brief summary: Limbaugh was debating a caller on his show Sept. 26 who mentioned how he didn’t like soldiers who came home from Iraq only to oppose the war. "The phony soldiers," Limbaugh immediately said. "The phony soldiers."

Sensing a way to make usually feckless Democrats look like they support the troops without, you know, actually doing something to support the troops, Reid and twoscore others sent a letter to Limbaugh syndicator Clear Channel demanding the company renounce Limbaugh’s remarks. (Limbaugh, to his further shame, later lied about what he said and altered a transcript of his remarks. Media Matters carefully documented the incident, in case anybody cares.)

Limbaugh, of course, immediately protested that Reid and others were trying to violate his rights to free speech. (That’s totally overblown, if you ask us. Arresting journalists for reporting on a grand jury subpoena, now that’s a government assault on free speech. But we don’t hear Limbaugh crusading about that, do we?)

But then Limbaugh did something brilliant: He auctioned the document he christened "the smear letter" on eBay, promising to match whatever donation came in. Final tally: $4.2 million, with proceeds donated to a scholarship fund for fallen Marines and cops.

The letter "represents one of the most outrageous abuses of federal power in modern American history and that’s what makes it a collector’s item," Limbaugh said. "This letter that Sen. Reid wrote will forever memorialize him as a demagogue and the same for the other 40 who signed it."

And the Eugene B. Casey Foundation, which was the high bidder, added this: "The Eugene B. Casey Foundation believes freedom of speech is a basic right of every citizen in our country. Their purchase of the smear letter was to demonstrate their belief in this right and to support Rush Limbaugh and his continued education of us."

Do you get it now, Sen. Reid? Limbaugh is calling you a demagogue. And foundations are talking about your assault on free speech. This is what getting punked feels like!

Sending that letter to Clear Channel wasn’t just a bad idea because it was bound to backfire, as anybody with sense could clearly see. Limbaugh has been doing outrageous things since before he was boring, and Clear Channel clearly doesn’t give a damn. If you think writing a letter was going to make the Democrats look like they supported the troops — instead of, say, getting them the hell out of a war zone — then we’ve got a bigger problem than a radio show.

Take this piece of free advice: You can never win against an intellectually dishonest opponent who has a grand rhetorical advantage over you, especially when you’re being intellectually dishonest yourself. (Did the Democrats not condemn the Republicans for wasting valuable Senate floor time to bitch about a New York Times ad by MoveOn.org? Only to turn around and do the exact same thing with Limbaugh? Hello! Are there policy people in your shop anymore?!)

You also will never win fights like this because the audience for Limbaugh is never going to believe good about you anyway. (Check out Thomas Mitchell’s column in the Review-Journal Sunday, where he compares your poll numbers to Limbaugh’s, conveniently sidestepping the issue of Limbaugh’s lies. You think people like Mitchell are ever going to come around, senator? No. They’ll make excuses for their conservative heroes so they can hate the liberals every time, even when the conservatives are wrong.)

One more bit of advice, senator, and then we’ll leave you alone: The only way to win here is to ignore Limbaugh. Don’t listen to him. Don’t care about what he says. Leave him to rant, and fulminate, and scream into his microphone. Let him call you all the names he wants. Laugh at him, for the pathetic sideshow he is. You’ve supposedly got more important things to do, don’t you? Tracking Limbaugh’s bullshit is not your job. (That’s Media Matters’ job. Or Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. But it’s not the job of the majority leader of the United States Senate.)

You lost, senator. You got punked, publicly and brutally. Please try not to let it happen again, OK?

Sometimes, a story isn’t worth an entire post. That’s where we come in. With Quick Hits, that is!

• Gov. Jim Gibbons has written to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requesting an official disaster declaration for all 17 of Nevada’s counties because of drought and wildfires. Man, don’t you just hate those big-government liberals, always looking for a handout from the government?!
  
• There’s just not enough irony in the known or theoretical universes to cover this paraphrased quote from attorney J.T. Moran, who is representing Turnberry Place residents suing because the Fontainbleau parking garage is too big: "Attorney J.T. Moran, representing a group of residents, said [District Court Judge Michael] Villani is relatively new to the bench and may not have understood Title 30."
• Oh, now we know why U.S. Rep. Dean Heller loves the Nevada-style mining tax so much, and why he’s campaigning to get the federal government to adopt the same system. It’s because they don’t have to pay! Seriously, what a tool.
  
• It’s not a really big surprise that Mitt Romney came in first (just barely) in the Values Voters Summit put on by the Family Research Council. We we’re surprised by who came in last. Can you guess? (No, not U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who favors legalizing drugs last we checked. He came in third, ahead of Fred Thompson.) No, last place went to very pro-life U.S. Sen. John McCain! And why? Well, the values voters apparently didn’t like his campaign finance reform measure, which proves once and for all what those voters really value: money and political power. Just like Jesus always wanted.
  
• Land ho! First, Las Vegas Sun Editor Brian Greenspun issues a subtle challenge to Gibbons to do the right thing, call a special session and raise taxes: "Even though he has said he will not raise taxes, as late as this past week, Gov. Jim Gibbons can be the leader he wants us to believe he is by doing the right and responsible thing. Or he can stick to his silly ideological mantra and be known as the man who ran this great ship of state into the ground." Iceberg, right ahead!
  
• Then, the editorial page of the Sun takes on the issue, too, only without Greenspun’s rosy-eyed optimism: "Once again, Gov. Jim Gibbons’ reactionary leadership style and inane adherence to his ‘no new taxes’ pledge could imperil necessary government services throughout the state." Nicely done.
  
• For the record, let us just say that we agree with the Sun. The editorial page of the Sun, that is. We don’t think there’s any chance that Gibbons won’t run the ship of state aground. In fact, since he’s been governor, he’s actually driven the ship a few miles inland, where we’re slowly disassembling it and using its once-proud wooden timbers to heat fires for our last few cans of franks and beans. Thanks a lot, Capt. Donworry B’Happy.
  
• Apparently, casinos run the town and will use their money and influence to get whatever they want, and take out whoever stands in their way. (And when we say "take out," we may mean it in the Tony Soprano sense. Gulp!)
  

Once, when Jesus‘ disciples came to him wondering how they were going to get the money to pay their taxes, he told them to go catch a fish. The disciples were surprised when they did; the fish had coins in its mouth, coins they used to pay their taxes.

We’re going to go with the latter.

So, it looks like we spoke too soon in congratulating attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey for renouncing torture. We momentarily forgot that this is the Bush administration we’re dealing with, and we’ve all got to define our terms.