It's impressive really just how low the Review-Journal has sunk. We'll get to the smiling senator at left in a bit.

But first, today's front page has a no-brainer story atop the front page about the embattled "doctor" at the heart of the hepatitis crisis filing for bankruptcy to avoid potential civil suits.

It's certainly news. But the layout puts only two stories atop the fold and the other is a wire piece headlined to impugn Obama's efforts at health care reform.

The biggest Nevada story of the day is buried inside the B section and written by the Washington, D.C. correspondent with an assist from reporter Keith Rogers here. http://www.lvrj.com/news/nuclear-waste-blue-ribbon-panel-to-start-work-86253967.html

It's pretty solid. But inside the B section? We certainly wouldn't want readers to know Barack Obama and Harry Reid have finally killed the dump.

**

On to Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois. http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/durbin-says-he_s-a-fine-choice-for-deficit-panel-86320922.html

Durbin is the lede writer in today's letters to the editor. He's complaining about one of the myriad Harry Reid sucks editorials the paper has run over the past year -- this one "Reid fumbles" from Feb. 25.

It's amazing really that a high-ranking U.S. Senator has to take time out to fix the RJ editorial's errors.

We've become so accustomed to the insanity on this page, it's hard for us to pick out the real mistakes amid the sea of slander. Since so many of you have given up reading the editorial page, we'll print Durbin's letter here for you

You state, "Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 man in the Senate, is a partisan hack who has never worked a day in the private sector as an adult." That's simply wrong; in fact, before I came to Congress, I managed and owned, not one, but two small businesses.

I was the co-owner and manager of a restaurant in my hometown of Springfield, Ill., for years and later owned and managed a small law firm. Like millions of other small business owners, I know what it means to manage cash flow, make payroll, deal with budgets and suppliers and all the rest. That's hardly someone who's never worked a day in the private sector.

Your larger point, that three U.S. senators are unfit to serve on the new deficit commission because they have the temerity to be public servants who have repeatedly earned the trust of their constituents, is also specious. Had you picked up the phone, we could have explained my role in the last significant bipartisan budget agreement in 1997, where we crafted a package of tax changes, entitlement cuts and budget controls that helped generate the first balanced federal budget in nearly 30 years.

Sen. Harry Reid picked individuals with the experience, commitment and desire to put this country back on the track of fiscal responsibility. It seems the Review-Journal just wanted to pick another fight.

You say Nevadans and all Americans deserve better. So do your readers.

Dick Durbin

Washington, D.C.

The writer, a Democrat, represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate."

We couldn't agree more with his last line.