Harry Reid: 'I Had Nothing To Do' With Unemployment, Foreclosures

Republicans are hammering Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for comments he made to ABC News saying he bears no responsibility for Nevada's current economic crisis.

"You know that I had nothing to do with the massive foreclosures here. You know that I had nothing to do with these unemployment figures," Reid told ABC's Jonathan Karl in an interview that airs on the network Tuesday. "In fact, I've worked hard to change them. My job is to create jobs. My opponent says that is not her job to create jobs. And I think that is really wrong. I think it is my job to create jobs and I've done my best. Is there more that needs to take place? Of course, there is."

Reid added that he understands the pain that Nevadans are going through, but said he and his fellow Democrats have only helped Nevada grow over the past two decades.

"We have, as you know, the president has created, with Congress, three and a half million jobs. We have, because of what took place in the Bush years, lost eight million. So we have a long ways to go. But I think it would take a real stretch to think that I caused the problems with the economy."

Republicans pounced on Reid's comments moments after they were made public Tuesday afternoon.

"If he's going to brag about how 'no one can do more,' then Harry Reid should be judged on his record as Senate Majority Leader and he should be fired for incompetence as his state leads the nation in unemployment," said Brian Walsh, communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Clearly, Harry Reid has spent so much time at his Ritz-Carlton home in Washington that he appears literally incapable of being honest with the voters of Nevada."

Reid will face GOP nominee Sharron Angle in November, a Tea Party favorite who has alarmed some inside-the-beltway Republicans with several comments in the press, including her proposal to phase out Social Security and Medicare and a suggestion that Congress could reined in with "Second Amendment remedies."

Reid told ABC that Angle is "extreme" and offered a sort of warning for Nevada voters. "If you have a baseball game and you decide you want to substitute, you better make sure that substitute is better than the guy you're taking out," Reid said.