THANKS, HARRY: Insurers dive on Reid’s ‘bankrupt’ quote. “Comments from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about a ‘major insurance company’ on the verge of bankruptcy send already hard-hit stocks sharply lower.”

What, is he taking his lead from Chuck Schumer?

UPDATE: Chris Fountain: “Call me a cynic, but it occurs to me that these Dem’s have a vested interest in a ruined economy for the election and are doing their damndest to achieve it.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: A hedge-fund reader emails: “Reid, Schumer, and Pelosi are widely assumed to be stoking a financial Reichstag fire that would be a win-win for the permanent government. Conventional wisdom holds that economic chaos benefits the “out” presidential party, of course. Destruction of private wealth increases dependency on the central government. And a humbled private sector makes spinning the regulatory ratchet that much easier. Cynical, shameless, and in plain sight.”

They’re playing with fire, if so. And however you spin it, Reid is being shockingly irresponsible.

MORE: Reader Tom Nally writes:

I don’t think the Democrat’s strategy to hurt the economy is a politically dangerous one at all, at least in the short term. For nearly a year now, I’ve been saying this: Republicans will get blamed for the failures of Democratic policy, and this blame will be made to stick. It will stick because the major media outlets are essentially affiliates of the Democratic party.

I’ve been making this argument in an attempt to encourage disaffected conservatives to vote for John McCain (pre-Palin). I argued this: if the Dems win control of the executive branch, we (conservatives) will get none of our agenda enacted, plus we will get blamed for the failures of Democratic policies. Therefore, NOT voting for McCain will provide conservatives will no refuge.

It keeps coming back to that media thing, doesn’t it?