There’s been quite a bit of controversy ginned up over some remarks made by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid last week, remarks that the Review-Journal has turned into quite the publicity bonanza. But, as always with these things, a bit of perspective is in order.

First, we were in the audience on Wednesday when Reid spoke to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce at the Four Seasons hotel. As part of his remarks, Reid singled out Bob Brown, director of advertising for Stephens Media LLC, and told him he hoped the R-J was successful “…because I don’t want anything to happen to the Las Vegas Sun.”

It was a funny line; we laughed, as did the crowd. Reid’s antipathy toward the R-J is well-known, almost as much as the R-J’s toward Reid.

What we didn’t know at the time was that Reid had said something different to Brown during a chamber board members meet-and-greet earlier. During that encounter, Reid allegedly told Brown, “I hope you go out of business.”

Now, we weren’t there, so we don’t know if Reid was trying to make a joke or not. Reid’s sense of humor is as dry as the Nevada desert. But we must entertain the possibility that Reid was dead serious. And, as longtime practitioners of the journalism arts, we say, bad form, senator. Newspapers are wonderful and vital things in any community. One shouldn’t wish death upon them just because they happen to disagree with you (and, in the case of the R-J, portray you negatively most of the time).

Having said that, however, we can’t say we don’t understand where Reid is coming from. The R-J has made going after the senator a personal crusade, especially when it comes to R-J Publisher Sherm Frederick, who just happens to be our corporate overlord-in-chief. (This blog, and CityLife, are owned by Stephens Media LLC.)

Take, for example, something Frederick wrote the very day of the Quip Heard Round the Newsroom. As Reid was desperately trying to dodge Chamber Chairman Steve Hill’s perfectly reasonable question about how Democrats intend to pay for health care reform, Reid shot back with this: “I hope you all were asking that question when we started a war of choice that was the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of our country.”

(UPDATE and CLARIFICATION: In fairness, we must admit Frederick was relying upon the R-J’s version of Reid’s quote when he wrote this blog piece. In that story, Reid is quoted thus: “I hope all of you ask that when we talk about spending $1 trillion on a war of choice.” That quote could reasonably be read as applying prospectively to a current debate or future war, such as the war in Afghanistan. In fact, Reid said this: “I hope you all were asking that when we started a war of choice that was the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of our country.” Clearly, that quote applied only retrospectively, to the debate over the invasion of Iraq, which Reid has frequently called the worst foreign policy mistake in American history. We’re not sure exactly why the R-J’s writer, Jennifer Robison, didn’t have the more accurate or complete quote that appears in our notes, but it’s understandable that a person — reading the incorrect and truncated version — could have come to another conclusion about Reid’s meaning.)

He got applause, and succeeded in not directly answering Hill’s query. Oh, and nobody (besides us) noted that Reid himself voted for that war of choice, and has cast many other pro-war votes since.

Frederick, by contrast, took the opportunity to accuse Reid of abandoning the war on terror.

Now, no matter what you think of what Reid said, it’s clear he didn’t say that. Not even close.

Which brings us back to this “go out of business” business. In Sunday’s R-J, Frederick accuses Reid of trying to bully the newspaper, and vows to never yield. (No, really, he does. A sample: “If he thinks he can push the state’s largest newspaper around by exacting some kind of economic punishment in retaliation for not seeing eye to eye with him on matters of politics, I can only imagine how he pressures businesses and individuals who don’t have the wherewithal of the Review-Journal.”)

Since then, Frederick has been on KNPR-FM 88.9 and on his blog, crowing about the more than 4,000 people who’ve commented on his column. (It even made The Drudge Report!)

Now, whatever you think of what Reid said — a joke, frustration at years of negative press, or even the fervent wish for economic doom on the R-J — it’s clear Reid wasn’t trying to bully the R-J. Trust us: If the good senator could have visited doom on the newspaper, its publisher or its editorial writers, he’d have done so long ago. (And don’t think he hasn’t tried, either.)

Clearly, it’s the exact opposite of what Frederick wrote: Reid can’t bully the newspaper. And thus, he’s reduced to nasty one-liners.

Instead of taking umbrage, Frederick should be strutting about the newsroom, secure in the knowledge that his almost-weekly anti-Reid bashings have taken their toll on the senator. The R-J is in Reid’s head. He hates the paper’s coverage, but he can’t do a damn thing about it, save for gripe to the advertising director at a Chamber of Commerce event. It’s almost pathetic.

Bullying? As if. If there’s a bully in this low-stakes fight, it’s the guys who buy the ink by the tanker truckload. And since Reid has shown publicly that the R-J’s coverage really bothers him, it looks to us like the bully just ran away with Reid’s lunch money.

UPDATE: Oh, look, grown-up media are paying attention to this flap now! The New York Times’s The Caucus blog is on the case, and Politico took a look-see, too, and Reid’s people say the senator was just joking. Well, you know what they say: Inside every joke is the kernel of truth!

UPDATE 2: You gotta hate being the new guy on the political beat and getting assigned to write about a totally manufactured incident.