The head of the Republican Party says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) “wandered far out of bounds” when he compared Republicans to those who opposed the abolition of slavery. In a speech on the Senate floor Monday, Reid plugged his health care reform bill and criticized Republicans for not supporting the legislation: “Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is, ‘Slow down, stop everything, let’s start over,’ ” Reid said. “If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right,” he continued: “When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early, things aren’t bad enough.’” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called Reid’s comments absurd and offensive: “Reid has now compared his quest to pass the Obama-Pelosi government takeover of health care to the effort to end slavery. This is inexcusable, deeply insulting and an arrogant abuse of the Democrat party's unchecked power in Congress. This is an elected official saying anything, doing anything, running roughshod over any citizen who opposes his left-wing effort to jam big-government run health care down our throats.” Steele noted that Reid is under great pressure to pass an “experiment” that creates a new, trillion-dollar federal entitlement program and cuts $500 billion from Medicare – “all at a time when our country is in miserable debt and facing an extreme job crisis.” Maybe the pressure has cost Reid is “ability to reason,” Steele said. “To suggest that passing this horrible bill is anything akin to ridding our country of slavery is terribly offensive and calls into question Mr. Reid’s suitability to lead. Having made this disgraceful statement on the floor of the United States Senate, Mr. Reid should immediately apologize on the Senate floor to his colleagues, to his constituents, and to the American people. If he is going to stand by these statements, the Democrats must immediately reconsider his fitness to lead them,” Steele concluded. Original Article |
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