December 7, 2009 5:08 PM

Reid Compares Health Battle to Emancipation, Women's Suffrage

By
Stephanie Condon
Topics
Health Care
(AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)
Updated at 5:30 p.m. ET with GOP reaction.

While members of his own party have yet to reach a consensus on certain elements of health care reform, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today called the united GOP opposition to the bill akin to opposition against women's suffrage and the emancipation of slaves.

"Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this 'slow down, stop everything, let's start over,'" Reid said on the Senate floor today, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer John Nolen reports. "You think you've heard these same excuses before? You're right."

"In this country, there were those who dug in their heels and said, 'Slow down, it's too early. Let's wait. Things aren't bad enough,' about slavery," he continued. "When women [wanted] to vote-- 'Slow down, there will be a better day to do that.'... When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today."

The senator went on to ask when Congress should reform health care, if not now.

"There are now those who don't think it is the right time to reform health care," he said. For those who feel that way, he added, "it will never, never be a good time to reform health care."

Republicans countered that Reid's comments were "desparate," CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson reports.

"They are so desperate that it is unbelievable," Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) said at the GOP's health care press conference today. "For Senator Reid to go out this morning and make such an outlandish statement like he made is just another indication of the desperation that the Democrats are showing and the pressure which they are feeling."

Standing with Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and John Thune (S.D.), Chambliss added, "I look behind me here, the three of us all voted for the civil rights bill… it's a pretty desperate act."

Coburn said that Republicans agree with Democrats that there needs to be health care reform. However, he said, "because we've been shut out of the process, we don't agree with a government centered program rather than a patient centered program, we are castigated as people who don't care about other people."

Add a Comment
by RobAla December 8, 2009 7:58 AM EST
As person from the south, I remember that it was southern Democrats who hung on to segregation. History also tells us that it was the first Republican President who freed the slaves. It was Democrat Senator Byrd who was a member of the KKK. For a Democrat Senator to compare those who disagree with his 2000 page health care bill to racists is horrible. He has gone from being a extremist who wants federal government control of everything at the expense of Americans, to personally insulting me. I call myself an independent, since I have never voted a straight Republican ticket. With the extremist socialist actions and personal insults issued by current Democrats, I am unsure whether I can bring myself to vote for another Democrat in the near future. These people seem to be drunk on federal power, consumed with government control as a religion, heartlessly abusive through oppressive taxes on citizens, and behave irresponsibly by out of control deficit spending. They have gone over the edge. They no longer believe in government for and by the people, but instead believe in government for Washington and established behind closed doors by an arrogant select few. This is wrong. President Obama campaigned on transparency, accountability, and bipartisanship. None of this is shown by the President, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate majority leader. These people are simply wrong in their intent and actions. I normally have a great deal of trouble trusting people who behave in this manner; and this is no exception.
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by endurorob_5 December 8, 2009 7:36 AM EST
The irony of the whole thing is that the entitlement programs that Reid and most other dems create and support, including health care, create a dependence on the government that is not much differnt than slavery.
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by endurorob_5 December 8, 2009 7:33 AM EST
Reid is a complete moron.
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by justdatrooth December 8, 2009 1:43 AM EST
Reid is probably THE most blatantly PARTISAN member of the US Senate. There is no place for that in government.

He'll be voted out next time around.
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by kaycay1 December 7, 2009 8:28 PM EST
Lincoln just rolled over in his grave. Nevada, please do your country a favor and vote out the joker.
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by just_semantics December 7, 2009 7:16 PM EST
Reid's ridiculous comments reflect either his ignorance or his party's desperation. This should serve as a loud alarm to the kind of people leading the charge for the government takeover of healthcare. The Dem's healthcare bill is the antithesis of freedom... the antithesis of both constitutional amendments to which Reid has referred. Heaven help us survive the onslaught of such liars and manipulators as Harry Reid and his ilk.
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by giantrobot2 December 7, 2009 7:05 PM EST
Here's my view:

Yes, women should have 100% rights over (their) body, but.... not over the body of (another) human being which happens to be inside of them.

Unequivocally the body inside her womb (is) absolutely without the shadow of one doubt (another) human being with (completely) different DNA. Half of the father and half of the mother.

There is not (one) scientist in the entire world who would say it is not (another) human being inside. It totally floors me to see how the liberal Democrats turn a blind eye to such human civilization atrocity.

50 Million children have been aborted since Roe vs Wade, that's the same population of 22 US States totally wiped out! How in the world can the liberal Democrats push not only to continue the atrocity of Roe vs Wade to go on, but now have the audacity to demand Americans pay for abortions with our taxes. This will also force doctors who don't want to give abortions to either do it or lose their license through government run health care.

My Recommendations:
1. Call your Senator today and tell them not to support Abortion.
2. Call your Senator today and tell them to overturn Roe vs Wade.
3. Change your party from Democrat to Republican that supports life.

You once were an infant too in the womb, aren't you glad your mother gave birth to you so you could experience the many joyss of life?
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by Bomber1052 December 7, 2009 6:29 PM EST
Apparently, Reid failed history. The Republican party was the anti-slavery party. It was the Democrats who fought to keep slavery legal.
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by stn_sage December 7, 2009 7:27 PM EST
True! The GOP was the anti-slavery party in the mid 19th century.

He may have failed history, I don't know. But...

He doesn't specifically state what you're inferring!

I think his comparison was MEANT specifically that GOP members are being negative and attempting to block needed progressive change!

Which...it appears to me...that he IS correct about!

It's up to GOP members or anyone voting 'nay' on the issue to respond to his comments and show us WHY he is incorrect! If they can't, that's their problem!
by The_One_King December 7, 2009 6:08 PM EST
Reid is an idiot. Someone needs to tell him that the vast majority of the American people are against this health care takeover, the democrats are trying to force on America. Also tell him that Abraham Lincoln was a republican. The sooner Reid is voted out of office, the better off America will be.
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