This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took to the Senate floor to make a plea for passing health care reform, comparing it to the fight for civil rights, women’s suffrage and an end to slavery. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) took offense.
Here’s what Reid said:
Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is this:, ‘slow down, stop everything, let’s start over.’ If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right. 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, let’s wait, things aren’t bad enough.’ When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted they simply, slow down, there will be a better day to do that, today isn’t quite right. 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 we hear today.
Hatch, later on Fox News, said the speech was “extremely offensive.”
“If you go back into the civil rights debate, it was the Republicans who helped get it through. If you go back to women’s rights, Republicans have always been there,” Hatch said. “I could go on and on.”
“Harry’s a friend, but he shouldn’t have used that language,” he said, adding that it was a “slap in the face” to both Republicans and Democrats.
