Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid so wants to “keep moving forward” toward passage of a health care “reform” bill that the Nevada Democrat was inspired to go back more than a century and a half to the pre-Civil War days and accuse his Republican colleagues of emulating the defenders of slavery by employing delaying tactics in the health care debate. Then the distinguished majority leader joined his fellow Democrats in denying an up or down vote on an amendment to ban taxpayer funding of abortion as part of the nationalization of health care. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nevada, would deny the use of government subsidies to provide coverage for abortions. It is similar to the provision included in the health care bill passed by the House Saturday night. That amendment, championed by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, passed by a vote of 240-194. That cleared the way for passage of the health plan, as a number of conservative Democrats felt free to drop their opposition once the anti-abortion language had been added. The bill still passed by a narrow margin, however, in a 220-215 vote.

But the Senate late Tuesday afternoon voted 54-45 to table Nelson’s amendment. Reid repeated the White House line that government-subsidized health care plans under the legislation favored by the Democrats would not effectively negate the long-standing Hyde Amendment that bans the use of Medicaid money to pay for abortions of low-income women, except in extreme cases. 

"I've consistently cast my vote against abortion," Reid said, but added: "We have to keep moving toward the finish line and cannot be distracted by detours or derailed by diversions." Echoing Obama, the Democratic leader insisted, "This is a health care bill, it is not an abortion bill."

Just two Republicans, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, voted for tabling the amendment. Only seven Democrats voted against tabling and thus killing the provision to bar federal funding of abortion. Joining Nelson in support of the amendment were: Bob Casey of Pennsylvania; Evan Bayh of  Indiana; Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, both of North Dakota; Ted Kaufman of Delaware; and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Nelson said he will filibuster against the Senate bill if it does not have an anti-abortion amendment.

On Monday Reid outraged Republicans by comparing opponents of the health care legislation to the defenders of slavery in the 19th Century and those who fought and filibustered against anti-segregation laws a century later. 

“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. 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.

“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 that we hear today,” Reid said.

The majority leader’s comment left some Republicans on Capitol Hill wondering if Harry Reid is panicking, “or is he really that stupid?” Some were quick to point out that the defenders of slavery in the 19th Century and the Jim Crow laws of last century were mostly Democrats. The Republican Party under Lincoln and in the years following his assassination ended slavery, passing a constitutional amendment prohibiting it when the Civil War had ended. Civil rights legislation in the last third of the 19th Century was passed by Republican Congresses during Republican administrations. The civil rights bills passed by Democratic-controlled Congresses in the 1950’s and 60’s were enacted only with the overwhelming support of the minority party. The historic Civil rights Act of 1964, for example, was submitted by the Kennedy White House and was pushed through Congress and signed by Lyndon Johnson. But it passed in Congress because most Republican members voted for it, while a majority of Democratic senators and representatives, based largely in the South, opposed it. In 1957, Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, then a Democrat, set the all time record for filibustering against a bill, speaking for more than 24 consecutive hours against a civil rights bill.

If anyone in today’s “mainstream” two-party politics deserves to be compared to the slave owners of the antebellum South or the slave traders of the North, it is the champions of abortion “rights” who maintain that it is morally right to allow people to dispose of the lives of other human beings as though they were personal, disposable property. It is even worse to require those who are morally opposed to that practice to support it with their tax dollars.

But that argument may be far too subtle for Reid, who claims to be opposed to abortion but has made no noticeable attempt to change his party’s stand in favor of the “right” to kill pre-born babies as a matter of personal “choice.” As for the charge about health care “reform” opponents emulating the tactics of slaveholders and segregationists, some Republicans called if “offensive” and “unbelievable.” Some even said it was “beneath the dignity” of the majority leader.

It remains to be seen if anything is beneath the dignity of Harry Reid. 

Jack Kenny is a freelance writer living in New Hampshire. Send him an email at jkenny2@netzero.com.


 

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rprew said:

Harry Reid and His Cast of Idiots sing Disco Duck For someone who is supposedly opposed to abortion, Harry Reid has a funny way of showing it. Regardless, whether or not the healthcare bill funds or doesn't fund abortions is a moot point. If enacted, abortion would be funded. If not directly, then indirectly via loop holes or judicial action. Forget abortion. A bad idea is a bad idea. The degree of wrong is immaterial. Wrong is wrong. A healthcare bill is unconstitutional, economically infeasible, and morally unconscionable. (I might also add that Harry Reid seems to be a tad lacking in his knowledge of history.)

report abuse vote down vote up

December 09, 2009
Votes: +2

DDW said:

	How about Tax payer provided frontal lobotomies for political hacks and bureaucrats who think it's alright to murder innocent, defenseless unborn babies?
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 09, 2009
Votes: +2