Reid Compares Health Reform Bill with Slavery, Suffrage

It will be slavery if it passes!
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.” Lincoln

Lovely — Reid makes a very impassioned speech, but someone needs to remind him, that in all his examples the folks who have stalled the process in the past were DEMOCRATS not republicans.
The abolition of Slavery was done by Republicans and opposed by souther Democrats.
Women’s sufferage was championed by Republicans and opposed by Democrats.
Civil Rights was supported by Republicans and opposed by southern Democrats.
Now that Republicans are balking at a bill that will raise taxes on the middle class, expand an already exploding national debt, cut healthcare availability for the nation’s seniors, and above all else create government control of a major portion of our economy and a major portion of our lives, Reid has the audacity to make these comparisons. Are you people in Nevada listening? Can you PLEASE send him packing for all our sakes?

Reid appears to be an “angry man” and will say anything when he isn’t getting his way.

BOb–”The GOP – the party of NO. Nothing for the advancement of the people by God! Too expensive, too soon and too much socialism they cry. It may be expensive but it’s time by God!”—
Stop with the “party of No” garbage. It just showns that you have little in the way of real comments to add tot he debate. How does this bill advance “the people”? It raises taxes, fines people who don’t have coverage, cuts care to seniors, and takes control from the peopel and gives it to the government…

How low will they go?
This is a new low for Reid…and that’s saying something.

The democratic and republican parties of today are hardly the democratic and republican parties of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln had far more in common with the modern democratic party than he does with the modern republicans.
I’d like to point out that “socialist Canada” has *LOWER* taxes than the US, once you take into account the amount of money we spend on health care.
And there’s nothing stopping you from purchasing non-governmental health care if you want to supplement your coverage.
Stop spreading FUD. If the republicans want to come up with an alternative to a public option, that’s fine, but right now, they’re contributing *NOTHING* to the health care debate.
So far, the GOP’s only serious plan is to force us all to pay for health insurance, while providing no method by which the poor can afford to pay for insurance, nor any assurances that we won’t be held hostage by the insurance companies.

I’m not going to address health insurance reform here. I have my views and they are a mix of good and bad from both sides.
But comparing passing a health insurance reform bill NOW instead of a few months later to the struggles of enslaved people of every race.
And comparing it to the struggles we women of America to be acknowledged as equals is only slightly less offensive than comparing it to slavery.
I know politicians have this overwhelming need to posture and grandstand but this goes beyond the bounds of reason.
I am insulted as a women and embarrassed as a white (well 1/4 Cherokee) person that a white man would compare the need to pass reform NOW to those 2 two abominations of decency and freedom.
Please, Senator Reid, you have to be intelligent to have reached your position. Surely you can come up with worthy reasons to pass health insurance now without such ridiculous comparisons as that.

Another Democrat next week will call people opposed to it as racists, the following week after that they will call them Nazi’s.
——
Next week? The following week?
Tina, you’re a little behind. I’ve already been called both and a lot worse just for disagreeing with some of the bills.
I just wish some folks with come up with some new names with which to insult me. Getting bored with all the repetitions.

“Reid Compares Health Reform Bill with Slavery” – ABC News
Huuummmmm . . . . . .
Sounds Racist to me and a bad idea to boot.
If Reid wants to pass this thing he should compare it to fluffy bunny hugs with feel good feelings for all!
: o )

GOOD , & BRAVO, FOR YOU SENATOR REID, TELL IT LIKE IT IS,AND PLEASE DON’T APOLOGIZE, OR TAKE IT BACK, BECAUSE EVERY WORD YOU SAID WAS TRUE ,THE REPUBLICANS DON’T GIVE A DAMM ABOUT THE POOR OR MIDDLE CLASS, OR IF THEY HAVE HEALTH INS. TAKE THEIR HEALTH INS. AWAY FROM THEM (THAT WE PAY FOR ) JUST ASK ONE OF THEM BOEHNER, IF HE WILL GIVE UP HIS HEALTH INSURANCE, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HIS REPLY, ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER REPUBLICANS WHO ARE STOPPING THIS BILL, DON’T GIVE UP SEN. REID, AND DON’T LET THEM SCARE YOU, THE TACTICS THEY ARE USING ARE UNFORGIVEABLE, GROSS & DANGEROUS! AGAIN BRAVO FOR YOU SENATOR REID!!!!!!

In 2010 the Democrats are going down! That’s where they’re going!

This garbage by Reid is Twenty Billion miles beyond absurd, and preposterous!!!Democrats are not smart enough to think before they open their mouths!!!

CC Pennes, please don’t shout. You will be more respected, and your posts taken seriously, if you turn off the caps.
Many make a point of ignoring people who ‘yell’.

jonny, please read my request addressed to CCPennes.
Let’s bring some decorum back to these posts. We don’t have to act like those in Congress, do we?

Call me dumb but doesn’t Harry have a majority that if they voted the way he desires it would give him the votes to pass this? So it really doesn’t matter what the Republicans say or do which makes me wonder why all this nastiness Harry?
Stimulus bills co-written by one organizing group, Appollo, now a healthcare bill written by a convict. Hope,change and the most open White House ever!
By the way, what happens to the uninsured the next 3 years until this health bill kicks in? If they get sick or have a horrible disease will they have to wait for help until then for treatment? Is a plan that waits 3 years to treat the sick really about healthcare?

Cutting Medicare by $500 Billion will be responsible for the death of thousands.
You people that work for a living will pay thousands more every year.
Whats the rush, benefits wont kick in for 5 years. The taxes and fees start the minute it passes.
Millions of people will swell the Medicaid roles, forcing states to impose huge tax increases.
This is not about health care, it’s about more power, control and money.

keep at it harry buddy, you communist.. your days are numbered as senator. your approval numbers are in the toilet. pass this crap go ahead…it will be hte last thing you do as leader. you might as well get that ax ready.. you will be choppin wood in some reomote part of nevada this time next year. or more probably, your wife, probably will be doin that for ya

Linda,
How will the current legislation curb costs?
Will there be a national health board now that dictates allowed and required screenings.
You think a government beauracrat like those that deny SSI and Veterans claims are going to be your advocate for care? Try being a veteran and see how many years your file is in the pending hopper (Over a million back log right now) Or being severely disabled, but having to hire a lawyer who will take your benefits to argue your case before the Social Security Administration.
As a disbled Vet, I have experience in the major beauracies of VA and DOD. The socialized medicine they provide is not up to the standard you want your fellow Americans to be subjected to.

If Reid is trying to get sympathy from minorities he lost that one as stated REPULICANS ENDED SLAVORY, over the objections of the Democrates, same with WOMENS RIGHTS, imbacile.

Harry Reid is such a fool, even Pelosi, who is a tried and true Socialist couldn’t stand to be touched by him. He does look like he might have leprosy. He is also brain dead. Hopefully, he will be voted out in 2010.

Lincoln is rolling over in his grave. Harry needs a history lesson!!

Its obvious Harry needs to be examined by a doctor! Nutbag!

And this man is Majority Leader of the Senate? Speaks volumes for the small mindedness of the majority in the Senate. How do these people get elected? Just so you know, Jonny and CC, this insurance is not Free. All Congressmen need to be forced to give up their current coverage and take what they about to force on the rest of America. Hypocrites all of them. Anyone with a brain can see that this is a BAD idea for Americans. STOP the insanity NOW.

I hope Nevada wises up and votes this guy out. He doesnt represent the people. He represents socialists.

I don’t think Sen. Reid was trying to say that Republicans were responsible for past fillibusters. I think he was saying that this tactic is always used when resisters want to preserve the status quo. This time it happens to be Republicans who want to maintain the status quo.

To Linda and the others who see nothing wrong with it: that just shows how racist you are. Comparing a health care bill to centuries of oppression against blacks is just plain wrong. This was a racist statement. Reid clearly has no concept of what it means to be a slave. Eight days versus 200 years – get of your high horse and give me a break. This is an insult to every American descendant of slavery. I suppose you’d think it was okay if he compared it to the holocaust next? It amazes me how many sexist, racist, and inappropriate remarks I hear from democrats and somehow people still think they represent minorities. Wake up!

for a dem, if a republican said the same thing, it would be very evil. The fact that those here can’t see this, proves how bankrupt their position is.

I FIND IT TRUE…..NOT INSULTED.

We have heard those words before and Reed is right.
The Republicans said it, even when Civil rights issue of the late 50s and early 60s. Yep the Republicans did say slow down then.
When ERA was an issue in the late 60s, The Republicans said to slow down then.
Evangelical conservative Republicans continue to say that women belong in the kitchen and that it is ERA that is at fault of taking away jobs from men.
Now Republicans are demanding an apology because Reed stated the truth about the Republicans.
Gee Republicans can you hold your breath?
There is no apology for speaking the truth.

Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent, Everyone’s Primary Goal must be to Contained our SkyRocketing Healthcare Spending.
We must used some Stimulus Fuds, to Build Smart/Intelligent Infrastructure Services for: Healthcare IT, Smart Grids, Transportation Systems, and Broadband. This Investment will Enabled New Jobs Creation and Economic Recoovery.
Now, it is The Time for Healthcare IT, with Harmonized, Inter-State Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Policies for Protection of Individual’s Electronic Health Records (EHR)/Electronic Medical Records (EMR)/Personal Health Records (PHR).
Proper Deployment of Health Information Technology (HIT) Solutions and Training will Increased Productivity (i, e, medical data mining/warehousing, risks treatment, service dellivery), Efficiency (i, e, medical errors, redundant and inappppropriate care), and have a Costs Savings of around 20-30% of our Annual National Healthcare Expenditures (2008, $2.5 Trillions).
The Engine of Economic Growth in this 21st Century is “Broadband.” We can start by, Deploying a pure Packet-based, All Optical/IP, Multi-Service National Transport Network Infrastructuree, using Optical Ethernet throughout this National “Network of Networks.” This can then Connect All Optical Islands, Nationwide.
The Investment in this “Network of Networks”, in addition to New Jobs Creation and Economic Recovery, can also Serve as a Business Driver for: e-Healthcare, e-Commerce, e-Education, Energy Systems, Transportation Systems, Social Networking, Entertainment, etc.
This type of Investment is like the Investments that were made in ths past, in Electrification of Rural Areas, and in the National Transportation Inter-State Hiighways, which Increased Productivity and our GDP.
Gadema

Let’s see… the complaint is too expensive. The insurance industry points to malpractice lawsuits for the rise in prices, the government points to the insurance industry (as if they’re somehow operating as a secret cabal raising prices needlessly in concert). They bemoan the lack of competition in insurance, yet won’t allow them to sell it across state lines.
The forces of Washington that want bigger government, more central control, more money flowing through government coffers, etc have been proposing government health care every year for over 85 years now, and yet we’re told it’s an IMMEDIATE CRISIS! Obstructing it is trying to stop history, deny human rights, keep slavery intact, and eat babies with catsup!
My new rule of thumb is… if there aren’t live helicopter camera shots on cable… it’s NOT an immediate crisis.

Linda
AARP is a very liberal organization that will support anything the dems say no matter what it is. The shouting out in the Presidents speech is because he was lying, and if you look it up the bill was changed a few days later so that it would only cover citizens of this country. The GOP does have ideas, no one will look at them. The libs wrote the majority of this bill and will not take any more ideas from anyone that does not have a D behind there name. As far as ideas from them, open state lines to sell health insurance (more compitition better prices) put caps on the amount people can sue a doctor for (worked for the airlines) cheaper liability insurance for docs = lower health costs for us!!
This bill does nothing to lower costs. It is only going to raise taxes and let the government eventually, it would take time but it would happen, tell me what kind of health treatments I can get!! When you have a government that loves to print money and raise taxes the private sector will not be able to compete and someday down the road we will all be forced to have government insurance!!!!

There’s something that Republicans and conservatives seem to forget, and it bugs me. Not every Democrat is a liberal. Some of us are Moderates. Please keep that in mind. Typically we’re called “blue collar,” “blue dog,” or “conservative” Democrats.
What Senator Reid may have been a little harsh. As a woman, I would have been hard pressed to make that comparisson, but he that’s where he took his argument. I am certain it was for shock. Who isn’t guilty of that crime.
One must remember that these people (every one of them, Dem and Rep) are on par with used car salespeople. They will say anything to sale an idea. Also everyone in Congress needs to be tossed out and replaced. I would like to see that happen. I would like to see them replaced with Independents.
My last point is that we need Health Care Reform. I’m not so sure if we’re going about it correctly. However insurance companies are taking advantage of the masses and have been for decades. For example, I have pre-existing conditions that have followed me since childhood. There should be a law that disallows insurance companies from charging outrageous fees to denying a client alltogether for pre-existing conditions.
Another example would be premiums. Insurance companies should not be allowed to suddenly raise their premiums to astronomical heights. I realize that they are running a business, however they are runninin a business which is based on serving people.
In the end, whenever I start thinking negatively of health care reform I think about that young girl who had Cigna for insurance. Something happened to her liver, and she needed a transplant. Cigna denied her, and she died. I remember this, because I was in college covered by Cigna under my mom’s insurance. President Obama (and I gather what some people think of him, I have some faith in him) said that wouldn’t happen under his plan. So that’s some light in the dark, I think.

Please people stop playing with time! Like the rest of the world is stupid!. The Democratic party during the time of Lincoln “Is the republican party of today!! Everyone but republicans seems to know their own history. Only when they gave the “Blacks” the right to vote and blacks started joining the Democratic party did they flee their own party and went to the party they despised for freeing the slaves. They become republicans. So don’t take created for something you did do and did like! now…

Reid’s salary is paid through mandated taxes that citizens are forced to pay under threat of fine/law. He is given a better salary and package of benefits than the majority of the taxpayers who pay his salary through a job in which he tries to control even more of salaries and benefits of taxpayers without them having equal say in the direction of his benefits package, yet he thinks he’s not benefitting from a kind of slavery? Really?

Are you all kidding? Reid is pointing out the argument that is always made by people who oppose this kind of progress. People, who most agree, WERE on the wrong side of history. It is common knowledge that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and that Southern Deomocrats opposed civil rights legislation. People who don’t know that should go back to school. If you are inferring from his comments that he is saying only Democrats good and Republicans bad, maybe we should forget about health care and focus on the educational system. It is appalling how little many of you know about history, grammar and spelling.

Reid also called opponents “Nazis” and worse:

Love it, love it, love it!
Finally someone has the guts to call out the GOP for the lying, scheming, little weasels that they are! GOP = Hypocrites

To anon: you said the parties aren’t even the same as when Lincoln was President, you are right, the GOP was more conservative. Which means the Dems are even farther away (several times over). Try reading a couple of Lincoln’s autobiography (and the one by his wife).
To linda: Of course the AARP supports it, that is because the provision eliminates all their competition for supplemental coverage and only allows AARP-versioned coverage. BTW, using a company that supports something b/c they will benefit from it only proves that they care about their profit not their people.

I believe all Harry Reid was saying is that in the past those wo did this sort of thing were proven wrong. What he is doing is comparing how his own party obstructed progress now its the Repubs. The Repubs are the “right to lifers”. Why is it once you’re born you lose that right. A child never being born is somehow worse than allowing a person to suffer and deterioate in agony. I do not have all the answers but the longer I listen to the self righteous I realize thay have no clue.

Its amazing to me that some Politicians can LIE directly to Americans on Television no less…and think that we dont notice. American Voters trust people yes, but only to a point. Reid will be out of office soon.
BTW: Freedom is a right – Free-health services are not. Still if we want to insure the “uninsured” or 15M americans, lets do that alone… then when there is a smart-well designed reform bill we can lower the costs….

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the REAL SLAVERY is when citizens will not have authority over the care of their own health while carring this massive and outragous debt to fund a lousy system
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Splendid ideas, I have been wondering how to start writing my speech which is due in next month, thanks for that complete resource. I will be looking forward for more interesting things.