Harry Reid

[GOPBasher]

I can't believe how much people dislike this guy. Yes, he's pro-life, with some exceptions. But that is just ONE issue. Come on, do we really need a litmus test? Look at the overall picture. He's outstanding on education, health care, environment, fiscal/budget issues, labor/union issues, housing for the poor, etc. Plus, he's liberal on all the other social issues, besides abortion. The Christian Coalition hates him, gives him really bad marks, which makes him a friend of mine. :-)

See for yourself. Check out his education, environment and health care ratings -- the liberal groups give him good marks. Same goes for labor and union issues. Also, we can tell he's good on housing for the poor and fiscal issues because the conservative groups give him horrible ratings (League of Private Property Voters, for example).

Here's the link: http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=S0561103

[renaissanceguy]

1. Take a gender/women's rights class sometime.

You'll see that abortion and contraception have EVERYTHING to do with basic human rights.


-----------------------------------------------
JESUS W. BUSH has arrived! Outspoken and hilarious political merchandise at www.cafepress.com/liberalissues

[GOPBasher]

2. Wait, contraception is a different issue. Reid's all for that.

And I agree that abortion is an important issue. But it's still not the ONLY issue. Would you vote for a pro-choice Republican who disagrees with you on 99% of the issues?

[Walt Starr]

8. The ultimate goal of tha anti-choicers is to end contraception

and that's a FACT!

[GOPBasher]

11. The overwhelming majority of the people would be against that!

And that's a fact!

[Walt Starr]

14. Chip away, chip away

Used to be the Democcrats were 100% pro-choice, now that's being thrown overboard.

[bryant69]

13. All pro life people want to end contraception

Hmmmmmm. I wonder if there's a sliver of a possibility that that just might be an unfair generalization.

Bryant
check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Walt Starr]

15. Please, don't put words into my mouth

I suggest you investigate the leadership of the anti-choice movement and what their goals actually are.

[bryant69]

24. OK let me ask you a question

Does Harry Reid want to end contraception? Or to put it another way, how does this logic sound to you. Harry Reid is pro-life/Anti-choice. The Pro-Life/Anti-Choice movement is anti-contreception. Therefore Harry Reid is at least tacitly anti-contraception regardless of what he has actually said about contraception.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[GOPBasher]

17. Thank you!

[Walt Starr]

20. That wasn't what I said and you know it

:grr:

[GOPBasher]

22. First of all, let's try not to get mad.

We can have a reasonable discussion. I know that's not what you said. But what I'm saying is, tens of millions of people in this country are pro-life. I haven't seen polls on contraception, but I would imagine that the vast majority of them are not against contraception. Yes, their leadership may be, but I don't want to get the leadership to vote for us, just the rank and file.

[Walt Starr]

34. You'll never get those people to vote for Democrats

No matter how many core issues you are willing to throw overboard.

All you will accomplish is driving even more people from the party.

[sherilocks]

35. The anti-choice people regard the birth control pill

akin to abortion because it prevents the fertilized egg, their concept of a baby, from implanting on the unterus. And yes, many anti-choicers are opposed to the BCP and the pill is on their agenda.

[DireStrike]

3. Opposition is melting a bit.

Mine, anyway. He seems good enough. I have to look into his exact abortion thoughts, but at least he's not proving to be a softie like we all thought.

[latteromden]

4. Thank you! Look at the rest of his record, he's a DEMOCRAT through and

through. Abortion should not define our party nor who we support - not to mention, one can be pro-life but still agree with abortion being "safe, legal, and rare."

I wish more people would look past the abortion issue, important as it is, because, honestly, the Senate is not going to decide it, and he's on the liberal side on nearly EVERYTHING else.

[GOPBasher]

5. "liberal side on nearly EVERYTHING else"

Exactly! Thank you!

[Mend]

6. Does he want to ban legalized abortion....

yes or no?

[GOPBasher]

7. With some exceptions, yes.

I disagree with him on that issue, but I agree with him on 98% of the issues. Many issues are more important to me personally than abortion -- separation of church and state, foreign policy, environment, balanced budgets and paying down the debt, education, health care, safety net, and union/labor issues.

[Walt Starr]

9. Then he's a piece of shit

worse than Daschle.

[GOPBasher]

10. What about all the other issues?

Do you agree or disagree with his stance all the other issues in the world -- everything besides abortion?

[Walt Starr]

16. Throw that issue overboard and all other issues are meaningless

That's my litmus test. If the Democratic Party caves on this, I'm done with it and I won't be alone.

[GOPBasher]

19. Not my litmus test.

I have litmus tests on environment, separation of church and state, basic new deal labor laws, etc. I have many. That's not one of them. Although I'm pro-choice, I can certainly understand why people would be pro-life. If you consider a fetus to be a person, you must be pro-life. I can't hold it against people when they are pro-life.

[Walt Starr]

21. I draw specific lines

cros them, and no vote. Choice is a specific line. I am EXTREMELY close to saying fuck it I'm Green.

[GOPBasher]

23. Fair enough. I respect that.

Just please respect my position. I have other litmus test issues, and that's not one of them.

[Pepperbelly]

27. he has much higher ratings from PP and NARL than I expected.

here http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=S0561103

He and share many of the same friends and almost all of the same enemies. Harry is okay in my book.

[Walt Starr]

37. Harry Reid is less than acceptable for the minority leader position, IMO

Tim Roemer as DNC chair is the last straw for this camel's back.

[sherilocks]

36. Reid's Civil Liberty votes and war votes are piss poor

Post borrowed from the LBN forum and written by Damkira

"I don't like his ACLU ratings one bit

2001-2002 On the votes that the American Civil Liberties Union considered to be the most important in 2001-2002 , Senator Reid voted their preferred position 40 percent of the time.

2000 On the votes that the American Civil Liberties Union considered to be the most important in 2000 , Senator Reid voted their preferred position 29 percent of the time."
____________

In addition Reid voted yes on the giving chimp the power to go to war in Iraq and yes on all the funding for the war.

I'm not impressed. Reid is a good Democratic Senator for his own state, but not as the minority leader of the Senate.

[Lucille]

12. Harry Reid is an interesting character, it seems, and a fighter

It seems that "boring" and "soft-spoken" persona covers up nerves of steel and a guy who was tough enough to take on the mob.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2111392/

Reid may not be the most colorful figure in Washington, but his career is far more interesting than that of the average senator. In politics, Nevada is the next best thing to Louisiana. To take just one example, is there another U.S. senator who has been part of the inspiration for a character in a Martin Scorsese film? (A character played by Dick Smothers, no less.) In Casino, Robert DeNiro's character melts down in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission after the commission denies him a license to operate a casino. The scene is loosely based on a December 1978 hearing when Reid was the commission's chairman, and some of the dialogue spoken by Smothers is taken directly from Reid's words during the hearing. (The rest of the scenes involving Smothers, who plays a composite politician known only as "Senator," have nothing to do with Reid.)

------

Sure, Reid can sap these stories of some of some of their innate interest. "Well, it's true that when I served with the Gaming Commission that I had a number of threats on my life," he told me during a brief interview earlier this week. When talking about taping the windows in his house to protect his family from the threat of shattered glass, he used the same tone that he used to discuss the importance of Senate procedure. But no matter what tone you use to discuss the fact that your wife once discovered a bomb wired to one of the family cars, it's not boring.

Besides, on other occasions, Reid can, despite his reputation, give good quote. He has called the move to put a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain the "Screw Nevada Law." {edit: He also called * a liar}
---------

And here's another story from Reid's tenure as chairman of the gaming commission: A man named Jack Gordon, who later married LaToya Jackson, tried to give Reid a $12,000 bribe. Reid let the FBI videotape Gordon offering him the bribe, and then, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal account, he "put his hands around Gordon's neck and said, 'You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me.'" That's right, Senate Democrats are being led by a man who once tried to strangle LaToya Jackson's future husband-manager. You call that boring?
------

Even if he had never served on the gaming commission, Reid's biography would still be a better read than the average senator's. He is the son of an alcoholic gold miner who killed himself. His mother did laundry for, in Reid's words, "houses of ill repute." He once disguised himself as a homeless man and spent the night at a mission in Las Vegas. nomination. Quirkily, he never says good-bye, even to his children, when he hangs up the phone. He once filibustered the Republicans for nine hours, by himself, by reading from the history book he wrote about his hometown of Searchlight, Nev. (Even better, the reason for the filibuster was to prevent the GOP from protesting the delaying tactics being used by Democrats.)

[GOPBasher]

18. Interesting read. Thanks for that!

[Lucille]

28. I understand he's an expert on procedure

That may be why he's there; he opposes Frist, who knows how to skin a cat, but is a novice when it comes to the rules.

I don't know anything about the guy except that he is on the "other side" of an issue I, and others here, care about. I confess I'm filled with a great deal of angst over his abortion stand. But maybe he was chosen because he's tough--and because he looks and acts like something he is not. He doesn't have Bushy's swagger. But that's because he's tough on the inside.

I think we could do worse than have a tough, take-no-prisoners fighter on our side. And if his stand on abortion weakens the Republicans' claim of being the party of morality (and dems being the party of partial birth abortions) I'm all for it...as long as no laws actually change.

In this culture, It's all about appearances, as the Republicans know--better than we do.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

50. It is appearances and nothing else. If Reid and Roemer give us....

the facade of Pro-Life and it gets us votes WITHOUT overturning Roe v. Wade, then I am all for Reid's leadership!

[pscot]

44. I watched part of that on C-span

His manner was disarmingly easy-going. He never raised his voice or showed any sign of anger or irritation, but he had a point to make and he made it. He's got some grit. He won't back down before republican bullying. And there are plenty of senators who are willing to hold his feet to the fire over choice. Republicans don't have enough votes for cloture on that issue anyway, so Ried's position is moot.

[nascarblue]

25. Have the new Christian report cards come out yet?

I think Reid is OK. He might prove to be a tough customer. Bush did screw him on Yucca Mountain. He promised Reid he wouldn't dump nuke waste and he renigged. Plus he's come out against Bush's bunk Social Security plans. What I'd like to see is someone finally stand up and call BUsh a liar. No one seems to want to say what we all know to be true.

[GOPBasher]

26. Yeah, I'm glad he's fighting Bush's SS ideas.

[latteromden]

29. Straight from Reid's mouth:

"President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country."

Ouch. Lying AND betrayal all in one.

[GOPBasher]

30. Thanks for that quote!

[Crowdance]

31. What if he were a racist, not "just" a sexist? Would that be OK?

What if his ONE issue was that he thought African Americans shouldn't have access to medical treatment for sickle cell anemia? What if he's really great on social security, but believes, in his heart, very thoughtfully and very consistently, that Jews shouldn't be allowed to choose treatment for Tay-Sachs disease. When the heck does ONE issue amount to something? Apparently, only when men are affected.

I am disgusted that so many who call themselves "liberal" and Democrats can so blithely bargain away the rights of their fellow human beings.

[latteromden]

32. That's a silly analogy; I'm sure he's against abortion for men, too.

:evilgrin:

(Kidding!)

[GOPBasher]

33. Sorry, but I don't see how being pro-life makes one "sexist."

It simply means one believes that human life begins at conception. He has decent ratings from women's organizations, so on other women's issues, I think he must be pretty good.

On edit: As for calling myself a liberal, what should I call myself. I'm left of center on every issue, including abortion. I'm pro-choice; it's just not a litmus test for me.

[Walt Starr]

38. The anti-Choice stance is placing a higher value on a lump of cells

than on a woman's rights.

[Crowdance]

40. It's not that simple.

And most of us are not so simple as to believe it is.

I have several litmus tests for human decency, and respect for the moral agency and value of all human beings is at the top of my list. But I'm funny that way.

[Cookie wookie]

41. Kerry said it during the campaign:

That he is not pro-abortion but that, ""Abortion should be rare, but it should be safe and legal -- and the government should stay out of the bedrooms of America." <http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/23/kerry.abortion/>

The article linked also quotes Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt: "Feldt described Kerry as a strong supporter of global women's rights and said he 'understands women's very humanity is determined by our ability to control our own reproductive destiny.' "

This is about women's freedom to make a personal, medical, spiritual and moral choice in their own lives, without the government and law enforcement being involved. The people who are "pro-life" don't care about the babies. Once they are born, do they take care of them? No. Do they care about all the innocent people killed in the wars of the leaders they support? No.

This is about power and control, domination over women.

[genieroze]

48. read # 5

http://www.thefreespeechzone.net/html/fascism.html

[Obviousman]

39. I want to see the guy in action

n/t
William Donohue

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. Another Red state, pro-pregnancy, senator as "leader".

While the majority of Democrats are in the Blue states and pro-choice.

What's wrong with this picture?

Oh, right, we have to appeal to the middle to be "electable".

[David Zephyr]

43. Harry Reid Sells His Votes in Congress on a Par Equal to Republicans

"Lawmakers try to treat the subject as unremarkable in a bipartisan sort of way. Senator Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has had three sons and a son-in-law involved in firms that lobby the government or litigate for industries seeking government benefits. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid for their services. This has made Mr. Reid, as co-chairman of the ethics committee, the focal point for the critics demanding that efforts be made to regulate such cozy practices. While insisting that he is above impropriety, Senator Reid has just sent an unexpected jolt through the Capitol's lobbyists by calling for a 'Senate-wide review of policies that relate to lobbying practices.'

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Kith_%26_Kin_Inc.

[reprobate]

45. Pro-choice is not a litmus test.

It's a basic statement of human rights. Without this choice, there s NO Human rights. This is the basic test of the privacy of one's body, and the right of every human being to decide what to do with one's body.

There is no more important right for anyone. The movement to deny this right is the as evil as a movement to deny freedom of speech.

[Hippo_Tron]

46. Dick Durbin is about 10 times better and is stuck in the number two spot

Reid wants to "dance" with Bush. Durbin is an outspoken critic of the administration. Durbin and Boxer are on the floor on an almost daily basis giving speeches that point at the atrocities of the administration's agenda. Reid's criticisms are much farther and fewer.

[Walt Starr]

51. I live in Illinois, if the Democratic Party continues on the path

to the right, I won't even vote for Durbin come 2006.

[Hippo_Tron]

52. Durbin is pushing the party to the left

You're blaming the wrong guy for the DLC takeover, because he's fighting against that. He's leader of the senate progressive group.

[genieroze]

47. The point is he's not a woman and has NO right telling women

what to do with their bodies. Guess what, I'm personally pro life. That means I wouldn't have an abortion. What that means is that I would not force my personal beliefs on other women and that's pro choice. You can personally be against abortion without forcing it on others. I think that's what Kerry is.

[AlFrankenFan]

49. GOPBasher, you are wonderful

Harry Reid is awesome, a wonderful Democrat. I don't care what they all say - he is a man of his convictions.

[Cookie wookie]

53. deleted

[wankawanka]

54. i agree abortion is like gun control it is a losing issue