Politics turn ugly as Harry Reid the distinguished Senator from Nevada called House Republicans “Fanatics and Tea Party Anarchists.”
On September 23, 2013 Senator Harry Reid of Nevada asked for permission to address the United States Senate regarding House Republican underhanded attempts to de-fund the Affordable Care Act. The Senator at one point got ugly about it by referring to House Republicans “fanatics and Tea Party Anarchists.”
“Mr. President, inside the House Republican bubble, the crowd cheered a plan to deny health insurance to tens of millions of Americans or else shut down the government. Outside the House Republican bubble, the reaction was altogether different. The radical tea party plan to shut down the government unless Democrats agree to deny funding to implement ObamaCare–passed by the House of Representatives on Friday–has been called “the dumbest idea ever” by one Republican Senator. It has been called a “box canyon” -a morass from which Republicans will not escape unscathed–by a second Republican Senator. It has been called “dishonest” by one Republican Senator and a “suicide note” by another Republican Senator. So, Mr. President, the reviews are in, and they are universal: The ransom demanded by House Republicans in exchange for keeping the government open is unworkable and unrealistic.”
“President Obama has been clear, and I have been clear: Any bill that defunds ObamaCare is dead on arrival in the Senate. The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land for 4 years now. Democrats are willing to work with reasonable Republicans to improve this law. But we now understand that there is an anarchy movement that is afoot. A lead editorial in the New York Times of Wednesday of last week said that. But we are not going to bow to tea party anarchists who deny the mere fact that ObamaCare is the law. We will not bow to tea party anarchists who refuse to accept that the Supreme Court ruled ObamaCare to be constitutional. And we will not bow to tea party anarchists in the House or in the Senate who ignore the fact that President Obama was overwhelmingly reelected a few months ago”, he said.
“These fanatics really point to disapproval for ObamaCare as justification for taking the Federal Government and our economy hostage to their demands”, said Senator Reid (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov).