The arrogance of King Harry Reid

**Posted by Phineas

I wrote yesterday in my post about Steny Hoyer that the Democrats’ attitude toward those who oppose them is a form of oligarchical arrogance. Today, Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the inaptly named Democratic Party, provided another example: when asked about the coming House vote to repeal ObamaCare, he stamped his foot, said it would never come to a vote in the Senate, and told the Republicans to get a life:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made clear Thursday that as long as he’s in charge, no effort to repeal the health care law will see the light of day beyond the House, but Senate Democrats said they are open to changing parts of the law over the next year.

“The Republicans have to understand that the health care bill is not going to be repealed,” Reid said. “Are we saying the health care bill is perfect? Of course not. We’re willing to work in any way that’s constructive in nature to improve the health care delivery system in our country, but repealing health care, they should get a new lease on life and talk about something else.”

This, of course, is a continuation of the public war of words between the Senate Democratic leadership and the House Republicans, lead by newly-minted Speaker Boehner. But, did I say “arrogance?” Maybe “childish petulance” is more in order. Little Lord Harry isn’t just saying he will oppose the bill in debate and do all he can to defeat it in a manner befitting the world’s greatest democracy. Nope. He instead threw a tantrum and announced beforehand that he will not even allow it to be considered. Forget it. Don’t even try.

What’s next? Holding his hands to his ears and screaming “I’M NOT LISTENING!!“ whenever someone brings it up?

In effect, Reid not only flipped a finger toward the House, but he (and his subordinates in the leadership) have told the American voters to take a hike; what they want does not matter. For over a year, and culminating in the Great Shellacking of 2010, the majority of American voters made one thing clear: they hate ObamaCare and they want it repealed. That is a very big part of why the Democrats lost control of the House, much of their majority in the Senate, over 600 state legislative seats, and a whole slough of governorships.

While I do believe there are times a leader must say “you’re wrong” to his constituents (such as a majority’s desire to deny the rights of the minority), this isn’t one of them. We’re talking about policy here, not unalienable rights derived from Natural Law, and a clear majority of Americans hate this policy with a passion and want Congress to repeal it — at the very least, bring it up for public debate.

But King Harry of Searchlight and his courtiers have said “no.”

You thought we were an angry, smelly mob before, Harry; you ain’t seen nothing, yet.

LINKS: I like this idea a lot.

PS: Dear Nevada, I realize Sharron Angle was a bit of an odd duck, but you honestly preferred Harry Reid? Really? Seriously??

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)