Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), sitting down yesterday with CNN’s Dana Bash in an effort to mop up the mess he made when Bash asked him Wednesday about funding trials for kids with cancer, said he’s not the most “articulate” guy on the Hill.
“But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?” Bash asked Reid at a press conference.
“Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force Base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence suggest such a thing may be irresponsible,” Reid told her.
On Thursday, Reid tried to explain his comment.
“You know, I am not known for being real articulate, but what I was trying to say is that we can’t be piecemealing all this stuff. We have Centers for Disease Control that’s closed. We have thousands and thousands of women and children who are not able to get their WIC monies, $45 a month. We have disabled veterans who are working, are not — who are not getting paid,” he said. “We have half a million people at the Defense Department who are on furlough. So we have to look at everything. We can’t just look at one part of this.”
Reid continued to step in it, though, with more comments about the Tea Party.
“I think he really intended to do that. But remember what he tried to do, to get things out of the House, what he did, he had — what he agreed with me and then he stuck on it, basically, repealing ObamaCare. That was to get some votes from the so-called Tea Party. I was going to call them crazy, but I shouldn’t do that,” he said.
When asked if he was “stirring the pot” by calling Tea Partiers “anarchists,” Reid got defensive.
“Why in the world wouldn’t I use the term anarchy? That’s what they are, they’re anarchists. They don’t believe in government at any level. That’s why we have members of Congress over there today and yesterday saying finally, we’re able to close the government,” Reid responded. “What else did I call them?”
“The weird caucus,” Bash reminded him.
“Oh, well, that’s probably a little over the hill,” Reid admitted. “I’m not going to give up on the anarchists… This — this is not pitter-pat be — to see how nice you can be to everybody. You have to explain what you’re trying to say.”
“And there’s no better description I can make than saying they don’t believe in government. They’re anarchists, just like they were at the beginning of the 20th century. They haven’t — there — the differences — and I made very clear about this — they’re not blowing up buildings and they’re not killing people. But they’re throwing monkey wrenches in the wheels of government.”
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