Pat has labeled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “the worst living human being on the planet,” and Stu coined the phrase “evnile” to describe the three-decade long incumbent. Glenn has said several times that he honestly believes the 74-year-old is not well, and his latest comments about the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. case further proves this theory.
Earlier this week, Reid vowed Congress would “do something” about the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling. He doubled down on that promise on Tuesday, telling reporters the decision of the “five white men” who voted in favor of the Christian, family-owned business would not be tolerated.
“The one thing we are going to do during this work period, sooner rather than later, is to ensure that women’s lives are not determined by virtue of five white men,” Reid said. “This Hobby Lobby decision is outrageous and we are going to do something about it. People are going to have to walk down here and vote.”
Did you happen to catch the error in Reid’s reasoning?
As the Washington Free Beacon pointed out, Justice Clarence Thomas, who cast one of the five votes in support of Hobby Lobby, is black.
You can watch Reid’s remarks below courtesy of Roll Call:
On radio this morning, Glenn referenced one of Mahatma Gandhi’s “Seven Dangers of Human Virtue,” which cites “politics without principle.” Reid is supposedly a pro-life senator, and yet here he is deriding Hobby Lobby and religious freedom. There is not an ounce of principle left in Reid, which is part of what Glenn finds concerning.
“Harry Reid, I think, used to be a man of principle,” Glenn said. “I really truly… believe something is wrong with Harry Reid. I don't say that with malice. I say that with concern."
When you consider Stu’s characterization of Reid as both senile and evil – hence “evnile” – this recent episode seems to support the idea.
From the senile perspective, Reid failed to accurately describe the ethnicity of the Supreme Court justices he was chastising. From the evil perspective, Reid proved he is putting politics above all else. The Senator claims to be pro-life, and yet he received 100% ratings from the abortion activist group, NARAL Pro-Choice America, one seven different occasions.
“On the evil side of this,” Pat said, “here he is fighting against the religious liberty of Hobby Lobby and for just the federal government mandating abortion when he is supposedly a pro-life senator.”
Ironically, in his majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito references the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which passed the Senate in overwhelming fashion in a 97 to 3 vote. Reid was one of the senators who supported the act. So has he “evolved” on the issue à la President Obama or Hillary Clinton on gay marriage, or has he simply forgotten the positions he supposedly supports?
“It's hard,” Stu said. “I go back and forth. Is he willy-nilly just going out there and disagreeing with himself? Or is he just that senile an forgets he supported those positioning in the past?”
As Glenn explained, perhaps there is no greater evidence that term limits should be implemented than watching Reid or the recently re-elected four-term incumbent Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) stumble in such ways.
“I'm sure at some point [Reid] was an honorable man, but as [Senator] Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said to me: ‘I have never met anybody who came to this town and left a better man.’ Well, Orin, Harry, Thad, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, anybody who's just been elected, remember that. It's why George Washington had two terms and left,” Glenn concluded. “Why haven't these ‘honorable men’ self-selected out? [E]ven King George said if George Washington gives that seat up… he will be the greatest man to ever live. These are not the greatest men to ever live.”
