Harry Reid

Harry Mason Reid (December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was a retired American politician who served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He served as the leader of the Senate Democrats from 2005 to 2017 and as the Senate Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015.

Quotes

 * President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country... All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada and indeed all Americans, but because the President's decision threatens Americans' lives.
 * remarks made in February 2002, over the decision to deposit radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Las Vegas Sun, quoted March 5, 2002


 * I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up.
 * threatening to obstruct the Senate if the Republicans used the nuclear option. Quoted in The Washington Post, December 13, 2004, GOP May Target Use of Filibuster


 * The man's father is a wonderful human being. I think this guy is a loser.
 * on George W. Bush. Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 6, 2005


 * RS: You’ve called Bush a loser. Reid: And a liar. RS: You’ve apologized for the loser comment. Reid: But never for the liar, have I?
 * Stone'' interview, May 24, 2005


 * [F]or more than three years this Congress, which has been given the name “The Do-Nothing Congress,” has turned a blind eye to the intractable war in Iraq, ignoring the Administration’s many mistakes, allowing it to stay a failed course. Here we are with six days left in the 109th Congress, and the Republicans, which control the House and the Senate and the White House, have not held one hearing, not one, into the President’s wartime failures.
 * "Reid: America Deserves Accountability for Iraq Contracting Abuses", Senate Democratic Caucus website, September 18, 2006 (accessed 2006-09-21)


 * Alberto Gonzales was never the right man for this job. He lacked independence, he lacked judgment, and he lacked the spine to say no to Karl Rove. This resignation is not the end of the story. Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House.
 * Following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General


 * In the summertime, because it gets so hot here, you could literally smell the tourists coming.
 * Following opening of a new Capitol Visitors Center that includes air conditioning.


 * Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this slow down, stop everything, let's start over. You think you've heard these same excuses before, you're right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, slow down, it's too early. Let's wait. Things aren't bad enough. When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted slow down, there will be a better day to do that. The day isn't quite right. When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today. More recently, when chairman Chris Dodd of Connecticut, one of the people who will go down as a chief champion of the bill before us today, said that Americans should be able to take care of their families without fear of losing their jobs, you heard the same old excuses, seven years of fighting and more than one presidential veto, it was slow down, stop everything, start over. History is repeating itself before our eyes. There are now those who don't think it is the right time to reform health care. If not now, when, madam president? But the reality for many that feel that way, it will never, never be a good time to reform health care.
 * On the Senate floor, during a debate on health care reform, December 7, 2009


 * Reid spoke of future President Barack Obama in 2008 describing him as a, "light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Reid apologized for these remarks in January 2010 when they were publicized.
 * Majority Leader Reid apologizes to Obama for 2008 remarks - Washington Post January 9, 2010


 * I said … unprepared, unscripted, that, "I know how to fight and I know how to dance, and I'd much rather dance than fight." ... What I didn't tell everybody was I was always a better fighter than dancer.
 * "Reid Says He's A Fighter Who'd Rather Dance", All Things Considered, NPR (18 May 2010)

Quotations about Harry Reid

 * Jim Margolis
 * He is unique in this city. And you see it in so many different ways. Is he the best TV talking head? No. He'd be the first to tell you that. Should he smile more? Yes. Should he say goodbye on the phone when he's done talking to you? Probably. But those are things you'd assume are part and parcel of a polished figure in Washington. That is not Harry Reid.


 * in late July, the U.S. Senate decided to do exactly nothing about climate change. They didn't do less than they could have they did nothing, preserving a perfect two-decade bipartisan record of no action. Senate majority leader Harry Reid decided not even to schedule a vote on legislation that would have capped carbon emissions.
 * Bill McKibben in The Global Warming Reader (2012)


 * Barack Obama
 * In a battle between perfection and progress, he always chose progress.