RUSH: It’s happened again. I just received an audio sound bite from Kathleen at the Audio Sound Bite Roster Desk this afternoon on the Senate floor. Dingy Harry.
REID: You can’t blame people for wondering why, with an issue as important as health care now before us, bipartisan consensus sometimes seems so elusive. So I say to them: This extreme brand of strategy and the extreme tactics that come with it are what we have to contend with. First, Rush Limbaugh happily admitted he wants our president to ‘fail.’ Then a Republican senator openly admitted he wants to block the health insurance reform for millions as a way to, quote, ‘break the president.’ These partisan tactics have consequences. These consequences will be evident on every kitchen table, every family budget, and every American’s peace of mind. And they’re watching.
RUSH: They are watching, Dingy Harry, and they don’t like what they’re seeing…out of you! Most people like their health coverage! Most people do not hate their insurance company! You’re going to have real tough sell this month if your objective is to demonize the insurance companies. Now, Snerdley told me last week, he came up to me, said, ‘If this health care bill goes down, I think you need to double your security, and I think you need to be very careful, ’cause they gonna come after you. You’re going to be the reason. You’re going to get the blame.’ Lo and behold, the bill has not yet been stopped and the first person to blame for the lack of ‘bipartisan consensus’ is Rush Limbaugh, me, on the floor of the Senate. Senator Reid, you don’t need a single Republican to get 60 votes on this bill. You don’t need bipartisan consensus. You might need it to come out of committee, but you don’t need it for the final floor vote. The same thing in the House. They don’t need one Republican vote to pass this. If the Democrats can’t pass this bill in either house, it’s their problem within their own party. They need a villain, however, and somehow — even after all I’ve been through with Dingy Harry, somehow — I still qualify.