This post will ultimately get around to Harry Reid, who uttered the quote in the headline. We'll get to him in due time -- but first, some context. Marco Rubio has been on fire this week, taking the fight to the president in no uncertain terms. Check out this tweet from yesterday afternoon, in which the Florida Senator didn't mince any words:
RT @MarcoRubio Listening to @barackobama wage ?
#classwarfare? in ?#Jacksonville? ?#Florida?.Parts of it sound like speech by left-wing 3rd world leader.?
Rubio also dropped by Fox & Friends yesterday morning, where he told viewers that Obama "is not a beleiver in the American free enterprise system." Watch through the end, as Rubio makes so important points on the president's proposed job-destroying, unpopular tax increases:
Which brings us to Harry Reid. Several reporters confronted the Senate Majority Leader on the question of why his party didn't impose this urgent tax hike on "the rich" when they controlled everything in 2009 and 2010. Why is his party threatening to shove all American taxpayers over a fiscal cliff in 2013 when they could have resolved this issue when Republicans were powerless to stop them? Reid's response was, shall we say, less than convincing:
TWS: Leader Reid, when it comes to the Bush tax cuts...why didn't Senate Democrats push through this bill back when you controlled the Senate, the House, and the presidency?
REID: The tax cuts weren't about to expire then.
TWS: You could have foreseen this issue two years ago.
REPORTER: What are you talking about? They expired at the end of 2010.
REID: And that's why they were extended one year.
TWS: Why didn't they vote when you could have pushed this bill through and had it signed into law?
REID: Next question.
Here's the video, which laughably begins with Sen. Patty Murray promising "an honest debate" on the tax debate. The best part is the awkward pause as Reid tries to concoct an answer before giving up:
In this short exchange, Reid makes two factual misstatements. He claims that the tax cuts weren't expiring at the time (they were, as a reporter points out), and he says that the rates were then extended for a year. They were, in fact, extended by two years. But aside from that, it was a flawless answer, unworthy of any additional follow-ups. Next question.
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