Harry Reid Quotes

Harry Reid offers candid takes on politics and policy, mixing personal stories with sharp critiques of government.

40 quotes

1. 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.

2. The man's father is a wonderful human being. I think this guy is a loser.

3. 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?

4. The Republicans should not pick this fight. I've been in more boxing rings then all of them combined. And when you throw a punch at me, you end up on the mat.

5. [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.

6. 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.

7. President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club.

8. They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why. I demand on behalf of the America people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted.

9. The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really about: how the administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions.

10. Obviously we know now their nuclear claims were wholly inaccurate. But more troubling is the fact that a lot of intelligence experts were telling the Administration then that its claims about Saddam's nuclear capabilities were false.

11. I was born and raised in the high desert of Nevada in a tiny town called Searchlight. My dad was a hard rock miner. My mom took in wash. I grew up around people of strong values - even if they rarely talked about them.

12. I'm not a big Greenspan fan. I voted against him two times. I think he's one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington.

13. Instead of talking about ways to save Social Security, Republicans are talking about a plan that will destroy it.

14. It's time that America's government lived by the same values as America's families. It's time we invested in America's future and made sure our people have the skills to compete and thrive in a 21st century economy. That's what Democrats believe.

15. Now that our troops are mired in a dangerous effort to defeat the insurgency and are also trying to help rebuild the country, Americans of all political persuasions simply want the United States to succeed and our troops to be as safe as possible.

16. So the next thing I assume I'll be hearing from Republicans, they want to change rules some way, as they do on the House when you get a problem with ethics, they just change the rules.

17. Social Security is not in crisis. It's a crisis the president's created, period.

18. The American people do not like privatization. They are afraid of the debt the president's willing to do. And they don't like benefit cuts. And everyone here should understand all 45 Senate Democrats are united. We are not going to let this happen.

19. The President is off to a bad start. He owes the American people honest answers on whether he wants to reform Social Security or privatize it.

20. There's a lot we can do to improve American's retirement security, but it's wrong to replace the guaranteed benefit that Americans have earned with a guaranteed benefit cut of forty percent or more.

21. This 21st century economy holds great promise for our people. But unless we give all Americans the skills they need to succeed, countries like India and China will take good-paying jobs that should be ours.

22. It's racist.

23. We must stop the Tea Party before the United States Senate falls into the hands of extremists and ideologues who leave no room for reason or compromise, who dont recognize common ground even when theyre standing on it.

24. We must stop the Tea Party before the United States Senate falls into the hands of extremists and ideologues who leave no room for reason or compromise, who don't recognize common ground even when they're standing on it.

25. It has been my honor to support and work with President Barack Obama, a man who has brought courage and character to the presidency. President Obama's strength of character leads him to do the right thing, even when it isn't the easy thing.

26. Now remember, we've already done more than a billion dollars worth of cuts. We've already done that. So we need to get some credit for that.

27. The modern day anarchists known as the Tea Party, they believe in no government.

28. Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It's global warming. It's ruining our country. It's ruining our world.

29. I think it would be interesting to know about the Federal Reserve. I think we should audit the Federal Reserve - it's taxpayer's money that's being used there.

30. My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true.

31. They've lost their minds.

32. [Social Security ] is not in crisis at this stage. Leave Social Security alone. We have a lot of other places we can look that is in crisis. But Social Security is not.

33. There is no more important task in Washington than cleaning up the culture of corruption. Yet the president - whose White House has become the cradle of Republican corruption - is not taking responsibility for the costs of that corruption.

34. The cold war was the longest war in United States history. Because of the nuclear capabilities of our enemy it was the most dangerous conflict our country ever faced. Those that won this war did so in obscurity. Those that gave their lives in the cold war have never been properly honored.

35. This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.

36. Cut, Cap and Balance is worst legislation in history.

37. As far as I'm concerned there shouldn't be a single boot on the ground. There's enough American blood in Iraq that lasts forever.

38. They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists.

39. Obama a ‘light-skinned’ African-American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.

40. Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive.