Sen. Harry Reid Almost Derails Health Care With Mistaken ‘No’ Vote

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by Steve Krakauer | 2:08 pm, December 24th, 2009

» 7 comments

They convinced Sen. Ben Nelson. They secured Sen. Mary Landrieu. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the Democrats couldn’t get to 60 votes because of Majority Leader Harry Reid‘s ‘no’ vote?

Well it happened this morning, for a brief second.

As the Senate clerk took the roll call, everyone knew the inevitable – a 60-39 vote. But then Sen. Reid stood, and said ‘no.’ He caught himself and immediately said ‘yes’ as bipartisan laughter erupted. “Mr. Reid of Nevada: aye,” said the clerk definitively.

With a lack of news on Christmas Eve day, the Sen. Reid slip-up became a bigger story would have likely been on another day. Since it occurred a little after 7amET this morning, CNN and MSNBC have played it seven times each and Fox News has replayed it five times, according to TV Eyes (as of 1:30pmET).

The New York Times has some background on what happened – and Reid’s reaction:

He had gotten lost in the moment, on the edge of accomplishing one of the most excruciatingly difficult tasks in modern American political history, uniting the entire Democratic caucus to pass the bill after decades of failed efforts to revamp the nation’s health care system.

“To be honest, I’d like to say I was trying to be funny or create some bipartisanship,” Mr. Reid said in an interview. “But I was just in dreamland, thinking about where we had come. Some said ‘oh bipartisanship or trying to be funny.’ It was neither quite frankly. It was just, I am bushed.”

Here’s the moment:

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Health Care, Health Care Reform, Sen. Harry Reid, senate

http://www.facebook.com/people/Ted-Silliman/1203235293 Ted Silliman

Only 51 votes were needed today. What a bunch of idiots running this site.
http://mediaite.com Steve Krakauer

You don’t think it’s a little sarcasm? Even if it was 60 it’s not like his slip-up was ever going to actually have an effect.
ImNotBlue

Here you go Ted. A little reading for you…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloture#United_States
m

The Senate is broken. 1 Senator can hold an entire country hostage.
TfT

Steve:

I would have preferred a little more snark in your opening sentence, they didn’t “convince” Ben or Mary — Harry bought them off.

Merry Christmas.
ImNotBlue

m says:
December 24, 2009 at 4:31 pm

Come on M… that’s not the situation at all. In this case, 41 Senators can “hold up congress” (if you want to call it that)… the “1″ is just a part of the whole. It’s like complaining that you were winning the race for the first 99 yards, it’s that last yard where you lost it… and “that’s not fair.” Well… yes it is.
pyrope

It was probably a freudian slip on the part of Reid–he knows the bill stinks and US citizens are going to be on the hook for three generations paying for this insanity. ANYBODY who is FOR this legislation needs to have their head examined. Unlike the vast majority of Americans–INCLUDING the Senators who voted for this bill–I have READ it. In a word, it stinks.