Senator Harry Reid's Failing Memory

Tonight was the big Nevada Senate debate between Republican Sharron Angle and Democrat Incumbent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas.  Mitch Fox of PBS, the debate moderator, asked Reid a very specific question.  Reid gave a very misleading answer.

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Mitch Fox:  Ok, on this next question I am going to ask for a simple yes or no in response to this question and that’s this.  Mrs. Angle you will go first.  Would you be in favor of a constitutional amendment to make English the official language of the United States.

Sharron Angle:  Yes.

Senator Harry Reid:  English is already the official language.

This is not true.  There is no amendment to the constitution making English the official language.  As a matter of fact, Reid attacked Senator Jim Inhofe’s (R-OK) proposal to make English the official language of the United States as “racist” merely four years ago on the Senate floor. 

According to a May 18, 2006 story in the Washington Times:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the official language “racist” on the Senate floor yesterday.  “This amendment is racist. I think it’s directed basically to people who speak Spanish,” the Democrat said during the already tense debate over immigration reform.  Moments later, the Senate approved the measure on a 63-34 vote. Virtually all Republicans were joined by 11 Democrats to approve the largely symbolic amendment. Immediately following that vote, the Senate approved a second amendment, declaring on a 58-39 vote that English is the “common and unifying language.”

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These were amendments to an immigration bill that was never even signed into law.  One would think that the most powerful man in the Senate would remember this fact.

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