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February 24, 2010
Harry Reid Unapologetic for Linking Unemployment to Violence Against Women
"I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand," Reid said on the Senate floor. "Why? Men don't have jobs."
Reid said that the effects of joblessness on domestic violence were especially pronounced among men, because, Reid said, women tend to be less abusive.
"Women don't have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time," he said.
"Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive," the majority leader added. "Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed.”
Reid's remarks aren't the first controversial remarks he's made on the Senate floor. He said in the midst of December's heated healthcare debate that the Senate needed a "Rodney King" moment where members could "all try to get along," channeling the plea of King, who pleaded with L.A. to calm itself after its 1991 race riots.
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Reid Unapologetic for Linking Unemployment to Violence Against Women
Advocates for men are calling for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to apologize for suggesting Monday that men are more likely than women to commit domestic violence, especially when they're out of work for long periods of time.
But Reid's spokesman told FoxNews.com on Tuesday that the Nevada Democrat is not apologizing for arguing during Senate debate a day earlier that the $15 billion jobs bill he is sponsoring should be passed to help prevent an uptick in violence.
Marty Nemko, co-president of The National Organization for Men, described Reid's comments as "irresponsible," citing numerous studies that show women are just as likely or even more so to commit domestic violence against their male partners.
Nemko also noted that that the police reports women advocacy organizations use are misleading because "men are embarrassed to say their wives beat them over the head with a frying pan."
"Instead of looking to try and find men jobs, he's bashing men completely unfairly," Nemko told FoxNews.com.
Reid's office responded by e-mailing articles that show domestic violence is increasing with unemployment, including one published by the Atlantic Monthly. And Reid repeated the assertion Tuesday, saying that two people who run domestic crisis shelters in Las Vegas told him that the high unemployment has "created lots of additional work for them they would rather not have."
"There is no question that people being out of work causes more people to be involved in domestic violence. I mean, I didn't make that up. I was told that by two people who run domestic crisis shelters," he said.
On Monday, the Nevada Democrat seized on a trend in the rise of domestic violence cases across the country that experts say can be linked partly to the recession that has left millions of Americans unemployed.
"I have met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand. Why? Men don't have jobs. Women don't have jobs either, but women aren't abusive -- most of the time. Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive. Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed. It's the way it is all over the country."
Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR) took Reid to task for his comments, arguing that the $787 billion stimulus package that he supported last year funneled close to half of the spending to programs that women while 80 percent of those who lost jobs in the recession were men.
"Grant for the moment that, in spite of all the scientific research to the contrary, maybe Sen. Reid is naïve enough to believe that only men, and not women, turn violence to their partners when unemployed," the group said in a press release. "What kind of misogynist promotes a bill as unjust as last year's massive stimulus package while sincerely believing that doing so will cause more women to be beaten?"
Reid, who is in a tough re-election bid this year, has a long history of making controversial comments. Most recently, a new book ignited a firestorm of controversy by disclosing comments Reid made a couple years ago on then-Sen. Barack Obama's race and dialect. Reid said Obama could win the presidency because he was "light-skinned" and didn't use a "Negro dialect."
Wild Thing's comment.......
I guess Reid's family better stay out of Dingy harry’s house after November, when he’ll be out of work......according to his way of thinking anyway.
Reid is one dumb bag of rocks. He flipped on the “Stupid Button” and then lost the remote.
....Thank you Darth for sending this to me.
Darth
U.S. Airforce
C-5 loadmaster
84-97
Posted by Wild Thing at February 24, 2010 02:45 AM
Comments
Good one WT. Got a laugh out of that. Oh yes, this domestic abuse is just out of hand! Especially among the retirees with nothing to do. I just don't know how aunt Ethel can handle the daily beatings from uncle Fred. The government should do something!! Maybe webcams can be installed.....
That's just the way they think.
Posted by: Jim at February 24, 2010 12:16 PM
Jim, Hahahaa good one, thank you.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 24, 2010 04:10 PM
If Harry Reid walked into the Lost Maples Cafe in Utopia, Tx., somebody at Rusty's gossip table would say, "Here comes one dumb sumbich."
Posted by: Billy Ray at February 24, 2010 11:17 PM
