AFP: US senator under fire for health care kamikaze jibe
A Japanese-American lawmaker took offense Wednesday after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham likened the Democrats' drive on health care to a Japanese suicide attack in World War II. Graham, in a radio interview in his home state of South Carolina, lashed out at the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, over her efforts to bring Democrats in line to approve health care reform, a top priority for President Barack Obama. "Nancy Pelosi, I think, has got them all liquored up on sake and you know, they're making a suicide run here," Graham said. Representative Mike Honda, who spent part of his childhood interned due to his Japanese origin, asked Graham to "show respect for our fellow Americans." "I am disheartened that Senator Graham chose to use racially tinged rhetoric to express his opposition to health care reform," said Honda, who heads the Asian-American caucus in Congress...more...