Conservative radio host: Health care passage will 'do more damage than 9/11'

Conservative critics of the Democrats' health care reform bill have used lots of phrase to describe the peril they believe it promises for America.

Former Mass. Gov Mitt Romney said Obama had "betrayed his oath to the nation." Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said health reform was “the first vote for the end of representative government.” Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) called the measure an “arrogant power grab.”

But conservative radio talk show host Neil Boortz appears to have taken the cake.

"Nancy Pelosi will be grinning and laughing this afternoon," he Tweeted Sunday, in a little-noticed remark. "Today will do more damage than 9/11."

2,752 Americans died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according the official count.

On Tuesday, Boortz followed up, saying that health reform was "Easily the worst thing that has happened to my country since I started talk radio in 1969."

"Hard to put into words how much damage I feel has been done to our Republic," he added.

The conservative radio host also highlighted a Tweet by a follower which read, "My dad's boss told them this AM that he will close when the taxes and madates [sic] kick in."

The Democrats' bill calls for employers with more than 50 employees to face a $750 to $2,000 penalty if their employees don't receive health insurance, and for wealthy Americans earning more than $200,000 to pay an additional 3.8 percent tax on investment income.

Other conservatives have offered heated rhetoric in opposition to the Democrats' bill, though probably none quite as outrageous as Boortz's.

CNN contributor Erick Erickson claimed that “Democrats voted to put people in jail who have no insurance" -- which is false. ThinkProgress also notes that Fox News host Glenn Beck asserted that while “Jesus Martinez” might support the health care bill, “Jesus of Nazareth” wouldn't.

The 9/11 Tweet was highlighted late Monday by ThinkProgress, the liberal blog of the Center for American Progress.

Boortz's 9/11 comments aren't the first time the right-wing talker has inflamed audiences with his sharply worded Tweets.

In September, he drew flak for likening President Barack Obama to a child molester: “Obama on Wall Street today," he wrote. "That’s like sending a child molester to speak to a kindergarten class.”