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As a fresh poll measured the political cost of Sen. Ben Nelson's health reform vote, he prepared Tuesday to take his case directly to Nebraskans during Wednesday night's Holiday Bowl game. Nelson will air a new TV ad in which he attempts to debunk opposition claims that the Senate legislation represents a government takeover, and he makes the case for health care reform. "With all the distortions about health care reform, I want you to hear directly from me," the Democratic senator says in the ad. Nelson, dressed in an open-necked shirt and sweater, speaks directly into the camera during...

Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson may get burned in his next election by the health care debate, regardless of how he ultimately votes for the Democrats' reform package, but he may be better off opposing it, a new poll shows. Under intense pressure to fall in line with the rest of the Democratic caucus in the Senate, moderate Ben Nelson finally voted to end a Republican filibuster on the health care bill after cutting a deal to pay for an expansion of Medicaid in Nebraska with federal rather than state dollars. However, only 17 percent of Nebraska voters approve of the...

Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- Until his recent sellout on abortion funding, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was a darling of the pro-life movement as the lone consistent pro-life Democrat in the Senate. Now, a new poll shows him losing massive support and he would lose by a lopsided margin in his 2012 bid for re-election. A new Rasmussen Reports survey shows Nelson struggling after becoming the 60th and deciding vote for the Senate's pro-abortion health care bill. Should pro-life Republican Governor Dave Heineman challenge Nelson for his Senate seat, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows he would get 61% of...

The good news for Senator Ben Nelson is that he doesn’t have to face Nebraska voters until 2012. If Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson for the Senate job, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows the Republican would get 61% of the vote while Nelson would get just 30%. Nelson was reelected to a second Senate term in 2006 with 64% of the vote. Nelson's health care vote is clearly dragging his numbers down. Just 17% of Nebraska voters approve of the deal their senator made on Medicaid in exchange for his vote in support of the plan. Overall, 64%...

A new Rasmussen poll has Senator Ben Nelson down 30 points in a theoretical race against current Republican Governor Heineman. Nelson's health care vote seems to be the reason. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Nebraska voters oppose the health care legislation Ben Nelson voted for, including fifty-three percent (53%) who are strongly opposed. Only 17% of Nebraska voters approve of the deal Senator Ben Nelson made to sell his vote for a special Medicaid deal. An April 2006 poll by Survey USA found him to be the Senator with the highest popularity rating, 73%, among his own constituents.

He'll have plenty of time to play golf after the 2012 election,... this one isn't even close, remember, Nelson got 64% of the vote in 2006....See ya Ben..

Poll: Nelson's Abortion Funding Compromise Costs Him With Nebraska Voters Lincoln, NE -- Until his recent sellout on abortion funding, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was a darling of the pro-life movement as the lone consistent pro-life Democrat in the Senate. Now, a new poll shows him losing massive support and he would lose by a lopsided margin in his 2012 bid for re-election. http://www.lifenews.com/state4684.html

Ah, the wages of pork: The good news for Senator Ben Nelson is that he doesn’t have to face Nebraska voters until 2012. If Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson for the Senate job, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that Heineman would get 61% of the vote while Nelson would get just 30%. The health care vote is clearly dragging Nelson’s numbers down. Just 17% of Nebrasaka voters approve of the deal their Senator made on Medicaid in exchange for his vote. Overall, 64% oppose the health care legislation, including 53% who are Strongly Opposed. Fifty-six percent (56%) believe...

Nebraska’s Republican governor has a stern message for Ben Nelson, the senior Democratic senator from his state: We don’t want Washington to cover all the costs of the proposed expansion of Medicaid under health care legislation. “The last few days have made Nebraskans so angry that now it’s a matter of principle,” Gov. David Heineman told POLITICO. “The federal government can keep that money

Ben Nelson Attacks Pro-Life Advocates, Defends Pro-Abortion Compromise Washington, DC -- Facing an enormous backlash for becoming the 60th vote for a health care bill that his language allows to fund abortions, Ben Nelson is striking back. In comments both on and off the Senate floor yesterday and today, Nelson lashed out at pro-life advocates and is defending his much-maligned compromise. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4677.html

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said today that his office is conducting a legal analysis of the constitutionality of the provision granting Nebraska a permanent exemption from paying Medicaid expenses that all other states, including Pennsylvania, are required to pay. Corbett said that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson secured this special provision for Nebraska in exchange for his support of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act. Corbett said, "The result of the Nelson amendment, which the media has dubbed 'The Nebraska Compromise,' could have dire financial consequences for Pennsylvania taxpayers, forcing them to help offset the cost of Nebraska's...

Santa, you listening? Could you please give us some sanity in Congress this Christmas? After rushing headlong to approve a healthcare bill that many Constitutional experts say is blatantly unconstitutional, the chief idiots of the insane asylum that we call 'Congress' are now frantically attempting to show that the measure doesn't run afoul of clear Constitutional provisions. Perhaps the Einsteins among the Democratic leadership should listen to a statement made by their own President--that's right, Barack Hussein Obama.

Sen. Ben Nelson said Wednesday he's convinced language he negotiated in the health care reform bill assures no public funds can be used to pay for abortions. "I did not compromise my pro-life principles," he said. "We just found different language that will work." Nelson helped negotiate the provision after failing to win Senate approval of an amendment that would match restrictive abortion language in the House bill. Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director Julie Schmit-Albin subsequently condemned the compromise and accused Nelson of betraying the pro-life organization, which endorsed his re-election in 2006. The three Catholic bishops in Nebraska...

Statue Honoring Sen. Ben Nelson Still a Go in HometownMcCook, Nebraska Posted: 8:53 PM Dec 23, 2009 Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson's hometown is going ahead with plans to erect a statue in his honor despite vocal opposition to the Democrat's support of health care reform.

Hi Freepers, I realize that only a few people are awake, but I am having trouble getting a clear, cliff-notes version explanation of the bill the Senate is about to vote on tomorrow. All I know for sure is that if Pelosi, Reid, and Obama are behind it--it must be very, very bad. It's finally sinking in that something "big" is happening. Up until now, I've avoided really examining the issue and its implications for fear of getting too upset. I've listened to coverage on every news network and end up being more confused. I realize that it may be...

What's happening with ObamaCare this week in the Senate is raw, rank politics at its worst. PASSING LAWS has been compared to making sausage. But in the case of the mammoth health care bill expected to pass the Senate on Christmas Eve, that's an insult to employees at the Jimmy Dean plant. It's also a slap at Americans who want Congress to take its time to make thoughtful changes that will affect one seventh of the U.S. economy. President Obama campaigned on "change we can believe in." Most voters believed him. Yet many polls show that only a minority of...

The Senate of the United States just voted to table Jim DeMint’s proposed amendment that would prevent cash for cloture compromises. As you will recall, Ben Nelson was bribed by Harry Reid to vote for the health care bill via targeted earmarks that will only benefit Nebraska. DeMint asked for the Senate to suspend its rules to consider his amendment, which would prohibit such deals in the future. Ben Nelson voted against Jim DeMint’s amendment, but when he realized the Democrats already had the votes to kill it, he raced back up to the clerk and changed his vote so...

Self-Evident Truths: Sen. Dianne Feinstein says it comes under the Commerce Clause. Rep. Steny Hoyer says it's mandated by the "general welfare" clause. Despite liberal wishes, health care is not a right. The "living Constitution" that Democrats and their court appointees have given us may be the death of our freedoms. Their constitution adapts to the times and serves the whims of the elitists. The Constitution is supposed to limit government powers. It does not allow government to do anything it feels like doing. Cass Sunstein, the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is the author of...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The top prosecutors in seven states are probing the constitutionality of a political deal that cut a funding break for Nebraska in order to pass a federal health care reform bill, South Carolina's attorney general said Tuesday. Attorney General Henry McMaster said he and his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas and Washington state — all Republicans — are jointly taking a look at the deal they've dubbed the "Nebraska compromise." "The Nebraska compromise, which permanently exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid costs that Texas and all other 49 states must pay, may violate the United...

Ben Nelson of Nebraska switched during the roll call on earmark vote-trading, he was for it before he was against it. Also this from Demint, "Senate Democrats Vote to Continue Earmark Vote-Trading" ttp://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=bd71448a-b030-dfb5-7be8-1c5493413dc8

After Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced Saturday that he had decided to support the amended health bill that allows federal funding of abortion, he set to work defending the decision in terms more familiar on the lips of his liberal colleagues: emphasizing the need for a compromise, and highlighting the greater good of the health of millions of Americans. Yet Nelson left behind a still-reeling pro-life and conservative constituency questioning what could have prompted the sudden change in the senator - who days before seemed so placidly settled in his convictions against the bill, particularly regarding abortion. The tension leading...

About half way down on the right side of the page. Sen. Ben Nelson stood firm on his principles. True False Unsure View Results

I received this question from a friend on Facebook: So, Jill, what happened with Nelson? You and other pro-life leaders were advising people to be "calm" and to thank him, and all indications now are that he prostituted his vote like so many others. How do you know who to trust? My friend was speaking about a blog post I wrote Dec. 11 encouraging pro-lifers to maintain support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. In that post I relayed an e-mail received from Democrats for Life's president, Kristen Day, assuring everyone Nelson was unwavering in his refusal to vote for any...

“Equality before the law” may be the state motto for Nebraska, but some Nebraskans are asking for sister states to sue the Cornhusker state. “Is there anyone out there that will sue the State of Nebraska and/or Senators Ben Nelson and Harry Reid?” asks Patricia Rief-Heskett of Omaha. .. “The deal the senator made for Nebraska is against the law and against the Constitution,” says Rief-Heskett... And the Omahans has crossed all of her ‘ts’ and dotted all of her ‘i’s. “Our Constitution states in Article 1, Section 9: `No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or...

10 minute vid

I said yesterday it wouldn’t be long before Obama’s Jokers posters started popping up across the country.First, Claire McCaskill.Now, Nebraskans have Jokerized Ben Nelson. (Or rather, he Jokerized himself, didn’t he?)Reader Tim e-mails the photos and this message:“Saw this in small town Nebraska today less than 50 miles from Ben Nelson’s home town. This is pretty surprising to me because this is strictly an agricultural area. Nelson has consistently catered to the agricultural interests in Nebraska and so is pretty popular among the farmers and ranchers in the area. Federal subsidies are a huge percentage of area farm income. But...

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, after securing a sweetheart deal for his state as part of the health insurance reform bill, said Tuesday that three other senators have told him they want to bargain for the same kind of special treatment. "Three senators came up to me just now on the (Senate) floor, and said, 'Now we understand what you did. We'll be seeking this funding too'," Nelson said. But the Democratic senator, who has faced a heap of criticism for appearing to trade his vote on health care for millions in federal Medicaid money, said he's considering asking that the...

Ben Nelson's taking a lot of heat for accepting the Reid bribe of a free pass on Medicaid to sign on to the Reid health care fiasco. Even the state's biggest newspaper is poking fun at him and one of my correspondents indicates he'd not be surprised if the Senator chooses not to be the ex-Senator from Nebraska by voting against the bill when it comes to a final vote after conference. In the meantime, seven states' attorneys, lead by South Carolina are considering bringing suit if the Nebraska provision is in the final bill: "The top prosecutors in seven...

Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, may have taught his Congressional colleagues a valuable lesson when he clinched a special deal for his state. But not all of them are happy about it. Mr. Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, bargained for extra payments for his home state during negotiations late last week, in which he provided Senate Democrats with the magical 60th vote they needed to advance their health care bill. Prompted by an angry Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, the attorney general of that state and six others are looking at the Nelson deal, which they have dubbed...

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman was just on Fox News with Greta Van Susteren, where he denounced Harry Reid's purchase of Nelson's 60th vote for cloture on the Senate bill. "Nebraska doesn't want a special deal, we only want a fair deal. We're embarrassed by what's going on... Nebraskans are angry and upset by what they've heard," Heineman said. "I've also asked Senator Nelson... he has a chance tomorrow to vote no on cloture. That would be the best thing for Nebraska, the best thing for America. Send this bill back to committee, go home for Christmas and think about it...

Formally, it is known as H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But this week, it has acquired an unhelpful nickname: "Cash for Cloture." As Senate Democrats finally complete their health-care legislation, those combing through the bill have uncovered many backroom deals that were made to buy, er, secure the 60 votes needed to "invoke cloture" -- the legislative term for cutting off debate and holding a final vote. It will take years to see how well the measure reduces costs and expands insurance coverage. But already, the bill has been a bonanza for wordsmiths. First there was...

Sen. Ben Nelson's, D-Neb., abandonment of his alleged "pro-life" commitment brought Harry Reid within reach of a Christmas Eve vote to approve a Senate version of Obamacare. When that happens, the political battles over the future of American medicine and especially the care of seniors will shift to the conference committee and then to the House. Though many conservatives are demoralized, they should instead be gearing up to peel off enough votes from among the 220 who voted for Obamacare when it passed the lower chamber. If the 215 who voted "no" on the first round stay firm, only three...

In the end what pushed Obamacare over the top in the Senate were the secret bribes democratic leadership made to "convince" people from his own party to vote for cloture. The most significant of the "bennies" was the one which helped Ben Nelson switch from pro-life to pro-choice. Nelson managed to win a share of the section of the manager's amendment on Equitable Support for Certain States, which will provide Nebraska, along with Massachusetts and Vermont, support in paying its share of additional costs to Medicaid in the health legislation. Attorney Generals in Seven States are investigating whether they can...

The top prosecutors in seven states are probing the constitutionality of a political deal that cut a funding break for Nebraska in order to pass a federal health care reform bill, South Carolina's attorney general said Tuesday. Attorney General Henry McMaster said he and his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas and Washington state — all Republicans — are jointly taking a look at the deal they've dubbed the "Nebraska compromise." "The Nebraska compromise, which permanently exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid costs that Texas and all other 49 states must pay, may violate the United States Constitution —...

It was serendipitous to have almost simultaneous climaxes in Copenhagen and Congress. The former's accomplishment was indiscernible, the latter's was unsightly. It would have been unprecedented had the president not described the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit as "unprecedented," that being the most overworked word in his hardworking vocabulary of self-celebration. Actually, the mountain beneath the summit – a mountain of manufactured hysteria, predictable cupidity, antic demagoguery and dubious science – labored mightily and gave birth to a mouselet, a 12-paragraph document committing the signatories to ... make a list. A list of the goals they have no...

Turns out Harry Reid just kind of forced the money into his hands, you see. “Three senators came up to me just now on the (Senate) floor, and said, ‘Now we understand what you did. We’ll be seeking this funding too‘,� Nelson said. But the Democratic senator, who has faced a heap of criticism for appearing to trade his vote on health care for millions in federal Medicaid money, said he’s considering asking that the Nebraska deal be stripped from the bill. Though he defended the exemption as a “fair deal,� he said he never asked for the full federal...

Politics: Sen. Mary Landrieu was the new "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up his state's future Medicaid tab. Maybe we should just put Senate votes up on eBay. Nelson, the 60th vote in the middle-of-the-night Senate party line vote on health care reform, will go down in American political history as the inventor of the permanent earmark. His seemingly principled stand against including federal funding for

Too bad Barack Obama hasn’t followed through on his promises of legislative transparency. Then we all could have watched Harry Reid live on C-SPAN handing an oversized Publishers Clearing House–style $100 million check to Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson. The highest-profile Democratic hold-out on Obamacare, Nelson said last week, “My vote is not for sale.” He obviously meant that in the sense that he’d be righteously indignant at any suggestion that his vote could possibly be bought for anything less than the low nine digits. Nelson got the feds to pick up forevermore 100 percent of the additional Medicaid spending that...

Democrats voted early this morning in the Senate on the initial series of cloture votes with the goal of passing the Senate's health care bill by Christmas. Following the 1:30 am vote, Sen. Ben Nelson (D - NE) emerged from the floor and spoke to reporters about the bill as well as the controversy surrounding the deal Senator Nelson acquired of Nebraska for full federal funding of Medicaid in perpetuity. The Washington Times asked the Senator if he thought the other states should get the same Medicaid deal that Nebraska received. "Of course. As a matter of fact, I said...

Final score: Cowboys 24-Saints 17; Democrats $2.6 trillion-America's middle class…screwed.

Too bad Barack Obama hasn't followed through on his promises of legislative transparency. Then we all could have watched Harry Reid live on C-SPAN handing an oversized Publishers Clearing House-style $100 million check to Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson. The highest-profile Democratic hold-out on ObamaCare, Nelson said last week, "My vote is not for sale." He obviously meant that in the sense that he'd be righteously indignant at any suggestion that his vote could possibly be bought for anything less than the low nine digits. Nelson got the feds to pick up forevermore 100 percent of the added Medicaid spending that...

Politics: Sen. Mary Landrieu was the new "Louisiana Purchase." Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up his state's future Medicaid tab. Maybe we should just put Senate votes up on eBay. Nelson, the 60th vote in the middle-of-the-night Senate party line vote on health care reform, will go down in American political history as the inventor of the permanent earmark. His seemingly principled stand against including federal funding for abortion evaporated like the morning dew as he decided to take what was behind door No. 1. The deal for Nelson includes special Medicaid funding for Nebraska, along...

Video: Sen. Nelson said: “If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in good faith, just think, it's like going home and getting bit by the family dog. So - who enjoys that?” Well Senator, it'll be even less enjoyable when you get voted out of office, ever think about that!

In the style of Sen. Ben "Traitor" Nelson .... can other senators start offering, one after another, amendments to ObamaCare saying, "We want free Medicaid too -- just like in Nebraska!" No, of course I'm not in favor of that. I'm trying to think of ways to stop or slow down this abomination.

A group called Americans for Prosperity in Nebraska gathered a crowd for a rally in Omaha to press Sen. Nelson on the reform bill. Anger over senator Ben Nelson's support of health care reform. Nearly 2,000 people rally in Omaha, hoping he's listening. The group's message is two fold -- reconsider your vote Senator Nelson and remember your decision when elections roll around. With their signs in hand, Nebraskans filled Omaha's Music Hall, rallying against the senate health care bill and Sen. Nelson's support for it. "I think that's why we're all here. To get him to listen to us,"...

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that he wants South Carolina's top prosecutor to investigate a deal that helped secure the 60th vote needed to pass a Democratic health care bill through the Senate. Blasting Senate Democrats for what he called "backroom deals that amount to bribes," Graham found much to complain about in their health care bill. He was particularly irked that the senator who provided that final vote to head off a Republican filibuster, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, cut a deal in which the federal government pays his state's share of the cost for new Medicaid recipients.

So it comes down to this, Senator Nelson trades his pro-life position for a couple of bucks...Gee, if he thought abortion is murder on Thursday, why isn't it murder on Friday. For another couple of million for his home state maybe he will come out saying that the victims of 9-11 had it coming. But to be honest, if Ben Nelson didn't fold, somebody else would have. Lets face it, this was too valuable to the progressives to fail, a chance to take over every aspect of our lives, to decide who lives and who dies, and the best part...

Washington—As debate rages on in both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate as to who the biggest whore in Congress is, Senator John McCain, R-AZ, went on Fox News Sunday to argue his case that Ben Nelson was by far the biggest whore. McCain went on to say that anyone who let himself be used by Senator Reid so easily was hands down the biggest slut he’d ever seen. “What this man did,” claimed McCain on Fox News Sunday, “was to demonstrate how big a harlot he was on a public stage. At least Senator Landrieu went out behind...

Back on November 21st, Senator Mary Landrieu provided the 60th vote for the Senate Democrats to cut off a GOP filibuster and start the debate on a healthcare reform bill. In exchange for that vote, the Democratic leadership offered her a $300 million ‘bribe’ in the form of additional Medicaid benefits for her home state of Louisiana and for other states ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Now a month later Senator Ben Nelson has announced that he will provide the 60th vote to cut off debate on the healthcare reform bill. In exchange for his vote, the Democratic leadership offered him...

Senator Nelson of Nebraska cut a special deal. In exchange for agreeing to allow government funds be used for abortions, he got a special deal for Nebraska. The special deal was that Nebraska would not have to pay matching funds for Medicade. All the other 49 states must pay matching funds. Many of those state like my own state of California can not afford to pay those matching funds. Who pays for Nebraska's Medicare casts? All of us who live in the other 49 states. BS, I say. We should not stand by while Nebraska sucks money from all the...