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Let's make sure it does! Rasmussen Reports found that Nelson’s sellout on the ObamaCare bill would hurt the Senator should he have to face Heineman "Republican" in 2012

Political humorist P.J. O’Rourke wrote a book about Congress entitled Parliament of Whores. As one of U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson’s constituents, I think his actions regarding the so-called health care reform bill make O’Rourke’s title an insult to prostitutes everywhere. Nelson initially told us that he could not support the Senate version of the bill if it authorized federal tax dollars to fund abortion. Nelson has long claimed to be pro-life. Indeed, he signed into law a ban on partial birth abortion toward the end of his tenure as governor. But he also made some very bad appointments while governor,...

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...

A day after voting for a landmark health care reform plan, Democrat Bill Nelson returned to the Sunshine State on Thursday with claims of praise from ordinary citizens for the proposed legislation.

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

At what should be the happiest, most wonderfully magical time of the year, a great evil has gripped the nation. The most corrupt Congress in our nation’s history in lockstep with the most corrupt and evil man to ever step foot in the Oval Office are committing acts that amount to no less than treason. As we wrote earlier, in a piece entitled Death of the Republic, some serious maneuvering by Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid slipped some language into the already grossly unconstitutional Obamacare fiasco that would prohibit future Congresses from making changes or repealing key measures of this...

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...

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.

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...

United States Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) receives his $174,000 annual salary through payroll checks drawn from the U.S. Treasury but he actually works for the Corporation. The DNC Services Corporation. So, while the U.S. Constitution authorizes his office in the Legislative branch of the federal government, Mr. Nelson takes his marching orders directly from the DNC. And even though the Declaration of Independence proclaims that governments “deriv[e] their just powers from the consent of the governed,” given the choice between following the lead of his constituents back home in Nebraska or the dictates of officials of the Corporation, again, Mr....

During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly promised a new tone in Washington, an open, fair, and purpose-driven agenda with a bipartisan spirit. Instead, the tone is Washington has not only reached its lowest partisan ebb, perhaps ever, but the ‘legislative process’ under Harry Reid has deteriorated into naked bribery and ideological prostitution. While Mary Landreiu and Blanche Lincoln have showed themselves to be up for purchase, no member of the U.S. Senate has so drastically sold his soul and abandoned his principles as has Nebraska’s Ben Nelson. Throughout the’ health care reform’ process, Nelson had been relatively up-front in...

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

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

At least 10 states are now raising questions about the legality of the deal that Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat, cut for his home state of Nebraska during the health care negotiations. Under the agreement, which is on the verge of being approved Thursday by the Senate, Nebraska is permanently exempt from paying for its expansion of Medicaid, shoving that cost onto taxpayers in every other state. Mr. Nelson was able to exercise such leverage because in exchange, he was providing the magical 60th vote that Democrats needed to advance their health care bill. The deal has enraged other Senators,...

December 21, 2009, 3:45 p.m. Can Stupak Save the Democrats?By the Editors Pregnancy is not a disease. Hence abortion, in the vast majority of cases, is not health care. Contemporary liberalism is ideologically committed to denying this truth. Fifty-one percent of Americans contacted in a recent poll said that private health insurance should not cover abortion. One hundred percent of Senate Democrats just voted for legislation that, in the process of remaking American health care, creates new subsidies for health policies that do cover it. If this bill passes, abortion will become a cheaper option for millions of women....

(Washington D.C.) The final version of the senate health care bill moved closer to a vote this morning, and it contains major changes to the way doctors will care for their patients. In order to cut costs the government will contract with Twitter as a means to streamline the delivery of quality healthcare. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Frederick Frankenstein explained the process at a news conference this morning and outlined a typical doctor-patient ”Tweet” session in the near future: Patient: Doctor Blotz, I have blood coming out of my eyes, and my fever is 120. Doctor Blotz: I am playing...

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...

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...

I just kept patiently waiting for the television camera to widen its angle so I could once again see my favorite ventriloquist Paul Winchell. I watched in amazement as the expressionless face of the aged Jerry Mahoney flapped his mouth with only occasional eye movement. There was no doubt in my mind I was witnessing the resurrection of Paul Winchell with Jerry Mahoney his favorite dummy on his lap. The camera angle widened and then I realized, sure enough, I was watching a dummy, but this dummy was not sitting on anyone’s lap, this dummy was standing behind the podium...

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...

Ah yes... a new trend has begun. Other Senators are figuring out they toed the party line for too easy a price, and there's at least three that have approached Sen. Ben Nelson... giving him a nod of thanks for his lead for sweetheart deals. Nelson has refused to identify the Senators by name, or by party. 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...

COLUMBIA, SC (WMBF) - U.S. Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsay Graham are hoping to turn the tables on health care in Washington, after requesting an investigation into special deals being made to secure votes for successful reform. A letter addressed by the two South Carolina lawmakers was received by State Attorney General Henry McMaster Tuesday morning, detailing concerns over funding arrangements negotiated with Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. "The language of the Nelson provision appears to give Nebraska a permanent exemption from paying the Medicaid expenses all other states in the nation will be required to pay," McMaster said in...

The Democrat controlled government, opposition be damned, on the verge of a huge power grab in the name of insuring the uninsured and keeping health insurance companies “honest” are digging deep and rolling up their sleeves, set to take over 1/6 of the American economy, with a new and despicable level of partisanship. The final Senate vote to move the healthcare “reform” bill to a reality has captured the attention of the American people for its blatant maneuvers to mix politics with healthcare. Just yesterday, in order to gain support from Senator Nelson of Nebraska for the bill, Nebraska is...

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

At Hot Air, Captain Ed has a tape of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discussing how the so-called "abortion premium" in the Senate health care reform bill will work. Is she suggesting that everyone will have to pay an abortion premium, and that accounting tricks will be used just to make it look like you're not forced to pay for abortions? SEBELIUS: That would be an accounting procedure, but everybody in the exchange would do the same thing, whether you’re male or female, whether you’re 75 or 25, you would all set aside a portion of your premium...

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...

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...

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...

The Democrats are VERY happy they got the 60-40 Health Care Reform (HCR) vote, but instead of thinking that they have a political victory, the Dems should wait until... ... Until more voters notice that some Senators voted for the bill mainly because they secured special treatments for their State on the backs of others states. ... Until State taxes and fees will go up for everyone (including the poor) in most states, due to higher Health Care costs that this bill puts on most States. ... Until seniors notice that Medicare will go through very steep cuts in the...

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...

The flaw in my reasoning about congressional whores and prostitutes is that when politicians “put out” WE GET SCREWED not them! Even if one of these Democrat Senators get booted from office, they will just end up with some high-paying job as further payback.

Congress has been working on a health care bill for the better part of a year. The coverage of the legislation inevitably takes on a day-to-day, blow-by-blow account of the political machinations in Washington, D.C. The public option is in, then it's out, then maybe it's in with a trigger, then it's out, then maybe Medicare is expanded to include some as young as 55, then that's out. The legislation will have changed more between the time we write this and you read it. Anything to come up with 60 votes in the Senate in a big hurry. What's easy...

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!

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any uglier we get the cash for cloture tally… The CBO reported that Harry Reid spent $1.2 billion to buy off democrats for the Obamacare vote last night. They got their nationalized health care bill and it only cost you $1.2 billion for their vote! The Hill reported, via Sweetness and Light: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) informed lawmakers on Sunday night that the section of the manager’s amendment to the Senate’s health bill would cost $1.2 billion over 10 years. Nelson managed to win a share of the section of the manager’s...

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.

Senator Ben Nelson gave conservatives and moralists a Christmas gift early. He became the 60th traitor to the Republic. In that, he blew Nebraska away from east to west. They’re mad mad mad. That is Nelson’s evil gift to his state. That is Nelson’s wicked gift to America. I have been wondering a long, long time when it will come to madness. When will grassroots holler till the moon wiggles through night skies?

"bennelson" (emphasis on second syllable) -- def: the shameless offer and shameless acceptance of a bribe using other people's money, especially in a legislative context in order to purchase a crucial vote for a controversial legislative initiative.

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,"...

A month ago, I compiled Part I of the Demcare bribe list as Harry Reid rushed before Thanksgiving to secure his first cloture vote on the government health care takeover. (Quick re-cap: $300 million Louisiana Purchase for Landrieu; $300 million California doctor payments; AARP goodies; abortion and union lobby concessions.) Here’s Part II of the Cash for Cloture bribe list all in one handy place (hat tip again to my friend ChristinaKB for the apt phrase she first coined on November 21 for the Demcare wheeling and dealing). GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell alluded to all this backroom dealing on...

Republican Senators hammered away tonight at the huge Medicaid deal for Nebraska that is seen as a trade off for Sen. Ben Nelson's (D - NE) vote for the Senate health care bill. With the addition of Mr. Nelson, the Democrats now have 60 votes to break a GOP filibuster on the Senate floor, end debate through cloture, and vote on the health care bill. On the floor of the Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R - S.C.) railed on the "back room" deal done by Democrats to attain Nelson's golden vote. "It's sleazy, in my view," he said. Sen. Tom...

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...

Dr. Becky Hollibaugh of Friend, Nebraska e-mailed me her message for sellout Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) this morning:Hello Michelle:I’m a family practice doctor in Nebraska. I sent the following (angry,I admit) letter to Senator Nelson. I urge your readers (from Nebraska and elsewhere) to do likewise, in their own words!Dear Senator Nelson:I send this message under “Tort Reform” because the current monstrosity you have pledged your support to says nothing whatsoever about Tort Reform. You have sold the physicians of Nebraska for zilch (zilch for us, but beaucoup federal bucks for you and the liberal partisans in this state). As...

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...

Democrat Ben “Dover” Nelson, who had previously threatened to join a GOP filibuster of the Senate Health Care Bill, proved today that everything has a price – including a man’s values. The Nebraska Senator just accepted what I’ll generously describe as an enormous “monetary incentive” to do a complete 180 on his long-time position on abortion funding and thereby gave this awful legislation life with his 60th all-Democrat vote. Earlier this month, Nelson insisted that he would not support a bill without stronger anti-abortion language:

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life groups have spent most of Saturday morning furiously analyzing the Nelson-Reid compromise language on abortion funding in the Senate health care bill. Their conclusion is that the language undermines the amendments they wanted to ban abortion funding. The compromise language appears in the manager's amendment Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is offering to shore up the 60 votes he needs to overcome the filibuster against the pro-abortion health care bill. The language is not similar to the Stupak and Nelson amendments approved by the House and defeated in the Senate. Instead, Section 38 adds a...

What started as Sen. Ben Nelson's personal stand against covering abortion with taxpayer money translated, somehow, into millions of dollars in federal aid for his home state. The Nebraska Democrat, following weeks of negotiations with his caucus, finally agreed to back the Senate's health care reform bill this weekend after Democratic leaders made a series of concessions. Nelson's support gives Democrats the 60 votes they need to overcome a filibuster, barring any last-minute defections. But critics by Sunday were heavily questioning Nelson's motivations, given that the abortion restrictions he sought and won did not satisfy several major anti-abortion lawmakers and...

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says those unhappy with the health care overhaul set to be pushed through the Senate this week should express their displeasure at the polls next November. Huckabee spoke Sunday to a raucous crowd of about 1,800 people at an Omaha rally sponsored by Americans for Prosperity of Nebraska. Huckabee says the vote on health care reform is a pivotal moment in American history, and he took Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson to task for deciding to support the measure. Huckabee went so far as to compare Nelson to Judas in the biblical story of Jesus'...

Interesting Provisions That Recently Appeared In Senate Health Bill ? $100,000,000 For “Health Care Facility” “At A Public Research University In The United States That Contains A State’s Sole Public Academic Medical And Dental School.” NEBRASKA “As Part Of The Deal To Win Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's Support, The Federal Government Will Fund Nebraska's New Medicaid Recipients.” (“Ben Nelson's Medicaid Deal,” Politico, 12/19/09) VERMONT “The Health Care Overhaul Taking Shape In Congress Includes A Provision Pushed By Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy To Increase The State’s Medicaid Payments By $250 Million Over Six Years. The Provision, Also Supported By Sen. Bernie...

People keep asking "Isn't bribery illegal??", well, actually, it is. Sounds to me like half of Congress could end up in the slammer!! USC Title 18, Ch 11, Sec 201... (b) Whoever— (1) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent— (A) to influence any official act; or (B) to...