Free Republic

Did you know that the future of Obamacare relies on the credibilty of former Senator Ben "Cornhusker Kickback" Nelson? Yes, the Huffington Post and other liberal media outlets seem to think that what Nelson tells us was going on in his mind at the time that Obamacare passed is crucial to the outcome of the King vs Burwell case at the Supreme Court. Such is the desperate premise of Jonathan Cohn, Senior National Correspondent of the Huffington Post and other liberals looking for that lifeline out of the dilemma that the Obmacare law specifically says that only state based exchanges...

The Lincoln Journal Star added to the annals of ‘If you like your plan you can keep your plan (Midwestern edition)” yesterday with a new report on the impact of ObamaCare on health insurance premiums in Nebraska.  Thanks to the mandates in ObamaCare, most of the individual insurance plans offered in the past will no longer be available, whether consumers liked their plan or not.  The replacements will be much more expensive, with cost hikes ranging from 21% increases to as much as 143%: Nebraska Insurance Commissioner Bruce Ramge pointed out that a comparison of rates between Coventry and...

WASHINGTON — Ben Nelson has found gainful employment. The former Nebraska senator, a Democrat, is taking over as CEO of the National Association of Insurance Executives and joining the public affairs firm Agenda as a senior adviser. The insurance association said Nelson will act as the group's primary advocate and chief spokesperson, including outreach to the federal government and international organizations.

WASHINGTON — Ben Nelson isn't about to trade his U.S. Senate seat for a rocking chair. The retiring Nebraska Democrat, 71, wants to trek up Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro. He reiterated Wednesday that he's looking forward to tackling his "bucket list" after leaving Congress late this year. Spending more time with family and hunting top that list, but there are more exotic goals: ascending the dormant volcano peak of Kilimanjaro and visiting Machu Picchu, the remote 15th century Inca site in Peru. “There are so many things that you put off, and now I don't have to worry about just putting...

Emigrant Bank was recently identified to receive a waiver that would allow the bank to opt out of rigorous Dodd-Frank requirements. These of course are the same new rules and regulations that Barack deems essential to the nation. Yet when the bank’s owner, Howard Milstein, who is a close friend and was a bundler for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, protested that the new rules would seriously crimp operations of his bank, the Obama Administration worked with members of congress to grant him a waiver from the new rules. Other financial institutions and banks have consistently and vehemently argued that...

Incumbent Senator and former Governor Ben Nelson has fallen behind in new polling in Nebraska. The Democrat reportedly has been considering retirement, which should not be surprising at all, considering the data. Nelson has been polling poorly for a while, now. It may be at the point that Nelson's campaign would not even be able to get off of the ground. Nelson was polled against three candidates, including Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning. In two of the matchups, Nelson either led slightly or had a 6% lead. However, against Bruning, Nelson has quite the deficit. Considering that Bruning would have...

WASHINGTON — A new series of political advertisements on behalf of an embattled Nebraska senator could open the door to a flood of similar ads financed by outside groups and even businesses working directly with political candidates — a sharp departure from past practice. The ads are innocuous enough on their face: Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat up for re-election next year, is featured on television and radio commercials discussing Social Security, the national debt, war veterans and other hot-button issues. What is remarkable, campaign finance lawyers and political operatives say, is that the ads were produced and paid...

Breaking late yesterday is tape of Prince Harry Reid—as Hannity likes to say—being very remorseless about one of the most underhanded and unethical maneuvers related to the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing done to secure unreliable Democrat votes for Barack Obama's health care "reform." In fact, you could even say that Reid was downright proud of and gloating over being behind the Cornhusker Kickback! Giddily smiling and smirking each time he answered in defense of his shady maneuvers surrounding Obamacare, Reid apparently couldn't get it into his thick skull that that was exactly what turned off many Americans. Appearing on Greta...

Repeal: Some say trying to repeal ObamaCare is a futile dream once people get used to its benefits, such as covering kids with pre-existing conditions. Once before, government was slapped down. It can be done. Entitlements can be addictive, and it's certainly the purpose of this administration to make as many Americans as possible as dependent on government as possible. That's partly why a health care bill put student loans under the Department of Education. The government needed the revenues, but it also needed the power over yet another class of citizens. Unlike Medicare and Social Security, this nationalization of...

If a frontal assault on the foundational principals and values of American life can qualify as being “at war” - then yes, Barack Obama is in combat with our country. And while the belligerence of both his administration and his party’s congressional leadership have seemingly created a sense of alarm across the U.S., their apparent disregard for their own self-inflicted political damage is all the more staggering. Taking aim at America’s foundations has impacted us both here at home, and abroad. European allies France and England have both made note of our President’s “short shrift” treatment over the past fourteen...

Politics: The water spigots are back on, at least temporarily, in California's Central Valley. Turned off to protect a tiny fish, they happen to be in the districts of two congressmen "undecided" on health care reform. One could chalk it up to good fortune or just good constituent service. But in the middle of a contentious health care debate marked by Cornhusker Kickbacks and Louisiana Purchases, we may be forgiven if we find an announcement by the Department of the Interior regarding California's water supply a tad too coincidental. On Tuesday, the Department of the Interior announced it was increasing...

When the President announced his version of the Obamacare bill, part of his proposal was to eliminate the sneaky, backroom deals such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Nebraska Cornhusker Kickback amoung others. But that was then this is now, and like most of Obama's proposals that too had an expiration date. Yesterday, Jake Tapper hosted "This Week" on ABC and interviewed David Axelrod the White House Political adviser. He asked Axelrod if he would be willing to pledge that the final health care reform bill will not include any special deals inserted to secure the support of individual members of...

The political fallout in Nebraska from the "Cornhusker Kickback" hasn't subsided. Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson and Democratic donors have spent more than $500,000 on TV ads in Omaha and elsewhere justifying the sweet exemption from Medicaid costs that was granted Nebraska in return for Mr. Nelson's vote for the ObamaCare bill. But a new Rasmussen poll finds that 64% of Nebraskans still oppose the bill, while Mr. Nelson's personal approval rating has cratered to 40% from 61% a year ago. Mr. Nelson doesn't face the voters until 2012, but this week one of his likely challengers, Nebraska State Treasurer Shane...

President Barack Obama made his State of the Union speech on Wednesday evening and hit a number of issues, including: education, terrorism, and health care reform. Mr. Obama did point out some of the faults of the health care legislation. He particularly pointed out the issue of "horse-trading" being used during the health care debate.: “I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people,” Obama said. “And I know that with all the lobbying and horse-trading, this process left most Americans wondering what’s in it for them.” Senator Ben Nelson (D -...

Health Care: Will the administration seize the moment of Scott Brown's victory to work out real solutions, or will it follow Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid over the cliff? Or is it just about government control? Before Sen.-elect Brown became the Scott heard 'round the world, House Speaker Pelosi was asked what his victory in the bluest of blue states would mean. "Certainly the dynamic will change depending on what happens in Massachusetts," she replied in a bit of an understatement. The dynamic has changed, yet the Democrats, as the country song goes, apparently don't know when to hold them...

If this guy was up for reelection in November instead of 2012, he’d already be preparing for a permanent vacation a la Dodd and Dorgan. As it is, he’ll limp along for two more long years — unless he finally crumbles and decides to be the 41st “no” vote after all. Or rather, the 42nd, if/when Scott Brown wins. Tell me again about running on ObamaCare in the midterms, champ. Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about...

Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-Neb.) approval ratings have slid since voting for health reform legislation, a new poll showed Sunday. 48 percent of Nebraskans say they disapprove of the way Nelson, a centrist who provided Democrats with the critical 60th vote for health reform, is handling his job. 42 percent said they approve, according to a poll by Wiese Research Associates conducted for the Omaha-World Herald. Those numbers mark a slide for Nelson, who won reelection in 2006 with nearly 64 percent of the vote. Voters' dissatisfaction with Nelson stemmed from his support for healthcare legislation, the World-Herald reported, though it...

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson says he didn't hold back his vote on health care legislation just to get more money for his state, "but to fix the unfunded Medicaid mandate for all states."

Election 2010: The back-to-back Senate retirements of Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd may be just the beginning. The people have seen the future of health care reform and found it doesn't work. Apres moi, le deluge. We don't know what the Mayan calendar says about 2010, but it's starting to look like the end of the world for Democratic electoral prospects. Americans who watched in shock as government tried to step between them and their doctors, may have the last laugh. The tea party isn't over until the angry mob votes. As rage grew over the attempt to nationalize one-sixth...

"Call off the dogs" is the message Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson (D) sent a coalition of Republican attorneys general examining the constitutionality of the Senate's healthcare bill, according to media reports. That request, made by Nelson's chief of staff to South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster on Thursday, arrives just days after 13 states' top prosecutors signaled they would examine the legality of the bill's Medicaid provisions, which in part won Democrats Nelson's vote. At issue is a condition in the bill's Medicaid rules that would essentially cover all of Nebraska's new program participants. The deal, referred to by many...