December 21, 2009
Ben Nelson
In order to lock up the 60th vote for their health care bill, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid has to succumb to political blackmail and terrorism from one of his own — Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Taking a lead from Independent Joe Lieberman, Nelson evidently decided to use political terrorism. And why not? It has always worked! But Nelson made Lieberman look like a pansy compared to what the former got.
The first thing Nelson obtained was $100 million for his state. That is to say, all US taxpayers will pay for the proposed expansion of Medicare for Nebraska. That assures him of a victory in his next election bid. The voters of Nebraska will probably give him a historical landslide win. The next thing he got was a huge Christmas gift for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska. BCBS will not have to pay annual fees that insurers typical have to pay to the federal government. That assures him of probably a million dollars in direct and indirect contributions during his next run for the Senate.
Other terrorist blackmail goodies obtained by Nelson:
- Supplemental “Medigap” policies such as those sold by Mutual of Omaha are exempted from the annual fee on insurers, something that would help other companies selling such policies.
- A physician-owned hospital being built in Bellevue, Nebraska could get referrals from doctors who own it, avoiding a new ban in the Senate bill that will apply to hospitals built in the future. Without mentioning Nebraska or other states by name, the Senate bill pushes back some legal deadlines by several months, in effect making a few hospitals near completion eligible to continue receiving referrals from the doctors who own them.
And to think this thieving, lying, two-faced bastard touted his objection to the bill as an abortion issue. Hanging this traitor to democracy would be too good for him. Personally, I’d like to ——.
Relative to how “well” the Democrats were working together, The Washington Post termed it this way: “The Democrats wouldn’t even sit in the same room”. Even other Senators who held the same views as Nelson on abortion wouldn’t sit near him in the same room. But Republican Senator Richard Burr said “you’ve got to compliment Ben Nelson for playing ‘The Price Is Right’”.
Now don’t feel too bad for those other Democrats. Many of them cut deals in exchange for their votes. But don’t worry about them — those other deals are only going to cost taxpayers about 2 to 3 trillion dollars. And what the hell — that’s chump change, right? Besides, politicians are elected to cut deals — even if it’s with their own party — instead of supporting or not supporting legislation based on convictions or what their state voters expect of them.
Cynical Synapse
// Dec 22, 2009 at 12:25 PM
They’re all extortionists and lieing, thieving backstabbers. And Lieberman used to be a Democrat.
Carl Levin also gets big donations from BCBS.