Why Nelson folded like a cheap suit

[Warph]

Dems Threaten Nelson In Pursuit of 60

While the Democrats appease Senator Lieberman, they still have to worry about other recalcitrant Democrats including Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. Though Lieberman has been out front in the fight against the public option and the Medicare buy-in, Nelson was critical of both. Now that those provisions appear to have been stripped from the bill, Lieberman may get on board, but Nelson's demand that taxpayer money not be used to fund abortion has still not been met. According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn't fall into line.

Offutt Air Force Base employs some 10,000 military and federal employees in Southeastern Nebraska. As our source put it, this is a "naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson's vote." They are "threatening to close a base vital to national security for what?" asked the Senate staffer.

Indeed, Offutt is the headquarters for US Strategic Command, the successor to Strategic Air Command, and not by accident. STRATCOM was located in the middle of the country for strategic reasons. Its closure would be a massive blow to the economy of the state of Nebraska, but it would also be another example of this administration playing politics with our national security.


This sounds like something Rahm Emanual would do with the Zero's o.k.... right down his alley.

Okay.... here is what Nelson had to say on this issue:


Today, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) again denied rumors that the White House threatened to close Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base if he did not play ball on the Democrats' health care bill. Nelson also claimed that he knows the original source of the rumor, and "eventually it will come out."

Yesterday, we reported that Nelson and the White House were pushing back against rumors of such a base closure threat, which were primarily being propagated by right-wing talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity.

Today, Nelson did a podcast for "Jack & John Thursday morning" at KLIN in Lincoln, Nebraska, and again shot down these claims.

"Duh..... Nobody's threatened me," said Nelson. "As a matter of fact, any discussion with the White House, or leadership, or any of my colleagues, ahhh.... the question about the base, or even the name of the base, ah..... er.... has never come up."

He continued: "We believe we know the source, we have emails. At least one of the sources." Nelson also said that "there will be a whole lotta folks on the other side of the aisle embarrassed if and when it comes out."

"If it's looked into, er... aaaa... I welcome that," he said.


....Then there is this:

Nelson: "My Vote is Not For Sale!" : http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=11687170


Okay Ben... how about the guarantee that if you would come on board the obamacare bus you and your state of Nebraska would receive millions of dollars.... 

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 groups and that it took a major federal payoff to his state to seal the deal.

Critics were calling it the "cornhusker kickback" and the "Nebraska windfall," lobbing accusations of political deal-making at Nelson.

"It's pretty obvious that votes have been bought," Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/20/nelson-accused-selling-vote-health-nebraska-pay/

[Warph]

Ben Nelson Whores Out For ObamaCare


Harry Reid finally managed to find his 60 votes. He did it by finally buying out Democrat Ben Nelson, in one of the most blatant examples of political prostitution ever seen in Washington.

Turns out that Louisiana's Mary Landreiu priced her services kind of cheaply at that. She must be green with envy at a higher priced hooker like Ben Nelson.

Here's what Ben Nelson sold himself for.

****Essentially, American taxpayers will pay Nebraska's Medicare bills forever.****

He also got special federally funded exemptions physician owned hospitals in Nebraska — and Nebraska only. Nelson essentially sold his vote and caved on federal funding for abortions in order to get the money.

Since Obama Care's "reforms" are going to skyrocket medicare costs and insurance premiums and put an immense financial burden on already stressed state budgets, Nelson's bribe is going to be worth billions of dollars over time.But not to the people of Nebraska,and I have a feeling most of them realize it.

Remember that Nebraskans still pay federal income taxes, and they will still be responsible for their part of the ultimate price tag. And that includes nearly $400 billion in new taxes over the next decade and by nearly $500 billion in spending reductions, primarily cuts to Medicare as seniors face rationed care.

The revised Senate bill would require every American for the first time to obtain insurance or face a penalty of as much as $750 a year or 2 percent of their income, whichever is greater, with a cap for families set at $2,250. Want to bet that your new insurance premiums will be geared to those numbers? And remember, since you're required to to buy insurance from somebody, there's no incentive for competition in pricing or services. In fact, there's every incentive for insurance companies to collude on pricing – which is exactly what happened in California after the state made auto insurance mandatory.

Any 'savings' will not trickle down but merely go to the state government to plug other holes in the dam.

And guess what – those higher taxes and penalties go into effect immediately, which means 2010. So next year, everyone – including the residents of Nebraska – are going to be taxed at a higher rate and forced to purchase mandatory insurance. But the so-called benefits of the program don't actually kick in until 2014. That allows the Democrats to get through the 2010 elections and get Barack Obama re-elected before people start noticing how long it takes them to actually see a doctor or get a needed operation performed.

At least that's the plan – because they think you're stupid.

The Senate bill supposedly will cost a mere $871 billion over the next decade,supposedly reducing federal budget deficits by $132 billion during the same period. These numbers have fluctuated wildly...originally, the Baucus Bill was projected to cost $829 billion while allegedly cutting the deficit by by $81 billion over a decade, and let's not even talk about the House bill once it hits reconciliation and all the House bribes get added in.

Let's reduce this to a more human scale.

I've got a deal for you – I want you to refinance your mortgage now in 2009 dollars and spend $8,710 in fees and costs. In exchange you'll save $1,320 over ten years in 2019 dollars..if my figures are correct and nothing changes.

Any takers out there?

If there are, I have some friends in Nigeria with an amazing business proposition for you – But Your Trust Is Required.

Actually, the real numbers don't matter. Those figures are absolutely certain to be bogus because the Democrats made sure that provisions requiring a photo ID and proof of citizenship to access coverage were stripped out of the bill. Language supposedly prohibiting this kind of abuse is in the Baucus bill – at least it is now – but with no means of enforcement, so it's cosmetic.

And since our southern border is still a sieve and likely to remain so under this administration,any projections on savings that don't take into consideration the system abuse by non-citizens are seriously out of whack. And we haven't even mentioned the cost of fraud.

Here's another funny – once cloture is voted on, it will only take 51 votes pass this bill and send it to the House. Don't be surprised if Nelson votes against it then, with Harry Reid's express permission, when Nelson has nothing to lose.Just so he can go back home and tell his constituents that he really actually voted against ObamaCare.

Like I said, they think you're stupid.

[larryJ]

Interesting article, thanks for posting.

However, making auto insurance mandatory in California did not kill any competitiveness or price wars.  On the contrary, there is a multi-million dollar industry in Auto Insurance brokers that you go to and they shop insurance companies for the best coverage and price just for you.  (HAH).  Actually, the brokers are contracted to the different insurance companies to sell their insurance for them.  It is cheaper to have a broker find customers than the companies finding the customers.  But, different brokers charge different premiums depending on what they think they can sell you.  So it is still competitive. 

Another note about mandatory auto insurance.  It is a law that you must carry at least liability insurance in this state.  Not having insurance coverage can get you in serious trouble.  However, you are only required to prove you have insurance if you are pulled over by an officer for some infraction of the law---you need proof if you are buying a car and the dealer needs that proof before he can allow you to leave---and if you are in an accident and need to exchange required information. 

So, let's see.   You are an excellent driver and never ever get pulled over for anything and chances are, if you don't have dings on your record, the chances are you might not get asked for proof of insurance.  You don't have to show proof of insurance if you are buying a used car from a private party.  And, many who have been involved in accidents will say, "I have insurance, I just don't have the card with me.  I will get that information to you as soon as possible."  (yeah right)!!!  This happens more than you know.


I was once in a minor accident and the lady who hit me swore to me she and her husband did have insurance and she would mail me the proof.  Not much I could do about that.  I can't give her a ticket for not having insurance.  The accident took place in a parking lot so the local authorities could not respond to an accident on private property unless someone is injured.  As I had only a tiny scratch on the bumper, I wasn't overly concerned about it being fixed and she had little damage to her car.  A few months later, my insurance company called me up and wanted to examine my car as the lady had decided to file a claim for damages to her car.  I had not received any copies of her insurance.  After the examination of my car and a formal taped interview with my insurance adjuster was concluded, he proceeded to show me pictures of her car and the whole passenger side was wiped out.  She was filing a claim against my insurance for another accident she had in which neither party had insurance and she was using old information to see about getting her car fixed.

Larryj