Ben Nelson Gets $500M for VA Hospital - Loses Respect and Integrity

This morning there were reports that Senator Ben Nelson's Cornhusker Kickback for his state of Nebraska is still in the health care bill, then I heard that his bribe is on the cutting room floor, and now PowerLine says there is yet another deal for the Nebraska senator.

Ben Nelson

PowerLine March 19, 2010: 

Now Rowan Scarborough reports that the Obama administration has delivered another budget plum to Nelson and the state of Nebraska, adding more than a half-billion dollars for a new veterans hospital in Omaha. 

Scarborough notes that the move reverses a decision by Mr. Obama's own Veterans Administration of a year ago, which called for repairing an existing hospital. Nelson's spokesman rejects the idea the new hospital was awarded in exchange for the senator's health care vote.

Is the Cornhusker Kickback in or out? It depends on who you believe. This report says it has been cut and the Washington Post reports the same. So Nelson walks away with a half-a-billion dollars, and leaves his dignity and decency behind.

Senator Nelson has long been a pro-life senator. He sold his soul to the Obama administration when offered Medicare funds for his state, and in accepting the bribe, he sacrificed his constitutient's right not to be forced to pay for the abortions of others. What a terrible right to deny those you represent. What a huge fall-from-grace for this formerly pro-life senator.

From the Wall Street Journal December 2009:

Clearly, the senator's fall in public esteem is a direct reaction to his having voted for the health care bill as part of a deal in which Nebraska was exempted from the costs of new federal Medicaid mandates.

The ObamaCare bill was already unpopular enough in Nebraska but became even more so when state residents discovered they would be saddled with it anyway, plus exposed to national ridicule over Mr. Nelson's sweetheart deal. 

I doubt the senator is sleeping well these days, but maybe he thinks the VA hospital will bear his name.

Linked by Memeorandum - Health-vote ally Nelson to get new VA hospital for Nebraska

Ben Nelson Booed Out of Pizza Parlor: Ben Nelson Cornhusker Kickback Unpopular

Showing the true American spirit, Senator Ben Nelson and his wife were booed out of an Omaha pizza parlor near his home. Nelson's $100 million Cornhusker Kickback is unpopular with the good people of Nebraska.

Nelson received a $100 million "paycheck" for the Nebraska in exchange for his honor and a vote for the Senate health care plan. Once a very popular politician in the state...not so today:

Other customers started booing. A woman yelled, “Get him the hell out of here!” And the Nelsons and their dining companions beat a hasty retreat.

“It was definitely a scene in there,” said Tom Lewis, a 41-year-old dentist and registered Republican who witnessed the incident.

State Attorney Generals Threaten Pelosi and Reid over Health Care Legislation

Republican State Attorney Generals in 13 states are threatening a lawsuit over the proposed Senate Health Care legislation, if passed into law. Apparently, there are no Democrat State Attorney Generals concerned about the the unconstitutionality of the Bill.

A letter was sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid on Wednesday, December 30th. I can see them thumbing their collective progressive noses in unison:

The letter was signed by top prosecutors in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington state. All are Republicans, and McMaster and the attorneys general of Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania are running for governor in their respective states.

States are concerned that legislation was changed to garner the vote of, in particular, Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson. In other words, Nelson's vote was bought, and taxpayers will pay $100 million dollars for the deal now known as the "Cornhusker kickback." In other words, taxpayers in states other than Nebraska will pay the deficit that Nebraska is now relieved of. More on Nelson here, and here.

Get this America, Professor Andy Siegel, at Seattle University School of Law, and formerly a professor at University of South Carolina School of Law, says this is:

...some combination of the losers just complaining about the officiating, or complaining about how the game was played, in combination with trying to make the bill look as seedy and inappropriate as possible, for political purposes,"

Academia proves over and over, everyday, that it is a institutional curse upon this Nation. A Nation of laws and the U.S. Constitution means nothing to law professors. Thank you to Stop the ACLU. Read their story here.

Ben Nelson Dr. Becky Hollibaugh: Nebraska Doctor Letter to Ben Nelson

Dr. Becky Hollibaugh of Friend, Nebraska sent her open letter to Senator Ben Nelson to Michelle Malkin for publication. Here is a portion:

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 a family practice physician in Small Town, Nebraska, I was counting on you to be the lone voice of Democratic sanity on this issue, but you sold me out. I will dedicate
every spare minute of my time and every spare dollar I have to defeating you, should you run for re-election....

Thank you, Ben, for forcing doctors like me to earn less than the repairmen who fix our appliances. Case in point: We recently had our dishwasher fixed. The repairman who came to our house charged $65 just to come and ‘diagnose’ the problem, then charged another $180 to ‘fix’ the problem. You and your fellow lawmakers have fixed MY going rate (Medicare) at $35 per-visit. Thank you for securing such a ‘lucrative’ rate for me! Thank you so much for making me–someone with 8 years of education!–make less than a mechanic or appliance repair technichian. And thanks especially for falling in line with Obama and the rest of the Democrats to make such a socialist system permanent.
You have my disgust and disdain forever, you socialist-coddling coward.

 Read the entire letter at Malkin's.

Ben Nelson Votes Yes: Ben Nelson Bought? Senate Removes Abortion from Health Care to Get Nelson's Vote?

Is there any single Democrat with a spine? A new poll indicates that 67% of Nebraska voters oppose health care. Was he offered another Louisiana Purchase? Was there a Ben Nelson purchase? Another bribe going on in the Halls of Congress? Has the Washington, D.C. mafia hit again?

Senator Ben Nelson

In the same poll, it was asked if Nelson (D-NE) voted 'yes' to end the debate and pass the bill out of the Senate, how that vote would affect their vote for Nelson in his next re-election bid:

If Senator Nelson does vote in this way, would that make you more likely or less likely to support Senator Nelson when he runs for re-election?

Likely/strongly 10%
Likely/somewhat 12%
UNSURE 12%
NO DIFFERENCE 6%
Less likely/somewhat 17%
Less likely/strongly 44%

At this moment, Nelson is on FOX saying that he has accomplished removing any federal funds funding abortion.

Another poll says 61% of Nebraska's voters are less likely to vote for Nelson in his next election.

The same poll shows Republican Governor Dave Heineman, who is considering a run for Nelson's seat, with a voter favorability of 64%.

I'm waiting to see what Nelson's 'yes' vote cost American taxpayers. Stay tuned.

Barack Obama Extorts Ben Nelson: We fund Abortions You Lose Offutt AFB

The Weekly Standard reports that according to a Senate staffer, Rahm Emanuel and the White House are extorting Senator Ben Nelson's vote for the Senate health care bill. At the top of Nelson's objections to the legislation is abortion funding.

Senator Ben Nelson

Nelson (D-NE) has consistently said that he will not vote for the bill if the provision to fund abortions remains in the legislation. If this report is true, the White House is saying, vote for the bill or we close Offutt Air Force Base.

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.