More Amusement

Score one for Joe Public

A story our website failed to cover extensively was the backroom deals that took place in the Senate to get Obamacare passed. One of the big recipients was Ben Nelson a formerly popular Governor from Nebraska. In return for his vote his state received ‘the cornhusker kickback’, which among other things gave the state a permanent exemption from the state share of Medicaid expansion for Nebraska, meaning federal taxpayers have to kick in an additional $45 million in the first decade. Maybe America is beginning to wake up, the very constituents that benefited from this deal booed and heckled Nelson out of a Pizza Hut. Now he trails by 31 points in a hypothetical match-up with Nebraska’s current governor for the 2012 elections. I commend the citizens of Nebraska for holding their representatives accountable.

While the heat was on Nelson and negotiations were being made, Nelson ran this video to help persuade his fellow constituents.
We found out this week, that it’s not a Ben Nelson campaign ad. You probably can’t make out the disclaimer, but the ad was paid for by the Nebraska Democratic Party. So, not only did Nelson get bought off with Medicaid funding from the federal treasury, it now appears he got TV ads from the NDP. The DNC and Organizing for America have been asking supporters of “real” health care reform for funds and to the tune of about 500,000 dollars that support went to Nelson. The same Nelson that helped kill the public option, medicare buy-in, and insisted on harsh anti abortion language. Funny, that at this very time in Martha Coakley was running some horrendous ads in Massachusetts. Think this money could have been better spent?

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