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Ben Nelson 
Tue Dec 27, 2011 at 19:57:03 PM MST
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The excruciating, overdue death of bipartisanship is one day nearer. Ben Nelson, Senator from Nebraska, legislative saboteur, and half-assed Democrat, is retiring:
During the few months when his party had 60 votes in the Senate, he was the proverbial 60th vote, and with Republicans unwilling to negotiate on health-care reform he held enormous sway. He held out the longest, and he could have used his vote to demand almost anything. He could have asked for malpractice reform, tougher cost controls, or any other concession that pushed the bill to the right. What he chose to use it for was a parochial demand to give his home state a special Medicaid subsidy. He's retiring after graciously letting the DSCC blow $600,000 on his now-dead campaign in a series of ads that flouted a contested campaign finance rule:
The maneuver may ultimately haunt Democrats, Mr. Collegio added. "By trying to be clever in helping Nelson," he said, "they may be opening up a can of worms they may not have wanted to open up." Democrats in DC love bipartisanship, encouraged by media in a pursuit that most Americans say they can do without. It is also true that very few care what the roll call was on a piece of good legislation, while they almost always know who to blame for bad legislation. Ben Nelson was partly the victim of Washington's isolation from the 99% and partly of the false assumption that voters want a bipartisan solution to everything.
Ben Nelson made the right call today. If he really desired to continue serving the people for another six years he could have actually started listening to them again. That shouldn't be so difficult. But many Democrats still have a hard time doing what's right for the people while in the thrall of staffers and media whose priorities are far different than ours.
Michael Bennet, who rightly criticizes the work ethic of his peers in Washington, still can't seem to grasp the basics of Populism 101. His spokesman recently touted the number of votes he made in concurrence with Joe Lieberman. Really? Lieberman? Bennet could learn a thing or two from Nelson's early departure. He might also pass off some of this wisdom to Barack Obama if the opportunity presents itself.
Or he could keep pursuing the path of bipartisanship with the same results he's already achieved - few to none.
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Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 06:22:23 AM MST
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Since the Republicans have managed to stand tall on their instance that up to 2 million unemployed Americans should lose their meager benefits, perhaps it is time to start introducing them to some of the unemployed. We have heard the Dickensian pronouncements on the Senate floor that the unemployed are lazy, that the benefits they receive are keeping them from looking for work, that it is more important in a financial crisis to cut spending (and thus cut the over all recovery off at the knees) than it is to help our fellow Americans who, through no fault of their own, are now paying the price for financial deregulation.
As long as this debate is kept in abstract terms it is easy for those Republicans who have a conscience (all three of them) to talk about how we should be burdening our children and grandchildren with debt. It is time to use the very effective method of hearings to bring the real face of the long term unemployed right into the face of the heartless and petty Republican majority.
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Thu May 13, 2010 at 06:15:33 AM MST
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There is a lot of anger and frustration in the electorate this election cycle. It is seen in the Tea Party demonstrators (who get far more press than they proportionally deserve for the actual size of their movement) ; it can be seen in the grumbling on the Left, up to and including those who are flirting with bolting from the Democratic Party. This has lead to a slew of primary challenges to long term incumbents.
I am completely in favor of primary challenges, especially to Senators. It is fitting that a group of men and women who only have to face the voters every six years be required to get the endorsement of their party members before asking for their state to return them to Washington. If nothing else it keeps these very powerful politicians aware of the voters who they need to keep their job.
Which brings us to an interesting situation this cycle; there are two long term Senators who are both facing tough primary challenges. They are Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). What is interesting about these two is the lengths they have both gone to try to appeal to their bases, and keep their jobs.
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