Reid, Nelson, Many Dems Will Pay Through the Nose.
Political sleight of hand is usually so deft that voters don’t see it until legislation is passed and signed. The Senate version of health care is clumsy, shows lawmakers taking federal bribes for their votes and two so-called “pro-life” Senators…Ben Nelson (Nebraska) and Robert Casey (Pennsylvania)… caught flat-footed in lies.
Never in U.S. history has a piece of legislation that is so widely disfavored by the electorate--as shown by poll after poll--been rammed down the throat of the country…which guarantees the architects of this treachery will pay in 2010 and beyond. After posturing repeatedly that he was going to stand heroically like King Leonidas of Sparta at Thermopylae Pass in 480 B. C. where the gallant Leonidas and the coalition of Greek forces, outnumbered, were cut down almost to a man by the invading Persians, allegedly pro-life Sen. Nelson did more than cave. He sold out for a deal crafted by Reid with help from Chicago trickster Rahm Emanuel that has the feds paying for all new Medicaid enrollees in his state indefinitely: beginning cost estimated at over $100 million…as well as a cushy deal giving an exemption to Nebraska’s non-profit insurance companies (Nelson is an old insurance executive and was at one time commissioner of insurance in Nebraska). And the very-very small chip off the old block, Sen. Bob Casey, the son of the brilliant late Gov. Bob Casey, is caught trying to defend the deal.
By laying down his arms and surrendering in return for goodies, Nelson became the 60th senator to signify that he would vote to end cloture and advance the gargantuan legislation that few have even read.
Nelson’s surrender for a bribe is analogous to the prospect of King Leonidas getting a nod from Persian King Darius and retiring to a life of ill-gotten luxury secured by a bribe to forsake his country, allowing the Greek freedom fighters to be defeated. The betrayal in question was Nelson’s acquiescence to ditch the impeccable Hyde amendment language, replaced by a provision similar to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) run by the Office of Personnel Management with a sleazy deal where if a woman wants an abortion there is an exchange of paperwork and the OPM will contract with health insurance companies which will supply insurance that can cover abortion at taxpayer expense with a great flurry of negotiations.
(From the dawn of the Reagan years through George H.W. Bush’s and until Bill Clinton’s term began, 19083 to 1993, thanks to Hyde and others, federal employees were prohibited from choosing a health care plan that covered abortion. But with the advent of Bumptious Bill, the first adolescent to become president, a Democratic congress reversed course and allowed federal employees to choose among health care plans that cover abortion. By 1994, 178 FEHB plans (of a total of 345) cover abortions. The next year with a Republican congress, the ban on abortions for federal employees was reinstated. Then, of course, with the election of the Grand Messiah, soon to become the most virulently pro-abortion president in history, the liberal anti-lifers won reinstatement of abortion).
To show you that the truth means nothing in words uttered by her lying, foully duplicitous mouth, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the provision creates “a firm wall” to prevent use of federal money for abortions. Rooted in firm denial to the end, Boxer refused to admit that the Reid deal—offered by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), a pro-abort Catholic--allows the federal government to subsidize private insurance with the end result of paying for abortions. The subsidy would be created by a convoluted bookkeeping scheme that while it boggles the mind still gets to the point of paying for abortions—similar to the Capps-Waxman bill that even the pro-abort Democratic House had turned down. Under the deal all enrollees in an abortion-covering plan will make a separate payment into an account that will through labyrinthine means allow the feds to pay for the procedure.
In an attempt to wipe his hands clean from the blood of innocents caused by his traitorous defection, Nelson blurted out that he was led to make the deal by pro-life Republican Nebraska Governor David Heineman who was very concerned that the new Medicaid enrollees would unbalance the state’s budget. Heineman then contradicted Nelson by saying that by no means did he authorize Nelson to cut such a deal. Both are engaged in semantics since Nebraskans are 58% against the federal health care program…and both politicians are scared stiff that they’ll pay the price at the ballot box (Nelson is up in 2012, the presidential year; Heineman in 2010). “I said…that this is something that has to be fixed,” said Heineman. “I didn’t participate in the way it was fixed.”
Singed badly in taking the heat all alone, Nelson fired off a letter to Heineman saying that he’s willing to withdraw the provision on Nebraska’s Medicaid “if it is your desire.” That’s where Heineman should have said “ok, do it!” but he waffled—scared to take the heat from people who want his state to get the federal aid. But it spurred lawmakers from other states to complain “hey. Why should my state have to take the mandate and Nebraska gets away with it?” One hope is that this would lead to a flurry of lawmakers trying to get their states exempted which means that in the White House, the wily old paymaster, Emanuel, may have to throw up his hands and turn them down…either that or run the cash register repeatedly to buy everybody off…spurring the old hymn to take on a new meaning:
“Come, O Come, Emanuel!”
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