Blue Dog Ben Nelson helps spread Conservatives' stimulus BS
By David Neiwert Saturday Jan 31, 2009 4:30pm
So Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, one of the bluer of the old Bush Dogs, is helping enable Republican obstructionism in the Senate:
According to Fox News, Nelson convened a meeting in his Senate office today with Senate Republicans and some Democrats who are seeking “common ground on how they can improve the $819 billion economic stimulus bill.” Nelson’s meeting included Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
Here's what he told Fox:
NELSON: I don’t know, I don’t even know how many Democrats will vote for it as it stands today because a lot of my colleagues are not decided. They’re undecided on the bill as it is right now. Fortunately, we don’t have to take the vote on it right now. We have an opportunity to make some improvements.
He later came on Andrea Mitchell's program at MSNBC, in the clip above, and tried to explain further:
Nelson: So what we have to do is what the president just said in the last clip, is we have to create jobs. And if you take a look at the stimulus package, there are those programs that are there for infrastructure, that are there to develop construction, that will create jobs, and those have a robust nature to them in creating jobs. Unfortunately, there are other parts to the program that are borderline, marginal, when it comes to job creation. There's no question that there's a lot of spending in the bill, but what we really need to do is focus on what it does for jobs.
According to the Washington Post, two programs in particular are the object of Nelson's displeasure:
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who remains undecided about the bill, said he opposes money going to research projects at the National Institutes of Health and about $13 billion for Pell grants that help students pay for college. Nelson says the measures are worthy but do not belong in legislation designed to stimulate the economy.
But as Red Rogue at DailyKos notes:
Earlier today, President Obama released state by state job improvement numbers should the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Program be implemented. According to the figures, Nebraska would see an employment boom of 19,220 jobs or a -1.3% drop in the unemployment rate.
Those numbers alone make the program worthy of support.
I'd love to put something in this diary telling you to "Call Senator Nelson and demand he vote for the bill!" but it wouldn't have any effect. Honestly I think Nelson is toeing that line yet again in order to shore up support amongst conservatives in Nebraska. It's no different than earlier this week when Nelson voted "yea" on a killer amendment on the SCHIP bill -- it's all for show because last night Nelson voted for SCHIP.
Indeed, Digby has already observed that this really is just so much posturing:
This may be kabuki. McCaskill is a super Obama friend and may be playing a role on his behalf to help him gain a handful of Republican votes so they can call it bipartisan. (Let's hope they don't give away the store to do it...) But, the end result is the same, whether Obama is part of it or not. Conservative values and economic shibboleths will have been validated and going forward we will have to re-fight the battle from square one.
Even Nelson seems to acknowledge as much to Mitchell:
Nelson: There are people who think we have a choice here. I'm not sure we have a choice. But I do think there are choices within this package that we can make.
Unfortunately, Nelson's way of making that point is all about enabling Conservative talking points -- which they will then use to explain their ideological obstructionism. Nice job, Senator.
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-facepalm-
Well, well, it's our moderate friend Susan Collins again, taking an unprincipled partisan stand again. Funny though, I don't remember Senator Collins protesting George Bush's running up our deficit to a trillion dollars, stuffing the coffers of Haliburton and Blackwater. Tell us again how very "moderate" Susan Collins is. Oh right, she's ok with legal abortion. Isn't that swell.
she is my senator. She is NOT a moderate.
Susan Collins
U.S. Senator, Maine
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id...
She seems unpredictable?
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote...
PS. Great lobster! :-)
Not only is it BS but they are actually lying. Check out Rachel Maddow pointing out the lies and misconceptions GOPers are using to block this needed stimulus to the economy: http://www.tv1.com/playlists/225
Maybe the opposition is part right. There's too much distraction in the current bill. Much of it belongs in separate appropriations anyway. It only figures that the incompetent Democratic leadership would draft a bill so filled with targets for the Republicans to aim at.
Obama should scrap the plan altogether. Blame any further downside in the economy on the Republican foot dragging. Call them to the table to help draft a bill with the Democrats...due on his desk in 10 days or else he'll draft a bill and get it passed with or without their support. Announce to the American people that it's time for the Republicans to either put up or shut up.
It is the last chance, perhaps, and it should be as good as it can be. It certainly has much room for improvement.
It's apparent that this "can't we all just get along?" gets tired fast. It lasted a week. Lesson learned for Obama.
He needs to take charge and kick some butt...including the fumbling and bumbling Democratic leadership. They're long overdue for a real ass kicking.
I agree with Ben Nelson. THere is a lot of stuff in this bill that is solves cultural issues. But the intent of the bill is to grow jobs. Get the culture stuff out of it, focus on job creation. This shows that the Dems are serious. And it eliminates reasons to oppose the bill, giving a stark difference between the opposing parties.
Let's not make it a grab bag, lets focus efforts on job creation and infrastructure building.
.
See Mr. President,
Who says bipartisanship is dead?
.
When is he up for re-election and who can we replace him with.
We can't get rid of him until 2012.
Sadly, I'm not sure that we can realistically expect better from a Nebraska Democrat. But that doesn't mean we won't ding him for it, either.
too far from the tree. :-P
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ [See NE]
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id...
Note: Party colors reversed.
Is this the same Ben Nelson that made an ass of himself on Rachel Maddow? A big, white, dimply, cracker ass.
I'll be happy to assign Ben Nelson his share of the blame - which he will surely deserve.
*
Don't forget to have him swear off on any benefits for Nebraska if it does pass.
He's nothing more than a repuglican in blue. Fuckim. He is a miserable excuse for a Democrat.
for a comment I could sink my teeth into.
Well said!
It's time to neuter the Blue Dogs by nuking (neuking?) the filibuster.
Shame on all of them...Democrats and Republicans alike. It begins with the stupid Democratic leadership who drafted a bill loaded with easy targets for the Republicans to hit, and ends with the Republicans who would oppose any bill, even if it had 100% of their wish-list included.
Washington has become totally disfunctional.
are staring members of my family in the eye - but is this bill the best way to prevent it? What is beginning to bother me is that any spoken opposition to this particular bill and one is treated the same way that opponents to the Iraq war run-up were treated - with disdain and accused of being partisan.
But hey no one here is asking that question, because magic elves are afoot and they are going to poof it into existence.
World worries how U.S. will pay for stimulus
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/30/busine...
HELLO!?
Anyone want to tackle that one, where is the money going to come from?
HELLO!?
pointing this slight hitch out on another site, and at least mentioned it once here.
Just "worry" if that causes the US Bond rating to drop below AAA is .. scary economic territory. And we *do* have a history of defaulting after wars, creatively defaulting, but still defaulting.
Nixon shock after Vietnam tab due and the French called us on the debt? It was a form of default.
And then there is THIS. Be nice to the people that lend you money.
It's time to manufacture and sell a lot of solar panels and plant more food crops!
How's that for starters? Oh, and stop occupying foreign countries. Mass tree-planting initiatives can replace bombing runs. I can at least dream, staring into the gaping abyss of the Bush Depression.
http://www.granitegrok.com/pix/campaign%20cas...
is absolutely wrong about Pell grants and student loans. Students are not unemployed and they do not compete for the limited number of jobs available right now. They do provide employment for other people and remain consumers albeit subsidized ones. Putting large numbers of people into educational programs beats having them on unemployment insurance or welfare. When the recession ends and it will eventually these students will earn higher incomes and pay higher taxes. The benefits of this are not proximate but as a long term investment it beats anything else in the stimulus package. This part of the program is the only sure one to provide payback.
...are exactly why the Democrats' quest for 60 senators was always a joke. The most frustrating thing imaginable would be to have 60 nominally Democratic senators with the outcomes of bills resting on the likes of Nelson, Lieberman, and others.
I haven't seen any statistics to support this, but my impression is that on the important issues the so-called moderate Republicans routinely side with their party, while the Blue Dog Democrats routinely side with the Republicans. I'd like to see a breakdown of votes to see if that is really true.
Of course, it could be that my biases distort my impressions. Ask a Wingnut what bipartisanship is and there will be a mournful cry that it's when Republicans meekly yield to the wishes of Democrats to further a "far left" agenda. It's difficult to square that with the reality that I perceive, especially with weak-kneed and addle-brained Harry Reid running the show in the Senate.
in the red states the rat wing talk radio stations are the political power centers.
do you have some sort of agreement where you have to mention Digby at least once a day?
is she your Jonathan Turley?
just sayin
we all saw why half these guys go republican when rep gingrey kissed limbaugh's scrotum on 600 limbaugh stations - they're afraid of rush, especially in the red states like nebraska.
Afraid of an entertainer, a hate radio clown. How pathetic is that?
These dogs need to lose their jobs. What a bunch of shitheads.
I will correct myself; a small handful of us are asking these questions but most are just following and not thinking.
These blue dogs need to form a third party and stop getting in the way of progress.
Remember the bank bailout bill, though. First of all, it was never used for what it was intended for. Executives got bonuses and shareholders got dividends. Some banks are using the money to buy other banks. There was no accounting method set up to track where the funds went. And that was a bill written by Democrats. So I think it's good that there is some discussion going on before the stimulus bill is passed. Although I agree that money for the arts and reseeding the National Mall do provide jobs. They may just not provide jobs for Repubs.
I looked at this stimulas bill and there is a lot of stuff in there.
The one thing that I notice that was different then anything we have seen in the last eight years is.
There is spending in there for America!
I did not see one thing in there for Iraq or haliburton?
I know that a lot of the ignorant republican fools don't like it but that should be one more reason for real Americans to like it.
republicans are not Americans! Not todays republicans!
These people would be more at home living in Iraq or Russia, or Africa not here! republicans no longer have the love of country and family that real Americans do.
republicans have turned to greed as their god and corruption as there way of life!
Treat them like they have treated you. They deserve it!!!!!!!
Hmmm, a Senator against increased Pell Grants when his state includes one of the largest student loan companies. Imagine.
We can't afford or need a Bluedog, Reslug sheep, in the Senate that pretends to be a Democrat.
Not only is it BS but they are actually lying. Check out Rachel Maddow pointing out the lies and misconceptions GOPers are using to block this needed stimulus to the economy
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The housing bubble was needed stimulous, to keep a credit bubble growing. Where has that gotten us? To where we are now. So what is even more stimulous, by parabolicly ramping up federal deficits going to get us, down the road?
The credit bubble must and will deflate, just as it did in the 1930's.
The FED is talking of buying up the long end of the yield curve, to artificially force down long rates. The bond market dumped in response. The market isn't going to go along with this game playing, in an effort to continue an economic and financial fraud.
Both political parties need to stop the game playing, lies and misconceptions.
This is why having 60 senators of the same party is not the magic anti-filibuster bullet that the MSM and plenty of "liberal" blogs make it out to be. Democratic Senators like Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Mary Landrieu, to name a few, do not always vote with their fellow Democrats.
The government is taking money CREATED out of thin air by the FED then charging interest because other countries are less and less wanting to lend to the USA because they know they will never get it back. All this new money created will destroy the dollar..just watch your grocery bull over the next 3 years. You can't save an economy from a credit bubble by hyperinflating. We did that in the early 90's then in the early 2000's (both times to a FAR lesser extent)and now they are trying to do it again and it will not work this time. The deregulation of the banks by the Clinton admin and the Bush spending finished us off. We have a fake dollar backed by nothing but faith to make it happen, no regulation on the PRIVATE for PROFIT Federal reserve made this all possible. (thank Woodrow Wilson for that one)
The republicans are what the democratic leader have been pushing for.. They say they are going center of the party , but really they are going center right.
There is no longer a party of democrats with the values of our constitution , laws and that the people should govern instead of this industrial military complex...
Republicans have been placing their center right republicans on our democratic ticket for years... Now it has been paying off for them..
They have moved our democratic leaders to the center right and if you check the voting records in the past 8 years there has been a backup support for the democrats for Bush and the republicans when they needed them..
Also remember that Bush had a private closed door meeting with the blue dogs right after the 2006 election,,, So if this doesn't say it all nothing would have....
We have to either kick these d... republicans out of our party or we should leave and create a voting block and support only true democrats of "OUR" pick and choice..
Are we going to continue to take this arrogant attacks from our own party or are we going to develop the spine that we claim the democrats have lost..
I for one will refuse to give the the Democratic party for the republican candidates they wish to fund and support... If Obama continues down the path he has taken , I will also vote against him in the democratic primary election if there is anyone that can get the funds to run against him..
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