He may be your Senator, but he is my Senator no more.

Citing the tradition of having a debate on the issues, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson vote with the rest of the Democrats to bring the Harry Reid cobbled together FrankenHealth bill to the floor to debate.

Republicans opposed this on a variety of grounds, primarily on cost, effectiveness of cost containment, the unprecedented level of government intrusion and a host of other things. Ben Nelson claimed that he wasn't necessarily in favor of the bill, but needed to have debate.


My friends, there will be no debate, nor amendment which will come to floor of the Senate on this bill that will reduce the cost or increase the effectiveness. We will see amendments that are designed to bribe Senators with a hundred million here for some project in their state that may or may not be related to the bill in question. Such was the way that Nancy Pelosi got Representative Cao of Louisiana to vote her way for the house bill. Mary Landrieu got her hundred million for her vote, but Nelson got bupkiss for his.

The vote on Saturday night was a procedural one, to be sure. The vote (and the bill, as it turns out) reminds me of Pandora, to whom Zeus had given  a box. Zeus, who had created Pandora as part of his plan to destroy anything connected to Prometheus, was given to his brother. The Father of the Gods gave Pandora an additional gift, the gift of curiosity and told her not to open the box. Her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it up, releasing all of the world's toils and sicknesses to afflict the men Prometheus had assisted. Despondent over her failing, Pandora looked inside the box, finding that Hope yet remained inside.

My friends, I feel less certain that any such hope remains after Harry Reid's Senate voted to open our national voice up for a debate on plan that has two aims: Tax increases and increased government control in your lives.

Using the guise of discussion, Ben Nelson sought cover in a relatively conservative state so he could hopefully hold his seat come next election. I sincerely hope that all of us in the Panhandle and the non-Lincoln/Omaha area understand that Nelson has done nothing for this part of Nebraska and his vote Saturday night in the Senate has done more harm than any pork he has ever delivered to the Beef State.