Poor Ben Nelson. He went on John King’s show today and told King, “[I]f you think it’s fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you’re trying to do something in good faith, just think, it’s like going home and getting bit by the family dog. So how — who enjoys that?”We all know the truth, however. The proof is in the pudding of Ben Nelson’s arrangements with Harry Reid. Nelson said he was standing firm on pro-life issues, but in fact his compromise will not help him. His compromise authorizes federal funding of abortions on Indian Reservations, but will make it difficult for white Americans to have access to abortions during Republican administrations. That is the key. Under Nelson’s compromise, abortion access will fluctuate based on who the President is. A pro-life President will have the power to make it more difficult. A pro-death President like Barack Obama will make it exceedingly easy. The only constant will be federal abortion funding for Indians.I guess Ben Nelson has no problem with the multi-century history of the feds trying to exterminate Indian populations. Surely Ben Nelson knew what he was agreeing to. The issue with abortions on Indian reservations is related to the reauthorization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is tied to the health care legislation and about which Nelson was fully aware of its implications.What’s more, we should consider the rest of what Nelson got. Under Ben Nelson’s compromise, the citizens of the several states will now pay for medicaid cost overruns in Nebraska forever. That’s right. No other state gets the commitment Nebraska gets. From now on, your state taxes are going to be raised when medicaid costs go up in your state and your federal taxes are going to go up when medicaid costs go up in Nebraska.The rest of the Democratic Senators have been taken for a ride by Ben Nelson, who has managed to put his state in a better financial position at the expense of every other state’s residents, all while ensuring the feds get to keep subsidizing the costs of exterminating Indian kids on Reservations. Poor Mary Landrieu really did turn out to be a cheap date.Ben Nelson did not act in good faith. And the only thing biting him has got to be his conscience.
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