OUR VIEW: Hug a cornhusker despite Sen. Nelson (with poll)

For Coloradans, loving Nebraskans can be difficult enough. Those Cornhusker fans annoy us. One of the state’s most prominent politicians, former State Sen. Ernie Chambers, filed a lawsuit against God for causing “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon million of the earth’s inhabitants,” and for causing “fearsome floods, horrendous hurricanes, earthquakes, plagues, famine, genocidal wars, birth defects, terrifying tornadoes and the like.”

And it gets so much worse. The radio stations incessantly give hog reports. There’s a city called Wahoo. They mispronounce Beatrice. There’s even a book titled “I hate Nebraska: 303 reasons why you should, too.”

And then there’s that pig lot smell. It could be the feeding floors. Or it could be that scheme by U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, the Nebraska Democrat who sold his health care vote for pork. Nelson’s vote allowed passage of a Senate health care bill that would almost certainly make a gravely flawed health care system a whole lot worse for us all. Nelson will go down as committing one of history’s most blatant acts of political prostitution. He was against the health care bill for good reasons that appealed to the values of his constituents — who are mostly clear-thinking, traditional-values Midwesterners. In all seriousness, Nebraskans are great neighbors who live in one of the country’s greatest states — despite a few flaky politicians and a football team that has traditionally caused us grief.

One of Nelson’s health care bill hang-ups should have been a non-negotiable, because it involved a moral conviction important to a majority of Cornhuskers. Nebraska is a pro-life state, and Nelson opposed any form of the bill that would provide government funds for abortions.

Even President Barack Obama, who is pro-choice, has opposed government-funding of abortions. In July, Obama explained to Katie Couric his opposition: “I’m pro-choice, but I think we also have the tradition in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care. My main focus is making sure that people have options of high-quality care at the lowest possible price.”

It’s apparent Nelson, by contrast, didn’t really care about stopping federally-funded abortion. His vote was for sale. He sold it in return for an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to have Nebraska’s portion of Medicaid expansion paid for by the federal government in perpetuity.

Nebraskans would benefit, but they would not pay. Instead, residents of Colorado and 48 other states would pay for what Nebraskans consume. Nelson must have assumed the values of Nebraskans were for sale, like he was for sale.

(Please vote in poll to the right. Must vote to see results. Thanks!)

Coloradans could have a legitimate gripe against Nebraskans, after their Senator brought home the Spam at our expense. Worst of all, he sold out for a bill that would increase demand on the health care system without enhancing the supply of health care. But we can’t really blame all Cornhuskers.

That’s because Nebraskans are fuming mad. After one of history’s raunchiest pork victories, one might think Nelson had bought the favor of his state. But his favorable rating was 40 percent four days after his vote. A Rassmussen Reports poll, conducted Monday, showed the senator getting trounced in a hypothetical race for re-election against Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican.

Apparently Nebraskans are more interested in principle — and in doing the right thing — than they are in getting an ill-begotten payoff.

Nelson isn’t up for re-election until 2012, but today he couldn’t be elected pothole inspector for Wahoo. In a political panic, Nelson tried to explain himself Wednesday with a 30-second television ad during the Cornhusker game against Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.

Nebraskans, don’t judge this slick politician by what he says. Judge him by what he did, and by his fruits. In November of 2012, if health care is becoming a fiasco, blame Sen. Nelson. Blame him for selling out your values, in return for other people’s money. Blame him for making a sham of our system. Show the world the difference between the politics of greed and the politics of Nebraska, by ousting Ben Nelson. — Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor, for the editorial board.

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