Sheldon Whitehouse’s ingnorant rant: Who is really a member of “the lunatic fringe”?

If you are in Washington, D.C. and talk about the simpleton from Rhode Island, you might automatically think of Patrick Kennedy. However, we can’t forget that Rhode Island has another simpleton in D.C.: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. In case you think my categorization is merely a partisan shot, it isn’t. While I disagree with other Democratic politicians, I wouldn’t question their intelligence. I would just recognize the fact that we see the issues differently. With Senator Whitehouse, there is a certain shallowness to his thinking, tinged with hyper-partisanship, and a heaping helping of smarminess.

There have been many comments over the years which reinforced my opinion of him, but his latest speech on health care reform illustrates his failings perfectly:

“Voting ‘no’ and hiding from the vote are the same result. Those of us on the floor see it. It was clear the three of them who did not cast their yes votes until all 60 Senate votes had been tallied and it was clear that the result was a foregone conclusion. And why? Why all this discord and discourtesy, all this unprecedented destructive action? All to break the momentum of our new young president.

They are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one.” » read more

Ben Nelson sells his health care vote to Harry Reid

Senator Ben Nelson “negotiated” some changes to the Senate Health bill that have were needed to gain his support. One change stipulated that federal money wouldn’t be used to pay for abortions, while the others are nothing but freebies for Nebraskans. Here’s a brief summary:

Nelson secured full federal funding for his state to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Other states must pay a small portion of the additional cost. He won concessions for qualifying nonprofit insurers and for Medigap providers from a new insurance tax, and was able to roll back cuts to health savings accounts.

“I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree,” Nelson told reporters at the Capitol, of the many changes made at his behest. “But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions.” » read more