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.”

In Senator Whitehouse’s twisted mind, the health care reform bill is fantastic, and anyone who disagrees is a racist, right-wing militia member who is part of “the lunatic fringe”. Funny, but every poll I’ve seen lately shows that the majority of Americans are highly suspicious of the health care reform bill. Does that mean that more than half of the United States is made up of racist militia members? If that’s the case, then how was Barack Obama elected President with a majority of the vote?

Sheldon Whitehouse’s comments are nothing more than an attempt to bully people into supporting the health care bill. If you support it, you care about Americans. If you oppose it, then it must be because you oppose Barack Obama, and why would someone oppose Barack Obama? Because of his skin color, of course! Concern about the deficit, abortion, fewer health care choices, or other changes are never addressed by people like Sheldon Whitehouse. Instead, those with concerns are shouted down and intimidated by accusing them of racism, in order to silence criticism of a bill he knows is defficient.

Interestingly, Sheldon Whitehouse’s comments came a day after Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson said he would vote for the bill. Does that mean he was a racist until yesterday? Many labor unions oppose the tax on their health benefits. Does that make them Birthers? Howard Dean has encouraged progressive Democrats to oppose the bill. Does that mean he is a member of a right-wing militia? Won’t the Democratic Party be surprised!

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.”

If you read this blog regularly, then you know that I strongly oppose the Senate health care bill. With that said, if I was a Senator who supported it, I would likely vote no due to the favorable treatment Nebraska’s citizens will receive. If every other state is making a contribution, then why shouldn’t Nebraska? It’s because Senator Ben Nelson is the last hold-out, so he figured he could hold the bill’s supporters hostage. There’s a lesson for U.S. Senators: Pretend you oppose a bill for a particular reason (such as abortion), then get the change you pretend to care about along with some rewards for your state that you can use at election time.

Since the rewards Senators like Ben Nelson extract will likely be brought up by him at election time to prove how “effective” he is, you could argue that he is deriving quite a benefit from his deal. His actions are unethical and go against everything a legislator should stand for. A competent Majority Leader would have made the change to part of the bill related to abortion, but not the unfair give-aways for his constituents. Then, if he continued to oppose the legislation, he could call him on it. Of course, Harry Reid’s failure to do this makes you wonder what types of goodies the people of Nevada will be receiving.