Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Coakley blames Nelson already!


The campaign of Democrat Massacusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley is already pointing fingers regarding who is to blame for her free-fall in the polls, and potential loss to Repulbican unknown Scott Brown.

One man?  Ben Nelson.

In a memo, the Coakley campaign says:
Coakley's lead dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform shortly before Christmas and after the Christmas Eve "bombing" incident. Polling showed significant concerns with the actions of Senator Nelson to hold out for a better deal. Senator Nelson's actions specifically hurt Coakley who was forced to backtrack on her opposition to the abortion restriction amendment.
There are a few things to note here:

1) "...concerns with the actions of Nelson to hold out for a better deal", would seem to point to the Cornhusker Kickback. Though, the second part of Coakley's finger-point makes that less clear.

2) Nelson's holdout to change the abortion language screwed up Coakley's strategy -- which just shows that neither the Pro-Life nor Pro-Choice sides seem to like the bill.

Coakley had been saying all along that she would never -- NEVER -- vote for a House version of the Health Care bill that had Stupak-like abortion language.

But then when Nelson lobbied for and got Stupak-Lite -- which Pro-Lifers aren't happy with, of course -- Coakley then had to say that she could go along with it.

This turned into flip-flop allegations against her, when people claimed that it was enough like Stupak that she should oppose it.

Of course, even today, Sen. Barbara Boxer said that Nelson's abortion language was
"only an ‘accounting procedure’ that will do nothing to restrict [abortion] coverage..."
So, Nelson is getting hit from all sides on the national scene.  Ah. life on the fence.

21 comments:

Right Wing Professor said...

ROFLMAO! Priceless!

Not only is Nelson's own senate seat in jeopardy, he's jeopardizing other Democrat senate seats! Way to go, Benator!

Maybe the Dems will try to convince him to switch parties!

Uncle Wiggily said...

The next time someone tells you that the Internet doesn't play a role in the news cycle, tell 'em this:

Ben Smith, of the Politico blog, hits the 'net at 1:50 PM CST, with the report that Martha Coakley's campaign is blaming the White House for her (impending) loss (with a hard copy of the memo, no less). It's posted on NRO's 'Campaign Spot' blog (Jim Geraghty) at 2:14 PM CST. I see it there at around 3:15 PM CST and scurry over to Leavenworth Street blog to comment on it and ... lo and behold ... Sweeper already has a full-blown post up on the whole schmear.

Back in the day, we wouldn't have heard about such stuff until the next day ... if we heard about it at all. Politics is not only getting to be more fun, it is getting MUCH more tiring.

Street Sweeper said...

...tell me about it...

Soud O said...

Hooray for the astro turf. (OH Ya! that's the term created by the left to describe their own paid union thugs). I really meant Hooray for those grassroots. I guess all that time spent sending emails, calling, visiting, and standing in front of Nelson's office worked out. Damn, if only I were a democrat, I would have been paid.

Amazing how the people of Nebraska effected the race for Teddy's seat. Power to the poeople/ the individual.

A slight bit of redemption for our state. (I've/ we've been paid in full)

I hope this makes Nelson Twist.

Right Wing Professor said...

Amazing how the people of Nebraska effected the race for Teddy's seat.

Call it the Cornhusker blowback.

The joke is, if Brown wins, one of the remaining strategies left the Dems to pass health care is to pass the Senate bill intact in the House. That would mean that after Nelson disavowed all responsibility for the kickback, Nebraska would get it anyway!

One Out In The Third said...

EBN may have pulled an "Uncle Wiggily" and fooled us all. That sly devil has orchestrated the demise of the Dem Party from the beginning. Destroyed from within. I can't wait for the "I told you so." TV ad. He just regained my vote in 2012....Bwahahahahahaha!

One Out In The Third said...

The "Blame Game" is already in full swing in Mass. Dems doin' the "Kleeb"...complaining of voter fraud right out of the gate. A sure sign they are losing their butts. I would almost bet there will be a "RoboCall" insinuation before it's all said and done. Coakley probably leased her "Mystery Machine" from ol' Speed Racer himself.

Macdaddy said...

The democrats will have learned nothing from Nelson or coakley. The majority is screaming at them to stop obamacare and yet they are already scheming how to get it done. I would look for endless court battles, illegal delays to certifythe results, and Harry Reid dragging his feet to get Brown seated. In the meantime, pelosi will be working hard to get obamacare passed through reconciliation, something I warned Senator Nelson about before his infamous vote. Oh, no, he said. That would never happen. Idiot. It may come down to rioting in the streets before Obama gets the message that he can take his health care reform and shove it where the sun don't shine.

Anonymous said...

hehehehehehehee

Anonymous said...

Coakley Conceeds!!!

Anonymous said...

YES YES YES

One Out In The Third said...

Now there's a guy that knows how to drive a pickup. The giant sucking sound you just heard was the pucker factor kicking in in D.C.

Unknown said...

It's the economy STUPID!
NOT healthcare!
FIX it or we will get someone who can!
It wasn't Kennedy's seat!
It was and is the people's seat!
They ALL are!
and We the People are coming!
NEXT UP - Nov 2, 2010
AND THEN - Nov 6, 2012
It's going to be a bloodbath for anyone who forgets
they have to answer to their constituents!
We The People!

Macdaddy said...

Do you hear that Senator Nelson? Obama finally delivered some hope and change. See you in 2012.

Right Wing Professor said...

From the New York Times post-mortem

“I don’t like that the health care bill is being ramrodded through, and I am incensed that a senator was able to have his state exempted from the cost,” said Robert Rivard, 67, a retired mechanical engineer in Leicester who is an independent. “As much as I support Brown, it is also a statement about what I don’t want.”

Thank you, Senator Nelson!

Anonymous said...

WooHoo!!! If we all work as hard as Scott Brown, "Roll Tide, Roll"!!!

Brian T. Osborn said...

OK, denizens of Leavenworth Street, I'll give you a week to gloat. I'm sulking off to mope. But I'll be back, snarkier than ever.

Macdaddy said...

BTO: feel free to blow it off as gloating. If dems insist on not listening to what people are saying, Obama will be a lame duck starting this November when the republicans retake congress. People do not want obamacare. Why can't you people get that through your thick skulls?

theunicycleguy said...

Has anyone noticed that NPR seems to be in denial?

This morning, there were tons of book reviews, news about Haiti, and the economy…but not too much about the Scott Brown upset in Massachusetts

One Out In The Third said...

It's interesting the number of times Ben Nelson's name...that's Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson...(not Senator Bill Nelson or the Nelson guy in the Unicameral...or Ben Nelson the trash truck driver over in Funk)...came up last night as one of the primary reasons...if not the #1 reason for Scott Brown's overwhelming victory in one of America's longtime Democrat strongholds. Small world eh Benito?

What goes around...comes around and count on this...there are enough of us little people out here with good memories to guarantee that what you did will be remembered and reminded to others in 2012. That's if the giant asteroid doesn't get us first.

Keep in mind too...it was Independents and Democrats that put Brown over the top. It wasn't a landslide...it was an avalanche of major proportion. You could see the angst on the faces of those surrounding Coakley during her concession speech last night. I could hear their teeth gnashing all the way out in here in central Nebraska. And what did the rest of her party do? They poured gasoline on her burning ship before the polls were closed.

This could be a turning point in America? I wouldn't buy into that stock just yet as I don't think the other party offers anything that much better. I did cringe last night when Brown made a comment about working with John McCain in the Senate.

BTO...we aren't gloating...we are celebrating that there are still a few Americans out there that know a pig in a poke when they see one...and maybe...just maybe...there might be a frogs chance in a firestorm that we can get back to being a nation where people actually stand on their own.

Uncle Wiggily is also correct...as he is most times...news...reason and accountability/blame now travel at the speed of light...we don't have to read it in a day-old or week-old slanted newspaper or wait for the news at 6 and 10...we see it...we hear it and we share it now...right or wrong. It's our job to sift through the crap.

Anonymous said...

Never thought I'd say this, but:
BTO please don't go.