ARE THESE PEOPLE SERIOUS? - AT 8:30 A.M.  Fox News gives us an insight into the kind of thinking surrounding health "reform."  Will someone please ask Obama about this?  Is this what he meant by "change we can believe in"?

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, after securing a sweetheart deal for his state as part of the health insurance reform bill, said Tuesday that three other senators have told him they want to bargain for the same kind of special treatment.

"Three senators came up to me just now on the (Senate) floor, and said, 'Now we understand what you did. We'll be seeking this funding too'," Nelson said.

But the Democratic senator, who has faced a heap of criticism for appearing to trade his vote on health care for millions in federal Medicaid money, said he's considering asking that the Nebraska deal be stripped from the bill.

What?  Now this is intriguing.

Though he defended the exemption as a "fair deal," he said he never asked for the full federal funding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ended up granting his state. Nelson said he instead asked that states be allowed to refuse an expansion of Medicaid.

"This is the way Senate leadership chose to handle it. I never asked for 100 percent funding," he said.

Reportedly, there's actually a backlash in Nebraska among decent citizens who feel their state has stolen something.  That's heartland America.

Nelson has maintained that the only reason he even brought up Medicaid was that Nebraska Republican Gov. Dave Heineman put him up to it.

After Nelson sent a letter to the governor offering to kill the Medicaid deal, Heineman acknowledged that he and other governors had "expressed concern" about the state burden for Medicaid patients. But he rejected any suggestion from Nelson that he asked for the kind of deal Reid struck.

Public revulsion is building.  The question is whether it's great enough to block final passage of the bill.  The answer is, probably no.  The Democrats feel they're making history.  They're completing the sixties dream of a more socialist society, with greater control by the government.  They even seem prepared to lose Congressional seats, maybe even control of Congress, over this. 

Ideological fanaticism is having its day.

December 23, 2009