Sen. Ben Nelson’s inability to see his own immorality

Sen.  Ben Nelson is mad.  How dare the voters (and, especially, the conservatives) attack him simply for changing his mind on health care:

“This is all orchestrated,” Nelson said Sunday. “It’s so thinly disguised … it’s almost laughable.

Nelson, the lone Democrat in Nebraska’s five-member congressional delegation, told The AP that a high-ranking Republican operative sent out partisan talking points to conservative talk show hosts and columnists and they “almost read it verbatim.

“We have the e-mails that show it,” he said.

Nelson said he was doing what he could to stop the double-digit rise in health care costs, as well as cover those Nebraskans who can’t get coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.

In other words, says Nelson, all he did was hold out until he got a better bargain.  But Nelson’s personal feelings aside that is not all he did.  Unlike other Senators who complained about costs and public options and hurt to their states, Nelson framed his opposition around one issue:  abortion.  He was a pro-Life guy, he said, and he wasn’t going to vote for a bill that forced Americans to pay so that other Americans could have an abortion.  And then he did exactly that when the price was right.

What Nelson can’t seem to understand, now that he’s lashing back at his critics for failing to see what a great economic decision-maker he is, is that abortion is not about money, it’s about morality.  If you tell the voters that you are pro-Life, it means that you believe that, barring countervailing factors (protecting the mother’s life, incest, etc.), you think it is murder to abort a baby.  It’s not an inconvenience, it’s not an economic issue, it is a core moral issue:  “Thou shalt not murder.”

When Nelson, in return for a bribe, sided with Reid, et al, voters instantly understood that Nelson has either been lying all along about his pro-Life stance or that Nelson is such a deeply weak and corrupt guy that he will sell his values to the highest bidder.  Either way, he made a fool of voters. Even pro-Choice voters who are, I’m sure, happy with his decision, should be asking themselves how much value they can get from a guy who is either a liar or easy to bribe.

Anyway, if you’re upset about Nelson, there is something you can do:  go here and donate to the opposition.