Bill Nelson wasn't holding a 'possum

[Dr.Phool]

But he sure was holding a skunk!

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/06/Opinion/Bill_Nelson__friend_o.shtml

Bill Nelson, friend of the rich
By Times editorial
Published August 6, 2006

Sometimes you have to wonder what team Sen. Bill Nelson is playing for. He was one of only four Senate Democrats on Thursday to support a bill aggressively pushed by the Republican leadership in Congress that would have given a huge estate tax cut to America's richest families. Fortunately, the bill - which cynically also included an increase in the minimum wage - ultimately failed.

But Nelson's vote almost handed Republicans a significant political victory. And had the bill gotten the 60 votes it needed, the country's tax burden would have been further shifted away from our most affluent citizens.

Nelson, at least, is consistent. He has been a regular supporter of repealing or reducing the estate tax. According to his spokesman, Dan McLaughlin, the senator "feels that we shouldn't be taxing the dead." "You work hard over your lifetime," McLaughlin explained, "and if you generate equity, Sen. Nelson wants to see families pass more of it on." McLaughlin said it is simply too burdensome for the heirs of millionaires to forfeit half their inheritance.

Okay, let us just posit that it would be nice if no one had to pay taxes. But money to run the government has to come from somewhere. If the trade-off is between generating revenue from other taxpayers or taking a reasonable slice of the estates of the nation's richest 1 percent of families, it would seem to be an easy choice. It was certainly easy for most other Senate Democrats. They undoubtedly would have loved to support an increase in the federal minimum wage, the deductibility of sales taxes and some of the other goodies for average Americans that Republicans cynically stuffed into the bill hoping to make it irresistible. But most Senate Democrats stuck together to defeat the estate tax.

Meanwhile, Nelson was in the camp of the Waltons and the candy magnate Mars family, as well as 16 other families with a combined worth of $185.5-billion, that have been bankrolling the effort to repeal the estate tax.

The federal Treasury would have lost $268- billion over 10 years had the Senate bill passed. That's a tax burden that would inevitably have had to find another place to land.

[ellenfl]

1. he hasn't budged on his misguided stand since i

emailed him several months ago. i want to believe that he has just not been properly advised on the impact of repealing the estate tax. his reply to my email was the old small business/farms being impacted fallacy. too bad we have no one else to run against him and loco harris.

ellen fl

[pooja]

6. Completely agree... he's probably as bad as ole' katie, but he

isn't stupid enough to make it blatently obvious. that ass needs to go too, i only wish someone was running against him.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Another one is Sen. Blanche Lincoln. She's dead-set on getting it

eliminated for the Waltons.

[Skidmore]

3. What are the chances that this guy can be Liebermanned?

[Dr.Phool]

4. Slim and none for 6 more years

He'll probably face Katherine Harris in the general election in November.

So, I'd say he's a shoe-in.

[AlGore-08.com]

5. None - he's got no primary challengers

His potential Republican opponents are Katherine Harris (i.e. ReCount Dracula) and Will McBride. Nelson is expected to win reelection easily.

[madfloridian]

7. Don't forget LeRoy Collins, Jr.

He is running as well. He is the son of former Dem governor. He became a Republican, but he is not apparently the kind who would appeal to the Christian right like McBride would.

He has access to money and support on both sides.