Attention DU'ers in the Omaha area and surrounding communities - Sen. Ben Nelson town hall today

[Maru Kitteh]

As Congress debates health care reform, Sen. Ben Nelson today is holding a public meeting on the subject.

Nelson, D-Neb., says the session will run from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Durham Research Center Auditorium on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.

Watch it live on Omaha.com
http://omaha.com/article/20090819/NEWS01/908199995

If you are a Nebraska voter, or you live anywhere near here, I don't have to explain the dynamics of a Democratic senator trying to keep his job in a state that has not cast it's vote for a Democratic president since 1964.

We MUST remind Senator Nelson that while he may believe he needs to carry a certain percentage of his Republican constituency to keep his job - he absolutely, positively WILL lose his job without the support of Nebraska Democrats. We must remind him that Nebraska did send one of it's electoral votes to President Barack Obama and the country voted for Barack Obama in part on the promise that meaningful healthcare reform would include a viable public option.

Senator Nelson also has plans for healthcare town halls in Kearney and North Platte. Dates and details of those meetings have not yet been released. I will be attending the Kearney town hall, and perhaps the one in North Platte as well.

Bring signs, bring cameras, bring your passion.

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Take a couple of rotten tomatoes and rotten eggs

And pelt Nelson with it. Please.

He's a fucking idiot.

[Maru Kitteh]

2. See here though, he would assume those were coming from rigt-wing asshats

So while it would be personally satisfying, it would convey the opposite message intended.

[Hawkeye-X]

3. Maru....

As a neighbor to Nebraska, I follow Nelson pretty closely, and so far he's the wrong end of the spectrum. He would be much more comfortable being a Republican than pretending he's a Democrat. I don't understand why people keep putting him back if he is not behaving like a true Democrat. From the beginning, he has been opposed to pretty much everything that is key to the health of America.

-Health Care reform
-ending the Iraq war
-Patriot Act
-Stimulus (I believe he voted no)

I understand that Nebraska may be more Republican in terms of the spectrum, but these people needs to be wholly informed and the media control of the local news needs to be balanced, not slanted to the right. Therefore, Nelson is getting away with it, lining his pocket with lobbyist money and ignoring his constituents. I don't believe that he really truly understands what America really wants, not what *he* wants.

Therefore, I am pledging another $100 to anyone who can primary him out and win the election by being a populist or progressive Democrat.

Hawkeye-X

[Maru Kitteh]

4. Hi Hawkeye! I was wondering

If you were this kind of Hawkeye


or this kind of Hawkeye


or this kind of Hawkeye




So first let me say, howdy neighbor! :hi:

First, let me address your question as to why people keep putting Nelson back in if he is not acting as a true Democrat. That's pretty easy. A candidate who behaved as what you or I would call a real Democrat would never - make - it - into - office. And if by some some miracle they did, they would never retain their job, which is, as we all know, the very first job of all congresspersons and senators.

Secondly, I cannot, in living memory, think of any Democrat in this state who has challenged Ben Nelson for an office who had even the most remote prayer of even making an impact on the contest, let alone winning.

As a matter of survival, when our Democratic party gets it's hands on a viable Democratic candidate, we pit them against vulnerable or weak Republicans, not against other Democrats. In 2006, Scott Kleeb very nearly won against Congress Critter Adrian Asshat Smith and he made a strong run against Johanns in 2008. He remains a very promising candidate and I would love to see him run against Nelson but I sincerely doubt that will happen.

The media is worth an entirely separate post altogether but I will summarize my feelings about that subject thusly; most media in general is owned and controlled by old, white, conservative men. This goes doubly true in Nebraska. Adjustment to this system will not happen without immense popular outcry, and so far, that is not happening.

Finally, if a Democrat rises up to challenge Nelson I will see your $100 and raise you. Until then, I'm going to do my level best to influence the devil I'm stuck with by reminding him that he needs the support of people like me. The misinformed angry mob will never support the President and they will never vote for any Democrat.

[Hawkeye-X]

9. Hiya Maru.. thanks for repsonding..

and the picture #1 is me. That's how I view myself.

I think it is our responsibility to teach Nebraska what's right and what's wrong with the Republicans.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. I'm trying Hawkeye. I'm trying. n/t

[LaPera]

8. He's already and will continue to be swayed by them, he's nothing more than a paid-off republican

posing as a democrat simply to get elected...

Nelson is not the least bit progressive and votes with the republicans on any proposed progressive issues....

This fucker Nelson definitely needs some democratic liberal turnout and in his face at every step of his bullshit, because Nelson hides behind this bullshit, pontificating that he doesn't think Public Option will work...it works for Medicare, it works for Veteran health care, it's just more of Nelson's lying bullshit. Nelson is just another paid-off republican conservative elitist and needs to be exposed in public.

[Maru Kitteh]

11. Well, I can at least guarantee you that nobody in Nebraska runs as a Democrat "just to get elected"

In fact, it's a damn sure way to cut your chances of being elected in half, straight out of the gate.

As for the liberal turnout, well - that's what I was trying to do here. I'll keep trying.

[Maru Kitteh]

5. Link to townhall live right now.

http://video.omaha.com/streaming/streaming.html

[butterfly77]

6. All I can say to that is...

tear his ass up,this ass thinks he doesn't have to respond to us unless he's telling us how its going to be his way or the highway he always voted with bush.

[Maru Kitteh]

7. Nelson Pledges to forgo his Senate health plan and enroll in any plan he votes for.