http://bit.ly/7inIN4 - - - On Tuesday, the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb, citing an unnamed Senate aide, wrote that "the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn't fall into line."
Translation: Goldfarb is reporting that, according to his source, the Obama administration is suggesting to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska (left), who has been hesitant to support the Senate health care bill due to his concerns over abortion, that it will close the base if Nelson doesn't back the bill. It was, the source said, a "naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson's vote." The White House, the source said, was willing "to close a base vital to national security" to get what it wanted. Nelson's spokesman, as Steve Benen notes, quickly said the claim is untrue and that it represented "misinformation…coming from inside-the-Beltway partisans who only want to derail health care reform." The White House backed that up, saying "these rumors are completely baseless and false" and grew out of "a cynical, crass political game." - - - Of course Rahm threatened precisely what the story says he threatened. The fact that Nelson got out in front denying it way may only prove that it was just a shot over the bow from Nelson to Obama, basically letting him know that such a threat was a kind of “No Fly Zone” as far as he was concerned. Naturally, he made this warning shot look like a kooky right wing rumor by leaking it to conservative pundits, but that’s how the high-stakes game of federal poker is played these days. - Publius -- "It ought never to be forgotten, that a firm union of this country, under an efficient government, will probably be an increasing object of jealousy to more than one nation of Europe; and that enterprises to subvert it will sometimes originate in the intrigues of foreign powers, and will seldom fail to be patronized and abetted by some of them. Its preservation, therefore ought in no case that can be avoided, to be committed to the guardianship of any but those whose situation will uniformly beget an immediate interest in the faithful and vigilant performance of the trust." [Federalist Papers #59] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
