Posted on 12/15/2009 4:07:05 PM PST by American Dream 246
Quite an explosive leak! I wonder how this will affect things? It is certainly a thuggish and dangerous thing for Obama to play with National Security over this craptacular idea of socialized medicine. Quite a desperate move.
According to a Senate aide, 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. Offutt Air Force Base employs some 10,000 military and federal employees in Southeastern Nebraska. As our source put it, this is a “naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson’s vote.” They are “threatening to close a base vital to national security for what?” asked the Senate staffer.
Indeed, Offutt is the headquarters for US Strategic Command, the successor to Strategic Air Command, and not by accident. STRATCOM was located in the middle of the country for strategic reasons. Its closure would be a massive blow to the economy of the state of Nebraska, but it would also be another example of this administration playing politics with our national security.
So much for the idea of Obama trying to save jobs and improve the economy!
Without Nelson’s vote, since all Republicans are still in line to oppose this, Reid is still left with 59 votes. So, some arm twisting is taking place. Nelson doesn’t want this bill to fund abortions so he is now being threatened, and national security along with him. How shameful this would be if Democrats felt shame.
Ed Morrissey:
The Obama administration has little left to use for leverage. Why not national security? After all, if we’re going to bring terrorists into Illinois, what does it matter if we put the US Strategic Command on wheels for a few years?
What a nightmare!
this is EXACTLY what i HATE about POLITICS!!!
what does closing Base X have to do with healthcare “reform”?
NOTHING!!!
so, 0bama makes it clear...healthcare “reform” isn’t good enough to stand on its own merits...it has to be FORCED or BRIBED or ...anything BUT standing on its own merits...
Nelson needs to stand his ground! If he needs to attach a log to his spine to stiffen it, then let him do so. Just wait & see what happens to Pres Odickless if he tries to cut our National Security.
Can we get to Nelson in time? Does anyone have a number for him?
nudge, nudge, nudge...
towards R2/CW2.
Thank you for moving this to breaking.
If true, to that I say, “let it be in my lifetime, so that my grandchildren may live in freedom.”
Bingo!
its time for a revolution.
This is the text of the contact mail I sent him:
If there is any truth to the leak that you’re being threatened with the closure of Offutt to insure your healthcare reform vote, then you need to immediately call a press conference and tell it to the public.
Bribing Senators with money for projects is bad enough, but threatening our national security to secure a vote for a healthcare plan that most Americans want no part of, is something altogether loathsome.
I would have to think it’s an impeachable offense, if true, and the story is already finding its way into the media. If the story has legs, I suggest you get ahead of it, and you become the hero who stands up for this country. Be the person who says we’re not going to take it anymore.
Using military base closings as a means of revenge isn’t new. Didn’t a bunch of bases in the San Francisco area get closed after the military got so much grief from now-Oakland Mayor Dellums?
Like all of their programs.
Why wait?
The first Bush administration wanted to put McGuire AFB in New Jersey on the BRAC list simply because both of that state's U.S. Senators (Democrats) opposed the Persian Gulf conflict. New York's Plattsburgh AFB was left off the list simply because one of their senators (Al D'Amato) was a Republican and supported the military campaign.
The compelling evidence for this was that Plattsburgh was a pain in the @ss for the Air Force to maintain -- and they raised holy hell over that BRAC decision. Fuel had to be barged up there through the Hudson River valley and Lake Champlain, and for parts of the year ice made it impossible for the barges to run.
The crux of the problem is that extortion, threats, and vote buying is part of the corrupt culture of both political parties.
Obama, Reid and Pelosi are just more corrupt and more brazen than what has become the norm. The level and arrogance of their corruption reduces the Clinton administration wrongdoing to the level of schoolkids stealing lunch money.
The politicians’ notion that they can use any tool, device, or underhanded method to force their agenda down the throats of the electorate has to change and the only way to do that is throw out the whole lot of career politicians and return to the concept of citizen representatives.
The base closures are supposed to be non-partisan. Politicizing national defense for personal gain is blatantly un-American.
This means war!
Are Axelrod, Emannuel, and Obama really this stupid?
Even though there seems to be only one source for the story, the Weekly Standard posted it anyway. Could there be more sourcing that is being hidden from view?
Typical federal government thuggery. How many times have the feds threatened state governments with withholding highway funds if they didn’t pass certain legislation?
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