More on the actual health care bill stuff in the days, weeks, months, years, decades, and generations to follow. I apologize for being so dumb that for a few hours one day last week I thought Ben Nelson might step up to the plate. I should have stuck with what I originally wrote back on December 9:

Ben Nelson had originally said if his abortion amendment failed that he would not support the final bill. His amendment failed, and now he says he doesn't know what he is going to do. Nelson typically falls back in the Democratic line, so who knows what will happen. His vote is definitely in play. I wouldn't count on his support if I was Mitch McConnell. Nelson might not even run again in 2012, so if it comes down to his vote, he can either have friendly relations with his colleagues for the next 3+ years and retire or be a pariah. None of the Democrats wants to be the 41st vote for "No," but I bet a handful would have no problem being #42, 43, 44, etc.

He won't run again. Whatever. He is already like 70 and a multi-millionaire so he doesn't need to put himself through a brutal reelection campaign.

But that is not what this post is about. Well, for now, Nelson flat out lied. His vote was for sale, and he didn't care about abortion. But anyways.

I have seen on some blogs that some people have been critical of Mitch McConnell. Well, what the hell was he supposed to do? He only has 40 votes. And he kept them all in line. What else do you want? More likely than not, the people so critical of Senator McConnell are the morons that are responsible for him only having 40 votes in the first place.

Ohio is a perfect example. All the people, countless tens of thousands probably, who refused to vote for Mike DeWine because he was a "RINO" must be happy tonight. You sure showed him who's boss. We got Sherrod Brown and his jean shirts and this healthcare thanks to you being upset with DeWine because he didn't think people should be able to own multiple assault rifles or whatever the reason was. Lesson taught. Great job everyone. Can anyone of you just admit you were stupid? I admit my mistakes all the time here, and I make a lot of them. No, you'll just double down on the AG race in 2010.

(This also applies to the House.....another congrats to those of you in the 15th who wouldn't vote for Steve Stivers and allowed Kilroy to win. Good news - another chance for you to vote third party in just over 11 months and send Kilroy back for a 2nd term!!!!)

I hear a bunch of bullshit about the two from Maine. What do you want, to primary them? A hard line conservative can't win in Maine. Collins and Snowe vote for McConnell as leader and they are voting against health care "reform." Are they perfect GOP senators? No. Are they better than Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln and Jon Tester? I'll let you decide, though there isn't a whole lot to think about. But believe it or not, there are some total idiots out there on message boards who think this.

This happens everywhere. And this is where it got us. Conservative Democrats always fall back in line with their party (or are bought by Harry Reid with our money - unlike when you personally bribe someone you usually use your own personal money). So if you people in North Dakota, Montana, Arkansas, etc. want to change anything, you can start by stop electing Democratic Senators who lie and say they will be moderates and not automatically support the party line and then do the opposite.

And more importantly, you can stop "RINO" hunting. I'm not even one......but having only 40 votes in the Senate, powerless to stop an extremely unpopular bill is no fun. But hey, let's cleanse the party even more. I heard Rob Portman once voted for higher taxes.....let's support Lee Fisher instead and show Portman what the base of the party is all about!! No one can have any differences!

*This does not include Lincoln Chafee. He deserved to lose. I could see him giving the same speech his replacement, Rhode Island hack Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave tonight on the Senate floor..."They are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one." That is what he said about everyone who opposes this bill. On the Senate floor. Al Franken probably would have granted him an additional minute.

I assume that includes all 40 GOP Senators too in addition to the majority of Americans who are against the bill? So, if you didn't know, if you don't support health care, you must be in an Aryan support group.

So thats that. More on the health care stuff tomorrow. It looks pretty bleak unless the House members who said they wouldn't back the bill without the Stupak language (since the Senate bill is much much weaker) actually have spines and live up to their word (or the leftists who said they won't vote for a bill w/o a public option). But when you have a House Speaker who said she would do anything and sign anything to get a bill passed and says she doesn't care if she loses 30-40 seats in the process, it's an uphill climb to say the least. But a lot more on this soon.

Politico: That decision forced the 92-year-old Byrd to leave his Virginia home and travel to the Capitol to cast the decisive vote. Once he’d done so, the three GOP senators voted to advance the measure — including Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who was greeted by catcalls on the floor when she voted “aye” after Byrd had been wheeled in to vote.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the third-longest-serving senator, called the GOP leadership’s move “inconceivable” and said the incident wouldn’t have happened in the past.

Robert Byrd, United States Senator, had to leave his home to vote. Think about that. Robert Byrd, United States Senator, actually had to leave his home to vote - and Democrats are complaining about this.

If he can't do his job - and obviously he really can not - then maybe he shouldn't be 1 of 100 people deciding the fate of the country. This is about as absurd as when some guy (the "101st Senator") had to stand next to Strom Thurmond and tell him how to vote, since he couldn't hear and basically was incapable of doing his job. If it comes to the point where you only come in for major votes, it is a hassle to get you there, and that is pretty much the only time you show up, you need to be replaced.

And with the snow in DC tonight,. think how horrible it is that Byrd will have to get picked up and driven in the snow to vote for the 1AM vote. I don't understand why the GOP would actually make him vote. How heartless.

Oh, and Senator Leahy. Speaking of "inconceviable" treatment of elderly U.S. Senators, most people have long forgotten of your out and out lies to Strom Thurmond about Judge Dennis Shedd. I have not. Leahy kept promising Shedd and Thurmond, starting in early 2001, a vote for the 4th Circuit and just never did until after the 2002 elections when he realized there was no point to continue his lies and he was losing his chairmainship. A top 5 snake in the Senate. Maybe of all time.

Does the NFL really need to put up nets behind the field goal posts to stop balls from going into the stands? Is it worth spending the money on nets and cables, having people put them up and bring them down before and after every kick? What would be so bad about having a football go into the stands?

NFL Week 15

Bob Turkley, KPR It Director, 32-24 (35-25)
Cleveland* (+1.5) at Kansas City
New York Giants* (-3) at Washington, Monday
Dallas* (+7) at New Orleans, Saturday
San Francisco* (+7.5) at Philadelphia

TheCamapignJunkie, 33-23: CLE (+1.5), NYG (-3), GB (+3), MIA (+5) (37-23)
Mike D, 33-23: CLE (+1.5), NYG (-3), PHI (-7.5), BAL (-11) (37-23)
BJ, 32-24: CLE (+1.5), NYG (-3), GB (+3), DAL (+7) (36-24)
SmittyPop, 29-26-1: KC (-1.5), NYG (-3), DEN (-14), CIN (+6.5) (30-29-1)
KCook, (22-34): CLE (+1.5), WSH (+3), CHI (+11), SEA (-6.5) (23-37)

Cliff Lee: Disappointed to be traded from Philadelphia to Seattle, says he thought he would finish his career as a Phillie.

He's not the only one upset by the news.

As ObamaCare Turns....

Love this picture, not sure why.

....And as the president heads to snowy Copenhagen for the global warming / climate summit....

Ben Nelson seems to be holding firm. I still maintain there are a couple of other silent Democrat fence sitters....and Nelson still is going to have to get one of them or two of them to join him, as I don't see him stepping in front of the train by himself, though it is looking like it could actually happen. Mary Landrieu has officially been bought, so she is out. Blanche Lincoln won't hold out without the cover of others, and she now knows she is probably going to lose regardless next year, so I don't think she cares anymore. Jim Webb has been quietly voting with the GOP on some amendments and said he isn't committed. Lieberman still isn't an assured yes either (more on this in a second). Collins and Snowe are confirmed No's. Who would have thought. Additionally, if true, and who knows, that the WH threatened Nelson with military base closures if he votes no...then that would be despicable. But that is just a rumor.

I don't buy the theory the leftists in the Senate will kill the bill, despite Bernie Sanders saying he is a no vote right now. And if we are depending on Roland Burris defecting, then we are in trouble. I was a fan of the Coburn / DeMint slow down strategy, though maybe it wasn't best to do it on Sanders' amendment, since it made him so mad. The strategy overall is correct, as Democrats want to do anything to jam this through before the next round of brutal poll numbers come out and additional House Democrats get even more nervous. (What was that quote last night from the NBC News - "the red flags are flying at full mast for the Democrats? - something like that). And as previously noted, I don't care if they bring the Senate to a halt. Democrats didn't care about their coordinated, pre-planned, unprecedented filibusters of judicial nominations of the Bush years, so I am sure they are fine with this tactic now. They wouldn't allow a vote. Well now - some liberals now want to abolish the Senate. Maybe now they wish the Republicans had forced through the "nuclear / constitutional / Byrd option" back then. Then they wouldn't have had to worry!

And two unusual events in the last two days in the Senate, as Sanders was allowed to pull his amendment to prevent the reading of it after 3 hours, breaking Senate rules, and then today that human garbage from Minnesota denied Joe Lieberman an extra minute on the floor to speak. I know the Democrats are in a rush to finish, but I don't think that was the reason for Franken's decision (done with his trademark smirk). I guess a solid strategy....but don't they need Lieberman's vote if they want to pass their watered down bill that pretty much everyone hates by this point?

The tune is still the same as yesterday and the day before. Reid doesn't have 60. Best case scenario he has 59 - and that is assuming he has Burris, Webb, Sanders, Feingold, Bayh, McCaskill, Lieberman. Doubtful. Reid has never had 60 votes for the bill; he barely got 60 to open debate. Things are moving against the Democrats now. Not over by any means, but looking better if your against the bill.

But of course, Reid could somehow get the 60 for cloture and then end up getting 53-55 votes for final passage. If it passes, that is how it will go down.

Obviously: I'm surprised it took this long.

Former Rep. James Traficant, who was recently released from prison after serving seven years for corruption, said today that he is "proud of being an ex-con" and may try to return to Congress.

Traficant, a Democrat who was elected to nine terms from Youngstown before he was kicked out of the House, said he will circulate nominating petitions in three House districts. He didn't specify which, but the three districts closest to his hometown are all held by Democrats.

Well I don't think if he ends up running it would be against Tim Ryan....but with this guy who knows. I would vote for him over Betty Sutton if he ran in the 13th, and that is not a joke.

I meant to get to this the other day but forgot. I saw that The Fix blog ran a "Top Ten Senate Races of the Decade" post. Obviously right up my alley.

Here they were, actual winners in bold:
1) South Dakota, 2004. (Daschle v. Thune)
2) Missouri, 2000. (Carnahan v. Ashcroft)
3) Minnesota, 2002. (Wellstone / Mondale v. Coleman)
4) Minnesota, 2008. (Franken v. Coleman)
5) New Jersey, 2002. (Torch / Laut v. Forrester)
6) Illinois, 2004. (Obama v. Keyes)
7) New York 2000. (Clinton v. Lazio)
8) Virginia, 2006. (Webb v. Allen).
9) Connecticut, 2006. (Lieberman v. Lamont).
10) Georgia, 2002. (Cleland v. Chambliss).

Not much to quibble with. I guess you put Illinois 2004 on there because of what happened after that, but the race itself wasn't much of one. No question on #1. I might have reversed #2 and #3. #4 didn't happen. #5 had a lot of controversy surrounding it, and rightfully so, but the race after the ballot switch was a foregone conclusion. #7 seems about right there. The rest of the list looks fine.

There were obviously some other marquee races. 2000, Cantwell over Gorton in Washington, 2002 Sununu over Shaheen, 2002 Johnson over Thune supposedly, and 2004 Martinez over Castor just to name a few. You could probably throw Michigan 2000, Nebraska 2000, Montana 2006, Tennessee 2006, and Alaska 2004/2008 on there. I'd think you'd have to find a place for Johnson/Thune 2002 on the above list. Had Shaheen not won the 2008 rematch against Sununu that one would probably make the final cut too.

Trying to forecast which races in 2010 could end up on a similar post in December 2019, you'd have to say Carnahan/Blunt, the potential Specter/Toomey, and the potential Biden / Castle races would be the favorites.

Related: ESPN was doing some thing on their website for the Top 25 games of the decade. I voted Ohio State - Miami #1. It was ranked #7 of 25 through the voting already completed. I don't see how it couldn't be a Top 5 for everyone.

Was I the last person in the world to find out about Pandora?

If this trade, which seems likely, actually happens, then I am going to say it is terrible for Philadelphia. I don't like it. I hate it. That also seems to be the consensus of all Phillies fans.

Maybe I fell victim to Harry Reid's ploy last week - when he announced a deal on healthcare when there wasn't really one (along with no real bill). They obviously don't have the 60 they need....probably at least 3-4 short.

If this thing does come apart, it will end up being like the amnesty bill a couple of years ago, where all the fence sitters vote against it and a surprisingly large defeat happens. But that is still far away. Democrats will pass anything - anything at all - that can be labeled health care at this point. They don't care what it is, they don't care about helping people at this point, they just want what they think will be a political victory. Nancy Pelosi even has said she will do whatever it takes to sign anything to get it into law. That is why there is a long way to go - they will write anything they have to and make any concession to anyone they have to in order to get to 60 no matter what the end result is. But when you even have people like Claire McCaskill saying she could even vote no, then you know the Democrats are in trouble. Democrats are trying to scapegoat Joe Lieberman, saying they have 59 people lined up behind the bill and this is his fault. That is obviously not true.

And as far as Lieberman goes, like I said when I first talked about this, it serves Democrats right if it his single vote that costs them (it won't happen this way, just saying). They love to bash Republicans for being so intolerant of their Senators / House members who stray on votes. They tried to "punish" Lieberman once back in 2006. But he survived and no longer is beholden to anyone. He doesn't really care what they do to him.

So it still might pass, as Democrats are working furiously to jam this takeover of 1/6 of the American economy through by Christmas. We'll see. The public tide is turning against the bill, thus the urgency on the left.

Related: 4th House Democrat in a GOP leaning district retires ahead of 2010. There is going to be more.

Barring a miracle performance by the 49ers Michael Crabtree tonight, my fantasy football team - the #1 seed and regular season champion - will be defeated in the first round of the playoffs. The team held it together when starting running backs Ronnie Brown and Clinton Portis went down with season ending injuries and I was very proud. Running into an opponent with Chris Johnson and Andre Johnson yesterday did not help the case.

There was a reason I drafted Crabtree and held on to him throughout his holdout. Make it worth my while tonight, #15.

NFL Week 14

Update: After the Browns beat the Steelers for the first time since, well forever, the only suspense left is wondering how Pat McManamon of the ABJ will criticize Eric Mangini's coaching and the team's effort in his write-up. Say what you will about the play, but the Browns have not quit this season, even in the losses.

Update 2: Looks like Cincy's players are pissed at their coach for bailing on them. I understand, I would be mad too, but it isn't like he left to coach at Rutgers or even Kansas. He's going to Notre dame.

Update 3: Look who is making a run at the top spot!


Here are the picks for NFL Week 14.

Bob Turkley, KPR IT Director (28-24) (32-24)
Pittsburgh at Cleveland* (+10), Thursday Night
Arizona at San Francisco* (+3), Monday Night
Green Bay* (-3) at Chicago
Miami* (+3) at Jacksonville

TheCampaignJunkie (31-21): CLE (+10), ARI (-3), IND (-7), KC (Pick) (33-23)
Mike D (31-21): PIT (-10), ARI (-3), GB (-3), SD (+3) (33-23)
BJ (30-22): CLE (+10), ARI (-3), DEN (+7), SD (+3) (32-24)
SmittyPop (28-23-1): PIT (-10), ARI (-3), DEN (+7), PHI (+1) (29-26-1)
KCook (21-31): PIT (-10), ARI (-3), CIN (+6.5), SD (+3) (22-34)

I saw that poll yesterday that showed Kasich up 9 over Strickland. I started to almost feel bad for Ted. Kasich hasn't really done anything except just say he is going to run. Ohio is in a bad place, but isn't all his fault...though I would add I don't think he is helping.

Then I remembered that Strickland was pretty much in the same position in 2006; he just said he was going "fix school funding" and was pretty quiet about everything else. There was really no way he was going to lose and he knew it.

Kasich seems to be following the same playbook that led Strickland to victory. I've made no secret about my Kasich opinions, but he is going to do what he has to do to win. I don't begrudge that. As of now it is a winning strategy.

Nothing really to add to this.

Kim Jong-Il, the North Korean leader, is reportedly planning a unique strategy for televising next year's World Cup. The Dear Leader has allegedly decreed that no live matches will be shown on state TV -- only highlights edited in North Korea's favor. If they lose a match, the result will simply be ignored.

Probably going to take a lot of editing due to North Korea being in the "Group of Death," with Brazil, Portugal, and Ivory Coast.

Health Care Update

An update on the budget busting bill slowly making it's way through Congress that supposedly no longer contains the public option (we'll see). I am not sure what "a private insurance arrangement to be supervised by a federal agency" means.....and it probably couldn't pass the House anyways. But do Democrats actually really need the so-called public option to achieve their dream of taking over health care? Not really; every idea being presented is in one way or another an expansion of government-run health care under a different name.

Ben Nelson had originally said if his abortion amendment failed that he would not support the final bill. His amendment failed, and now he says he doesn't know what he is going to do. Nelson typically falls back in the Democratic line, so who knows what will happen. His vote is definitely in play. I wouldn't count on his support if I was Mitch McConnell. Nelson might not even run again in 2012, so if it comes down to his vote, he can either have friendly relations with his colleagues for the next 3+ years and retire or be a pariah. None of the Democrats wants to be the 41st vote for "No," but I bet a handful would have no problem being #42, 43, 44, etc.

Lieberman seems to be hedging now too. He and Nelson are the key, there's really no two ways around it. Landrieu's vote has been purchased and the more I think about Lincoln in Arkansas, she is probably a yes.

Many "influential" right leaning blogs out there have been critical of the Senate GOP's approach of offering amendments and trying to "improve the bill." I would be too. At a minimum, they have to figure out a way to push this through the Christmas break so people like Nelson, Landrieu, Lincoln, et. hear from their voters (Lieberman won't be swayed by them). Otherwise it gets pretty dicey.

Bottom line, a couple of weeks ago I thought it was probably 40/60 that the bill passed. It's a lot closer to 50/50 now, with the scale maybe slightly tipping in favor of passage.

Related: Paltry turnout in the Mass. Senate primaries to fill the 60th Democratic seat that is currently being held by a placeholder.....thus allowing the debate on healthcare to even have reached this point. You remember how that went down.