No senators were bribed to vote for health care

A lot of pixels have glowed about how Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was "bribed" by Harry Reid to vote for Reid's health care bill. Nelson had objected to certain abortion provisions in the bill. But Reid's payola to Nelson was huge.

Nelson secured full federal funding for his state to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Other states must pay a small portion of the additional cost. He won concessions for qualifying nonprofit insurers and for Medigap providers from a new insurance tax. He also was able to roll back cuts to health savings accounts.

Commentary's Peter Wehner wrote yesterday,

As these backroom deals become more and more widely known, anger will swell up among voters. It is bad enough to jam through a bill on a strict party-line-vote against overwhelming opposition from the public; for it to have happened only because various Members of Congress were (legally) bribed will magnify the intensity of the opposition.

What bribes? No one was bribed, certainly not Nelson.

I want you to help me burglarize a house but you say no. So I offer you $100 to help. Here are two scenarios of how you get the $100:0:

1. I pull out my wallet and hand you a $100 bill. You take it and help me break into the house.

2. I tell you I am going to mug a passerby, steal his wallet and give you $100 from it. You say, "Okay," watch me mug a man, then you take the money I stole and help me burglarize the house.

In case 1, you've been bribed. In case 2, you're an accomplice to robbery.

That's what Nelson is, an accomplice. Reid didn't bribe Nelson with Reid's own money. He bought him with your money and mine. Nelson knew the estimated $100 million package he was being awarded for Nebraska and other goodies would be exacted from taxpayers. He knew in advance that Reid would mug you and me for it. Nelson just held out until the mugging got enough loot to get his vote.

There are no unwilling yes votes here. There are just Democrat senators who were smart enough to hold out for a bigger cut of the swag than others. And the others are now realizing what suckers they were.

Sometimes there's nothing more amusing than hardcore liberals realizing they've been had. How do you feel now, suckers?

The Senate health reform bill is packed with lumps of coal for New York's Christmas stocking. ...

New York ended up on the short end as Senate brokers showered cash on states whose senators were among the last holdouts before Democratic leaders locked up the 60 needed votes.

New York's best hope now is emergency surgery to undo the shafting before the bill becomes final.

A health care overhaul passed by the House last month is more generous to the city and state, and negotiations over the differences start in January.

Under the Senate plan, the biggest rewards go the states that, unlike New York, have been Scrooges to the poor in need of medical care.

"We are in a sense being punished for our own charity," Paterson said Monday.

Paterson was also bitter that states like Massachusetts and Vermont, which were also generous, got last-minute deals that erase their extra costs.

Well, as bloggers are observing now with increasing frequency, when you can't tell which guy at the table is the sucker, that means it's you.