The 2005 Senate Weasel of The Year Award

[BR_Parkway]

Throughout 2005, I have selected the 50 roll call votes that I believe truly required Democrats to stand with their party and, while you could argue the relative importance of one vote or another, I believe the list sums it up pretty well. You can go here to see, based on our own liberal criteria, what this year's significant, bellwether votes have been.

So, enough with the suspense: Who was the biggest Democratic turncoat in the Senate this year? If you jump to conclusions and assume that literally playing kissy-face with George W. Bush all year, makes the race begin and end with Joe Lieberman (DINO-CT), you would be very wrong. While I was shocked at the results myself, Lieberman amassed only seven weasel-worthy votes all year for a reach-across-the-aisle rating of only 14 percent.

But, no matter how repugnant Lieberman's pro-war stance has been to us, that's not nearly enough to win the Weasel Award, which is based on a solid body of weaselly work and not just on a couple of major instances of shameful conduct.

So who would meet that standard? Who would vote with George W. Bush and the GOP so often that there are actually Republican Senators who have a better record of voting in a "Democratic" way?

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2005/12/2005-senate-weasel-of-year-award_29.html

[acmejack]

1. Well, I guessed wrong!

I thought little Miss Mary Landrieu would win. Not too worry, she will try harder this year.

Ben does indeed merit this (un)coveted award! But there are those who will defend people such as this, who have an 85% record voting with the opposition, because they have that all important D after their names.

[rpannier]

5. What's ironic is...

Sen Chuck Hagel's voting record is closer to the Democrats than Nelson's is.

[HillDem]

2. Nelson is in an election year

I guess i can forgive him. But if he gets re-elected he better not win this award again.

[rpannier]

4. That excuse doesn't hold water.

I've heard that time and again for the last five years from his apologists. We're not talking gay marriage or abortion here, two positions that while I support, I know would play poorly in Nebraska. We're talking:

Voted no on general relief bill for Katrina victims that included a critical exemption from new bankruptcy laws to take effect in October.
"Please explain to me how this vote would be treated as an anethma to Nebraskans?"

Voted for cloture and for an end to debate on John Bolton and to deny Democrats information they requested.

Voted twice against money to provide for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Those receiving assitance included Nebraskans.

These votes are not about Nebraska, they're about Sen Nelson and what a poor excuse for a Democrat he is. Because if this was about politics -- then shafting the poor while enriching the top 1% makes Senator Nelson a lousy human being too. He needs to be out of the Senate.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. Is he going for the redneck Libertarian vote?

don't flame me - I'm a former redneck Libertarian. Cain't help who yer born to. ;)

The independant spirit is pretty strong on the Plains.

[rpannier]

13. I wouldn't flame you

It's cool. Any info from people is always appreciated. Hell, I was a Republican until I was 16. Everyone has a past.

[Hippo_Tron]

21. I agree with all that you say except that he needs to be out of the senate

You are right, Nelson is nothing more than Republican scum. It's not even his votes that piss me off so much as the fact that he is like totally unaware of what is going on. Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska, is being critical of Bush on the war while Nelson (and Lieberman) tow the Bush line.

I even agree with the idea that we could get a better Democrat than Nelson elected from Nebraska. Bob Kerrey is living proof that we can do better than Nelson. Unfortunately, for this to happen we need the right candidate and I don't see such a candidate (or any candidate for that matter) stepping forward to challenge Nelson in the primary.

So at the end of the day we are really left with two Republicans. One will vote for Harry Reid one will vote for Mitch McConnell. It's sad that those are the choices that we have, but the vote for Harry Reid is extremely important because of the things that we can do if we take back the senate.

If I lived in Nebraska I would let Nelson know that I think he is a lousy excuse for a human being and that while he may be getting support from democrats just because of his caucus vote, that support may not hold next time if it is not such a tight election year.

[HillDem]

23. I see you're a Chuck Hagel fan. n/t

[G_j]

6. one has to wonder what good it does to re-elect an R as a D ? n/t

[meganmonkey]

16. And why people think that after election the candidate will suddenly grow

angel wings and begin to do the right thing all the time.

Has that ever happened?

[Hippo_Tron]

22. Nelson is good for one thing... he votes for Harry Reid

And when we are crunching the numbers like we are for 2006, that will be very important. When we reach 51 I will be more glad that we have Nelson. After we get the majority we can then start working toward having a majority where we don't need people like Nelson.

[BR_Parkway]

7. I'm sick of hearing that myself - we elect these folks to be leaders, not

poll followers or one's who vote on what they think can get them elected. Current campaign cycle:

• Spend time and money telling voters that you'll stand for this or that principle
  
  
• Spend time in office voting for what you think will get you more money to tell people what your principles are
  
  
• Spend time and money telling voters why they should re-elect you based on your principles.
  
  
• Rinse and repeat.

No wonder most in Congress have approval ratings at 30% or below.

Hell, I'm a gay man in Jesse Helms land - and while I pretty well never agreed with the man, I always respected his unwavering committment to what he thought was the right thing to do, regardless of it's popularity. I never once wondered where the man stood on an issue. He earned and deserved the respect that he had, it wasn't purchased for him on the campaign trail.

Nelson, and all these other DINO's need to remember who they are, what they stand for and why they got sent to Washington in the first place - and if they can't get re-elected on that - maybe they need a new campaign manager or weren't really the leader we should have sent in the first place.

[rpannier]

8. Agreed.

I do not expect any Senator to vote 100% of the time the way I like. I recognize that each state has varied constituencies and needs. I also recognize that each Senator has different political and social ideologies.
However, there are certain votes that are unforgiveable. Voting against legislation to protect those who lost so much as a result of Hurricane Katrina is one of those things that's unforgiveable. If he wants to vote like a Republican (which is more often than Hagel does) maybe he should just become one. Because I'm not sure on what issues Sen Nelson is a Democrat.

[rpannier]

3. I thought it would be Nelson of NE

In early December I posted a question on DU that read, "Tell me how Nelson (D-NE) is a Democrat again?"
He has consistantly voted against the Dems on key bills. What I always find confounding about this man is...The Republican Senator Chuck Hagel votes against Frist and the pukes more than Nelson does. Getting him out of the Senate would be a net-loss of zero. He talks like a puke and votes like a puke -- He might as well be one.

[Lasher]

9. Wow, thanks for the education!

And it's a lesson that I badly needed. Here I've been calling Liberman "...arguably the most right wing Democrat available" and I've been plain wrong. Yes, I did say that. I still wish he would just shut up about how great he thinks Dubya's war in Iraq is, though.

So I just learned something that I won't forget. Trouble is, the more I learn, the dubmer I realize I am.

[Donkeykick]

10. Something to Think About.

Now I know what Nelson is doing is wrong; it enrages me too as a Democrat. Nelson's state is red.

But Lieberman lives in an area where there is strong democrats;(constituency - blue state) he has no excuse to be doing what he is doing.

[acmavm]

12. Something to remember about Nelson. He only became a democrat

so he could run for the Senate.

He truly is a worthless piece of conniving shit.

[rpannier]

14. That I did not know

Thanks for the info.

[acmavm]

20. BIG BIG CORRECTION TO MY POST...

I have always been told that Nelson was a republican who only changed parties in order to be elected to office. Well, for some reason today I started trolling around to find out when it was this happened and I'll be damned, I can't find any evidence at all that he was ever a republican. In fact, I go back to 1975 and find where he was working for various democratic campaigns and then he ran for governor.

So in other words, everything I've been told was a crock of shit and I'm guilty of passing on this bad information.

Now, having said that, I will say that Ben Nelson might as welll be a republican because when it comes to being a democrat, he's still a worthless piece of shit.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. What an impressive list - NOT!

Here's how the top five weasels looked at year-end along with their number of lousy votes:

* Ben Nelson (D-NE) 41
* Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 19
* Kent Conrad (D-ND) 18
* Max Baucus (D-MT) 17
* Mark Pryor (D-AR) 17

[autorank]

17. Thats a fine choice. Tight between Nelson and Landrieu.

Afterall, Mary Landrieu was outed by Anderson Cooper when she gave aid and comfort to Bush while bodies lay unattended in her state. It was a fine moment to see her exposed for what she is, insulated and clueless. But Nelson has worked his program hard, he's been at it for a while. He also laid down and let Chuck Hagel run against him and win for Senate when Hagel was running the voting machine company counting the votes. Amazing. What a wimpl.

[LincolnMcGrath]

18. Cool Bumper Stickers

[im10ashus]

19. You should mail this to Nelson, et al.

Let them see we are aware of their votes.