OK – in the recent past, he’s stood up for voting rights and shown concern for the perils of paperless e-voting. He’s always been a staunch opponent of drilling in the gulf, and he used to be known as a defender of consumers.
But then he went and voted for the new bankruptcy bill which is taking effect this weekend. And he supports CAFTA, and, of course, saw no problem with authorizing the war in Iraq.
It’s hard to forgive him for all of that, even when he comes out and sounds this good, but who else is a lefty blogger supposed to support? It sure would be nice if we had meaningful elections with real choices. This ‘A’ or ‘B’ crap is just not cutting it.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Friday that he had received a key promise in his attempt to prevent oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico: a guarantee that legislation on the subject won’t be filibuster-proof.
……The effect of that promise, Nelson said, is that drilling proponents would have to have 60 votes to stop a filibuster. Otherwise, he and Florida’s other senator, Mel Martinez, R-Orlando, could filibuster legislation that would bring drilling closer to Florida’s shores than they want.
……Asked how he was able to extract the promise from Domenici, Nelson smiled and said: “We were able to provide some things he wanted.” He would not elaborate.
……“Do we have a problem in energy? You bet we do, but we can’t drill our way out of our problem,” Nelson said.
The senator said the oil industry and its advocates in Congress have seized on energy problems caused by Hurricane Katrina to advocate increased drilling in the Gulf, which he called “hurricane alley.”
Interior Secretary Gale Norton is “absolutely intent on drilling off the coast of Florida,” even though it contains “not much oil and little gas,” he said.
Responding to questions from club members, Nelson commented on matters including health care and campaign spending.
•He said his re-election campaign will cost $22 million, “an obscene amount of money,” of which $18.5 million will be spent on television advertising. Campaign spending and finance reform, he said, have failed to solve the problem because money finds its way into politics “like water running downhill.” The answer, he said, is free airtime and public financing for campaigns.
•Nuclear power, gasoline-electric cars and ethanol made from grass and other vegetation should be among the nation’s energy solutions, Nelson said.
Wow. What’s not to like? Oh…
•He said he opposes a universal, single-payer health care program but that employers should not be the main source of health insurance for individuals. Large groups of consumers organized into purchasing units should replace employers as group insurance purchasers, he said.
And the bit about nuclear power is a little off putting. And the reference to ”ethanol made from grass and other vegetation” seems to be a swipe at corn based ethanol for the benefit of Florida sugar producers who would really really like to increase their welfare allotments by becoming government subsidized ethanol producers.
Like I said, ‘A’ or ‘B’ is not a real choice, and the stifled dumbed down jingoistic pre-packaged public debate entertainment that passes for politics in this country leads to a farce of a democracy.