So, thankfully, the left has been exerting pressure on Nelson to fall more in line with health care reform. Several ads have been run in Nebraska toward this goal. One of the most recent, and most effective, is a joint effort by Democracy for America (there's a concept) and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. And it goes a little something like this:

Now that's what I call a bright snappy toe-tapping number. Hotcha-cha-cha!

However, it turns out that Nelson does not think the ads have a good beat and will not give them a 98. In fact, he's so put off his spleen by them that his office sent out a little missive today. You can read the whole thing here, but here are a few choice excerpts:

Nebraskans don't need outside special interest groups telling them what to think. Senator Nelson has nothing but praise for Nebraska groups working toward health care reform. Unfortunately, he says, these outside groups undermine the sincere and dedicated efforts of people in our state. Recently, similar ads have run in Nebraska. Those ads by other special interests prompted hundreds of Nebraskans to call our offices, with 9 to 1 urging Senator Nelson to do exactly the opposite of what the special interest group wanted. In short, the ads backfired.

So let me get this straight. 9 to 1 calls came into Ben Nelson's office demanding that he drive the small business owner out of work? Riiiiight.

Now the rumblings become slightly ominous:

Further, these scare tactics are certain to further divide the public on health care reform, make it less likely Congress will pass real reform and call into question the motives of those who say they want reform, but use the issue to raise money to try to buy influence inside the Beltway.

So his thinking is, our side's ads make people mad, make them call into his office to demand no health reform, and despite the fact that he rilly, rilly wants to give health care reform to the people, he'll just have no choice but to deny the country health care!

I mean, even if we buy this story at face value, it says two things: 1) Nebraskans are apparently all petty enough to renounce health care because they're annoyed by a few ads, and 2) Nelson is more concerned with keeping his job than giving health care to the country (which, in fairness, we already knew). Yeah, no, this dog isn't hunting.

Let's see, blah de blah, don't rush reform, do it right, etc., etc...Oh, here we go:

He has said he will consider a "public plan" as long as it doesn't undermine the health coverage 200 million Americans have now. He supports Medicare, TRICARE and S-CHIP, and each is a public plan. He also helped establish Kids Connection, Nebraska's public-plan health insurance for children.

Some wiggle room there, anyway, although he'll no doubt fall back on the "protect private insurance" platform if questioned.

Blah blah bipartisan, blah blah "independent thinker" (if only), but finally, we get to the big finish:

If this is an indication of the politics going into August, then health care reform may be dead by the end of August.

You heard it here first, folks. Ben Nelson is threatening to kill health care reform for all Americans because he doesn't like being targeted by a few ads. Surely we can have as much fun with this as we did with Newt's Air Force One temper tantrum?

I think one thing is definitely apparent; Nelson's protests demonstrate the exact opposite of what he's claiming, i.e., that the ads, and the pressure, are working. More, please!

Hey! Rec list. Thanks for the props, now let's hit it! Donate to DFA here.

Edit: in comments, sharman makes a hell of a point: