I recently explained to a Colorado friend that Nebraska's political history is sadly uneven. Yes, most of the state's citizens are about as conservative as they come and our elected officials generally represent those values. But then again, we have often elected a Democrat as Governor before extending the error by sending them on to the U.S. Senate -- Bob Kerrey, Jim Exon and the now infamously oafish Ben Nelson.But there is another problem. We frequently send to Washington people (from both parties, by the way) who are little more than back bench spectators, the kind of guys who use the right buzz words and make the appropriate promises when talking to the Kiwanis Club back in Omaha, but then show very little energy and/or skill in getting things done once they cross the Potomac. There have been a couple of exceptions, but generally the Nebraska delegation has been most remarkable for being...unremarkable.
This then is the backdrop, I believe, for yesterday's press release from Nebraska Right to Life which I print below. It is a call for Republican Senator Mike Johanns to please start showing a more focused, more aggressive opposition to Team Obama's unraveling of America.
Mike Johanns is a good guy, I'm sure. But in a fight like we're in now, we need a champion, someone who will go all out to protect America's most noble and cherished values. We need representatives who will dare to ask the tough questions, call things by their proper name, skillfully utilize the rules involving amendments and filibusters, and use the bully pulpit with fervency, frequency and facility.
Nebraska needs not a Ward Cleaver...but a Joe Mannix. Nebraska needs not a deferential bystander but an idealist with the intellectual and moral vigor of a Tom Coburn, a Newt Gingrich, a Henry Hyde or a Jesse Helms.
Mike Johanns needs to bring his "A game" to this desperate fight for America's survival. And he needs to bring it now.
Here is the Nebraska Right to Life press release specifically asking you to help stimulate (and otherwise assist) Senator Johanns's opposition to such disastrous Obama appointments as Elena Kagan and Donald Berwick. I add my voice to theirs -- let's call and write the Senator and get him deeper and more effectively into the fray. And lastly, we must recognize the huge task Senator Johanns has before him. So, even as we require of him his best efforts, let's agree to step up our prayers in his behalf AND to give whatever help we can.
First Kagan, Now Berwick!
Nebraska Right to Life (Action Alert)
Call Senator Mike Johanns:
Washington office, 202-224-4224; Omaha, 402-758-8981; Lincoln, 402-476-1400; Kearney, 308-236-7602; Scottsbluff, 308-632-6032
LINCOLN: Nebraska Right to Life today issued an alert to pro-life Nebraskans to ask Senator Mike Johanns to urge his fellow Senate Republicans to fight back; first on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U. S. Supreme Court and secondly against the recess presidential appointment of Donald Berwick as head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
"First we had the hearing on Elena Kagan where there was some good effort put forth on the questioning by Republicans on the committee, but no commitment to filibuster her confirmation." said Julie Schmit-Albin, Executive Director of Nebraska Right to Life. "Now over the July 4th Senate recess, the President has stealthily moved into a crucial position, Donald Berwick, whom National Right to Life has deemed 'a one man death panel.' Pro-life Nebraskans have received a double whammy from the most pro-abortion President in history. We are clamoring for leadership from Senator Johanns to implore the other pro-life Republican Senators to strongly fight both the confirmation of Kagan and the appointment of Berwick."
Kagan's background includes concerns about her ability to address issues fairly given her activism against the partial birth abortion ban while an advisor to the Clinton Administration. Berwick's embrace of socialized medicine in Great Britain and comments he has made about the inevitable rationing of healthcare have lead pro-lifers to the conclusion that he will be aggressive in employing rationing of life-saving medical treatment to those most vulnerable.
"We acknowledge Senator Johanns' good public statements to date on both Kagan and Berwick." said Schmit-Albin. "But we expect our pro-life senators to put up a fight and not roll over, despite being in the minority."
