Montana, Dakotas Bear Blame for Obamacare

Senator Byron Dorgan’s announcement this week that he would not run for reelection in North Dakota has focused a bit of media sun on the otherwise frosty region. The somewhat jaw dropping news, along with talk that windbag / human being / somewhat North Dakotan Ed Schultz ought to run for the seat, brings once more to mind the question – how on God’s green earth did conservative North Dakota send liberal Byron Dorgan to Washington in every election since 1980 (he served in the US House afore his senate career began)? Many believe the answer simply lies in the influence Dorgan kept acquiring in the capital, enhancing his ability to deliver pork back home. Other theorems stretch from his more  conservative positions on some issues than coastal leftist beacons like Kerry and Feinstein to just being a nice and relatable hoser.

In any of our country’s best times, hardscrabble folks in the Great Plains ought to know better than to send a liberal to represent them in high office, but these times are not our best and the cost of Dorgan might end up being higher than North Dakotans could have imagined. With once in a generation Obamacare legislation being further shaped by Dems behind closed doors (in what Nancy Pelosi calls the most open process in history… what kind of medication is this woman on?!), Dorgan’s 1 affirmative vote suddenly becomes the 60th vote without which a Republican filibuster could succeed and the bill halted.

The reports of just what the Democrat health care bill would unleash upon average dudes and their dudette counterparts finally brought Dorgan’s poll numbers in a hypothetical 2010 match up with current North Dakota Governor (and likely candidate) John Hoeven crashing back to the wheat-bearing earth. Rasmussen showed the Dorg-mesiter losing that probable contest by 22 points.

The awakening of the Dakotans and the departure of the Dorgan are lovely things. Unfortunately, the 2010 elections are still 10 months away and that’s an awfully long time for Democrats to pass a health care overhaul that could sincerely screw up one of the largest sectors of the economy, particularly for the small business owners and employees that so populate the Great Plains.

I noted that Dorgan’s ‘aye’ vote in the senate was effectively the 60th vote the Democrats so badly needed to avoid a Republican filibuster to block the bill. Here’s the sad part. If one takes a gander at the US Congress-folk from the 2 Dakotas and Montana – what one finds is 5 Democrat senators and 2 US Representatives, with exactly 1 Republican US senator and 1 GOP US Rep. An unfortunate and unwarranted 7 votes for a liberal health care overhaul from 3 of the most conservative states in the union.

Many of the Conservative talkers have said the American people deserve better than this bill would give us. While that sure sounds right, I think those of us in Middle America might be getting exactly what we deserve for who we elected. And yet, let us not despair! Let your congresspersons know just how you feel about this bill before the world collapses into a dark, dank pit of doom!!! Well… maybe not quite that… but you can find their contact info easily here.