Terry & Ben: You’ve Got a Friend?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 6:33
Battleground Iowa
721 views
5 comments

By Emily Geiger
Terry.Ben
So, I have to say that this whole Ben Nelson thing is really eating at me.

I find it interesting how good ‘ol Ben is at getting favors from his friends. I mean, he’s getting fully federally funded Medicaid and a whole bunch of other perks for his state.

Years ago, he called up his buddy Terry Branstad and asked for his endorsement and fundraising help, and he got it.

So, what I want to know is, how good is Ben at giving back to his friends? Is he the kind of guy a friend can really talk to?

What I really want to know is, did Terry Branstad ever call up his buddy Ben Nelson and ask him to do the right thing for the people of Iowa and Nebraska and vote no to the federal healthcare atrocity?

If they were good enough friends for Terry to cross the proverbial aisle to help elect a Democrat over a Republican, shouldn’t Terry have been able to call up Ben to bend his ear and exert some serious pressure on this issue?

I’d like to know if that ever happened. If it did, I would gain a lot of respect for Branstad for at least trying. It would also tell us a lot about Ben Nelson if he ignored his friend and threw him under the bus all in the name of pork and partisan politics.

If it didn’t ever happen, maybe that tells us something about Branstad’s judgment… in friends and politics.

About the Author

Battleground Iowa has written 184 stories on this site.

Emily Geiger writes from a conservative perspective on everything from politics to religion to pop culture. Like the original Emily of Revolutionary War era, this Emily is delivering important messages crucial to winning the raging war of the time, but today, this is a culture war rather than a traditional one. And, like the original Emily, sometimes it takes a woman to do (or say) that which lesser men lack the courage and tenacity to do.

5 Comments on “Terry & Ben: You’ve Got a Friend?”

Mr. Hawk wrote on 23 December, 2009, 9:08
Weak effort.
Jeff wrote on 23 December, 2009, 9:31
I agree with Mr. Hawk. This sounds like you are wondering aloud…without any reason to believe your argument. Then you say “If what I imagined (with no evidence) is true, then TB has bad judgment”. Ok, and if you believe in sending money to help Nigerians princes move some money around, then you have bad judgment. No evidence, just making a baseless point.

C’mon, you can do better than this.
Battleground Iowa wrote on 23 December, 2009, 12:22
I actually just want to know if Terry tried. The answer to that question would tell us a lot about the man. But, wow, some people are sure sensitive.

These responses are representative of the problem of the Branstad campaign. They never seem to want to answer a question head on. Be direct. Lead. Be honest and stop giving political non-answers.

And most of all, stop being so defensive when someone asks a legitimate question of Branstad. It turns off people who otherwise might support your candidate.
cnsrvtv wrote on 23 December, 2009, 22:19
It is totally fair game to criticize Branstad for his endorsement of Ben Nelson, who became the final straw with regard to this disastrous legislation.

Obviously the health care bill isn’t all Terry Branstad’s fault, but it is, at the very least, an indication that he’s far more willing to play politics than he should be. In this case, the result really hurts our country in a significant way.

I, too, would gain some respect for Branstad if I knew he did everything he could to lobby Nelson to vote against the health care bill. But in the absence of that, he resembles a relativistic windsock who is ultimately blown and tossed by political winds, struggling to determine if there is a true north, or where it really is.
JB Johnson wrote on 24 December, 2009, 3:22
pull the pin on it now TB before you look like a real fool in a primary