Nelson will oppose Kagan

Democratic Senator Ben Nelson has said he will oppose Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan. Since Kagan has five Republicans and presumably the rest of the Democrats voting for her she will be easily confirmed so losing Nelson doesn't mean much. so lets look at why Nelson will vote against her. Can anyone say looking towards 2012 even though Governor Heineman is leaning against running for Senate in 2012. So who is going to challenge Nelson Attorney General Bruning he wants to be governor but he could beat Nelson turn around run for Governor and appoint his own successor. This is doubtful to happen I think if Governor Heineman turns down the Senate bid then you can look for Congressman Fortenberry to probably jump into the Senate race. If Heineman is out, Bruning is the Republican candidate with the best chance of beating Nelson but its no secret that Bruning wants to be Governor and if he beats Nelson the question would be will he even serve a whole term in the Senate if elected. If Bruning and Heineman both choose to pass on the Senate race the Republicans could be in real trouble to knock off Nelson. The rest of the republican state wide office holders don't pose much of a threat to Nelson. The three Congressmen from Nebraska would be hard pressed to raise enough money and none of them have ever ran a statewide race. So Nelson voting against Kagan has big implications for 2012 but Senator Nelson knows this.

Tea Party agenda

We as citizens keep seeing the Tea party rallies and Sarah Palin speaking at them and all of the new one liners that seems to come out of the rallies. We know that the Tea party is against out of controlled spending congratulations so is a vast majority of Americans. The tea party wants its elected leaders to be more accountable and responsive to its fellow citizens what an amazing new idea. The Tea party wants a balanced budget again the Tea party is just full of brand new ideas.

The point is that the Tea party favors ideas we all support but outside of those few ideas that are as old as the republic itself the Tea party really does not stand for anything. We know that the Tea party is against just about everything except those previously mentioned ideas. The Tea party offers nothing new and they get out of responsibility for the rally actions saying they are not a centrally organized group and cannot be held accountable for the actions of some of their members. However they were the first to crow about the defeat of U.S. Senator Bob Bennett R-Utah in the primary that it was the tea party that defeated Bennett interesting for a group that has no central organization.

The Steele Republican Problem

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a gift for the democrats in a year the republican party should gain one house if not maybe an outside chance of gaining both houses. However Michael Steele just keeps opening his mouth and with his comments about Afghanistan he keeps making mistakes that a person in his position should not make. An individual in a leadership position such as an RNC chairman should be intelligent enough to know that everything he says is going to be scrutinized especially with previous gaffe's he has made. The RNC cannot toss out the chairman but they need to make sure at the very least that he is on the same page as the minority leaders and the republican leadership in both houses.