As expected, Ben Nelson announced yesterday that he would
would vote to confirm Samuel Alito as an associate Justice to the Supreme Court. And, as expected, this decision has prompted another round of "with Democrats like these, who needs Republicans" outrage.
In my role as agent provocateur and all-around pain in the ass, I'm taking it upon myself to come to the defense of the much-maligned Democratic Senator of Nebraska.
More on the flip...
The most obvious defense of such a decision is that Ben Nelson is up for re-election as a Democrat in a state that loves Republicans. Nebraska is one of the few remaining states that seems in any way fond of the job that George W. Bush is doing as President. While much of the country is turning against him, and while Bush is having a hard time finding an approval rating to bring a smile to his face, Nebraksa has remained on the President's side. According to a 1/17 poll conducted by SUSA, Nebraska gives President Bush
an approval rating of 55%, a number topped only by Utah and Idaho. The disapproval rate stands at 41%, giving Bush a net approval of 14% in Nebraska, a number topped, once again, only by Utah and Idaho. Nelson is a Democrat from a state that loves a crappy Republican president more than almost any other state in the Union.
In spite of this, Nelson's popularity has remained high. As of December, Nelson checked in with a 66/24 approval disapproval number, for a net approval of 44% 8th highest among current senators. Much of this popularity can likely be attributed to Nelson's more moderate and centrist views. We here at Dkos may not like the way that Nelson votes, but his constituents seem to, and it is unclear, and unlikely, that his constituents would look so favorably upon him if he were to move significantly to the left.
Even with these gaudy numbers, Nelson is continually walking a tightrope when it comes to re-election. He dodged a huge bullet when former Nebraska football coach, and close friend of the devil (yeah, give him a national championship, it's his last year, who cares how good that University of Michigan team is!) Tom Osborne passed on the race. Still, he faces challenge from former AG Don Stenberg, who Nelson defeated by a mere 15,000 votes in 2000, among others. While Nelson may not be the most progressive member of the Senate, any Republican who would defeat him would likely be significantly to the Right of Nelson, and the recent batch of loony Freshmen: David Vitter, John Thune, Mel Martinez, and everyone's favorite nutball Tom Coburn are proof of the kind of Republicans who are getting elected at the moment. Votes in favor of Alberto Gonzalez, John Roberts and Samuel Alito are the price we pay for having a Senator from Nebraska who will vote for Harry Reid for majority leader.
Equally as important as electoral considerations, to my mind, is Ben Nelson's job as a United States Senator. Nelson is a Democrat, and we badly want him to be a progressive, and he does have a loyalty to the positions of the Democratic Party. But his job, first and foremost, is to serve the people of Nebraska. They're his constituents, they're the ones who put him in office, and they're the ones he has to be looking out for. Daily Kos and the progressive community are by and large, not. If Nebraskans want him to vote Samuel Alito onto the Court (I haven't seen any polling on this, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that this was the case), then Ben Nelson has a duty to take those wishes into serious consideration. This is especially true absent any directive from Harry Reid or Party leadership urging a unified vote on Alito (and I haven't heard anything to indicate that Reid is trying to twist arms on this one).
As Kossacks and progressives, we get rightfully mad as hell when our representatives ignore our wishes. They're supposed to be serving us, and they damn well better be listening to us. The rule applies just as well for voters on the other side of the aisle, even if we aren't fond of their wishes. If a vote against Alito isn't what his constituents want, or at the very least, if he can't explain to them why a vote against Alito is what his constituents should want, then such a vote is hard to justify. And our Senators' shoddy performance in the hearings (thank you, Joe Biden), makes it hard to credibly say that Nelson has a clear cut, easily explainable reason to vote against Alito. Especially if such a vote would cost him his job, and place us further away from the majority.
I don't love Ben Nelson, and I certainly wouldn't want him as my senator. But I don't live in Nebraska, and I love having him as my senator from Nebraska. Even if it means dealing with disappointments like this sometimes.