Had an interesting discussion the other day about miracles and what defines them. I had an issue with the specific example at hand, and observed that “if everything’s a miracle, then nothing is.”

So what does that have to do with rocket surgeon-cum-Senator Ben Nelson?

Just this:

“Under the terms of a deal Nelson cut with Senate leaders to secure his crucial vote for the health care package, Nebraska would be exempted from having to pay for the coverage of its new Medicaid enrollees … Senator Nelson said it would be ‘fixed’ by extending the Cornhusker Kickback (100% federal payment) on Medicaid to every state.”

Interesting hypothesis there, Ben.

So if we understand this correctly, every state, not just the one that sent you to the Senate, is eligible for this little “fix?” Would you then explain why Sen Harry Reid has a different take:

“You’ll find a number of states are treated differently than other states.”

And:

“And if they don’t have something in it important to them, then it doesn’t speak well of them.”

So which is it? Either Ben “Cornhustler” Nelson or Harry “Let’s (Not) Make a Deal” Reid is, to put it nicely, obfuscating.

Frankly, that’s not even the biggest problem with Big Ben’s little tap-dance: to bring it ’round full circle, if every state gets the same deal, then, in reality, no state gets any deal, since (as we know) the gummint doesn’t actually have any money – it simply takes money from us taxpayers who, of course, live in all the states.

But hey, it’s only money, right?

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