Facing immense criticism for her role in the “Louisiana Purchase,” Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) last week defended her principled stance of changing her vote on Obamacare in exchange for $300M in special favors for Louisiana. Her “defense,” if it may be called that, was essentially that without that kickback, Louisiana would have to raise taxes or cut services in order to afford Obamacare:

Obama’s plan — and the health care bill passed by the Senate — would expand Medicaid programs in the states as a way to move some of the uninsured onto insurance rolls. State and federal governments share the costs of the Medicaid program.

Levine said the Senate bill would cost Louisiana an extra $130 million annually in state funds and Obama’s proposal outlined this week could cost Louisiana as much as $260 million each year in additional Medicaid costs. An estimated 370,000 Louisiana residents would be added to the Medicaid rolls under the proposals, so nearly 37 percent of the state’s population would be covered under Medicaid, according to DHH estimates.

“The state’s going to figure out how to afford it because it’s the state’s responsibility, not just the federal government’s responsibility, to help all of the people in the state get adequate health insurance,” Landrieu said.

She said under the president’s proposal, the federal government would pick up the full cost of the Medicaid expansion for two years and then give states another two years at a lesser cost-share to give states the time to “adjust their budgets.”

“I think that’s pretty reasonable,” she said.

I haven’t seen a study recently showing how many states are operating in the black in the middle of the current recession, but if the number is greater than 5, I’ll eat my favorite Red Sox hat. Yet one of the untold stories about the current Obamacare bill (and Obama’s newest proposals) is that in addition to the fact that they’ll almost certainly lead to Federal tax increases, they will also lead to massive State tax increases, as state governments that are already struggling to get financing for their debt have to find some way to meet the Obamacare mandate. Of course, it’s possible in the alternative that states will pay for Obamacare by enacting massive cuts in other services, but given the recent history of state fiscal responsibility in this country, that result is neither desirable nor likely.

Democrats have been desperately hoping that they can get the bill passed now, in the hope that people won’t notice this extra cost that they’ve kicked down the road to state budgets. Thankfully, Mary Landrieu is there to remind them.

2010 promises to be a repeat of 2009 - Mr. Obama hasn't changed and his concentration isn't on our Nation or Americans. What amazes me is the attitude of "Change," his change - loss of jobs, homes and Americans' faith in his ability to protect our Nation and fellow citizens absolutely are of no concern to Obama.

Much has been written and said about James O’Keefe’s incursion into Mary Landrieu’s office in Louisiana. It is interesting to me how Landrieu, through MSNBC and the mouth of David Shuster, made sure to get its spin out quickly before O’Keefe could get out of jail and to a microphone.

More interesting to me is how many on our side raced out immediately to condemn O’Keefe without knowing any facts other than those reported by MSNBC. Even a cursory glance at the initial written charges and statements made it clear that there was no wiretapping — and those documents were released nearly at the same time as the story broke. Undeterred, many on our side and the left attacked based on mis-truths generated by the left.

While we should recognize the uniqueness of the right in its effort to maintain its righteousness (the left would never have reacted in the same way), there should have been a willingness to give James O’Keefe the benefit of the doubt. Agree or disagree with his actions, think it wise or unwise, smart or stupid, it seems now pretty clear that there was no intent to commit the crimes alleged by Senator Landrieu and MSNBC.

Below the fold is his statement.

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Recently there’s been some talk, here and elsewhere, about a burgeoning campaign to recall Mary Landrieu (D-Storyville).

Anger against Sister Senator Mary (a little Moon Griffon lingo, there) was already palpable here in Louisiana, and fueled further by the recent revelation that, in addition to that 300 million bucks, her health-care vote was sold in exchange for a promise to make her little brother the Mayor of New Orleans.

At this point just about everybody inside the state and out wants Landrieu gone, and since Louisiana has a provision in its constitution allowing for the recall of elected officials, somebody got the bright idea to start a drive to recall the highest-priced hooker in Louisiana history. Thing is, we’ve already tried to recall one member of the 111th Congress, and Attorney General Caldwell returned an opinion to Secretary of State Dardenne that the recall of federal officeholders is Constitutionally impermissable. As he correctly stated:

“The United States Constitution does not provide for, nor does it authorize, the recall of United States officials such as United States Senators, Representatives to Congress, or the President or Vice President of the United States. No United States Senator or Member of the House of Representatives has ever been recalled in the history of the United States.

“The power to regulate the members of Congress, however, has been reserved by the United States Constitution to the respective House of Congress.”

A shame, really; it was a nice thought. Or was it?

Personally, I’m not a believer in the recall. As has been made abundantly clear to us over the last year, elections have consequences. And because they do, it behooves us to make our choices carefully — especially regarding senators, whom we don’t get another crack at for six years. When we make those choices, we have to live with them; no “do-overs”, no opening the floodgates to abuse of the system, and to elections that are never settled matters.

We had our opportunity to turn out Mary Landrieu in November 2008. Once again, we blew it, returning her to a third term in office even as we handed Obama an even larger defeat in the state than we had dealt John Kerry four years before. Our motives were low and selfish — after a spate of retirements of long-serving congressmen during the decade (Billy Tauzin, Jim McCrery, Richard Baker) along with the departure of the sainted Senator John Breaux, we got spooked about losing our seniority in Congress and decided that our best option was to return Landrieu to the Senate yet again so as to maximize our chances of receiving lots of federal bucks we could use for something other than levee reinforcement. Because we couldn’t be bothered to figure out how the Democrat senator we were returning to office would enable the Democrat presidential candidate we rejected so overwhelmingly, Louisianians ended up voting to socialize and ruin their health-care system and wreck their oil-and-gas industry, which pretty much finishes off the economy of the state, Mardi Gras tourism notwithstanding.

We made our bed and now we have to lie in it. No do-overs. Maybe we’ll figure it out in 2014, if we last that long.

My friend Chuck, for unknown reasons, received a year-end solicitation from our senior Senator, Mary Landrieu.

Landrieu gets a lot of mileage in increasingly Red Louisiana out of her reputation as one of the moderate (?) Democrats in the Senate. Here, she seriously undermines that image by supporting one of the Left Coast’s finest.

Dear Cecil [sic],

In politics and in life, it’s important to stand up for your friends.

Senator Barbara Boxer is a friend to me, to Louisiana, and to all Americans. She’s been there for our state during some of our most difficult times, and she’s been there for me as I’ve battled through some tough campaigns.

Now Barbara is in a very tough re-election campaign against two competitive opponents: former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, a candidate prepared to pour tens of millions of dollars of her personal wealth to try to unseat Barbara, as well as right-wing Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who is building strong support from grassroots teaparty activists all across California.

I am asking you, as a personal favor to me, to contribute to Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign before the end of the year. Barbara has been there for us when we needed her — and now we need to be there for her. …

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