Jon Bruning

GOP Senate Candidate 'Regrets' Comparing Poor People To Scavenging Animals

Benjy Sarlin | August 10, 2011, 6:57PM

Nebraska Attorney General and GOP Senate candidate Jon Bruning caused a stir this week when he compared welfare recipients to raccoons scavenging for insects. According to an aide, he's since realized he may not have picked the best metaphor for the poor.

"It was an inartful statement and one Jon regrets making," Bruning campaign manager Trent Fellers told the Associated Press in a statement. "As Attorney General, Jon's been a strong supporter of welfare reform and giving welfare recipients a hand up and not just a hand out."

In a video released by liberal tracker American Bridge 21st Century on Tuesday, Bruning told an audience about a misguided environmental program that collected endangered beetles in buckets using rat carcasses as bait -- only to be thwarted when raccoons raided the buckets for the tasty bugs.

"The raccoons figured out the beetles are in the bucket," Bruning said. "And its like grapes in a jar. The raccoons - they're not stupid, they're gonna do the easy way if we make it easy for them. Just like welfare recipients all across America. If we don't incent them to work, they're gonna take the easy route."

Jon Bruning

Nebraska AG Jon Bruning Compares Welfare Recipients To Scavenging Raccoons

Benjy Sarlin | August 9, 2011, 11:28AM

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, a frontrunner to win the GOP nomination against Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), compared poor people to scavenging racoons in a speech this week.

In a video captured by the liberal group, American Bridge 21st Century, Bruning makes the comparison as part of an elaborate metaphor originally focused on environmental regulations. He describes a requirement that workers at a construction project gather up endangered beetles by luring them into a bucket with a dead rat in order to release them elsewhere. But the plan is thwarted when hungry raccoons then eat them straight out of the rat-infested bucket. Which, according to Bruning, is a perfect image to illustrate how welfare recipients receive their benefits.

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Abortion

It's Not Just SD: Slew Of New State Laws Put Pro-Choicers On Notice

Evan McMorris-Santoro and Jillian Rayfield | February 25, 2011, 1:22PM

South Dakota may have shelved its controversial "justifiable homicide" bill to protect unborn children, but the trend has already caught on elsewhere, with both Nebraska and Iowa introducing bills with vague language about the use of justifiable force.

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2012 Presidential Primaries

PPP Poll: Huckabee, Palin, Gingrich Lead Muddled 2012 GOP Field In Nebraska

Jon Terbush | February 4, 2011, 8:47AM

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Yet another poll finds Mike Huckabee leading the pack in a Republican presidential primary -- this time in Nebraska. However, two challengers -- Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich -- each polled close enough to Huckabee to leave them all essentially locked in a dead heat.

Twenty-one percent of respondents in the PPP poll said Huckabee was their first choice for the party nod, while 19% went for Palin, and 18% said they supported Gingrich. The poll has a 4.3% margin of error, meaning that Huckabee's slim lead is statistically insignificant.

Mitt Romney wasn't too far behind the pack, garnering 15% of the vote, followed by Rep. Ron Paul (8%), Tim Pawlenty (4%), Sen. John Thune (3%), and Gov. Mitch Daniels (1%.)

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2012 elections

Poll: Palin Nomination Could Turn SD, NE Dem For First Time Since 1964

Jon Terbush | February 2, 2011, 8:44AM

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and President Barack Obama (D)

The last time a Democratic presidential candidate carried either South Dakota or Nebraska in a general election was the same year that the Beatles released their debut U.S. album. Yet if the Republican Party nominates Sarah Palin for president, two PPP polls indicate that President Obama would have a strong chance of bringing both states into the Democratic column for the first time in a half century.

In Nebraska, PPP found Palin leading Obama by just one point, 45% to 44%. Compare that to last cycle, when John McCain won the state by 15 points -- though, since Nebraska awards some electors to the winner of each congressional district, Obama did take one electoral vote for winning Omaha's district. In 2004, George Bush trounced John Kerry by 33 points there.

In South Dakota, the bad omen for a Palin presidential bid is even starker. There, PPP found her outright trailing Obama by eight points, 48% to 40%.

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Health Care

States Fighting Health Care Law Also Fighting For Health Care Law Grant Money

Brian Beutler | September 1, 2010, 10:37AM

President Barack Obama

Don't underestimate Republicans' desire to stymie or unwind the health care law. But not all of them are as committed to its demise as Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who yesterday issued an executive order forbidding his state's officials from applying for grant money from the new law.

It turns out that seven of the states -- Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Nevada -- that have applied and been approved for subsidies to cover the cost of caring for retired state government employees are also part of a coalition of more than 20 states suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the health care law's individual mandate, which experts say is critical to the success of the policy. Minnesota's attorney general, Lori Swanson (D), refused to join to Pawlenty's displeasure.

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Ben Nelson

Nelson Blasts Nebraska Governor For Threatening Teachers Over Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | August 31, 2010, 8:39AM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is openly defending health care reform from Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman (R), who this week pressured the state's educational professionals to choose between the new law and, potentially, their jobs.

"It's...troubling that he's using that misinformation to intimidate groups involved in all aspects of our children's health, safety and education, pitting one against the other," Nelson said of Heineman in a statement issued last night.

Nelson voted for the health care bill earlier this Congress, despite hailing from a Republican state and being one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate. Though he's not up for re-election this year, he has since that vote distanced himself from his Democratic colleagues on several issues.

But on this issue he's parting with Republicans.

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