Last night on OTR, Greta asked a simple question of Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman about the now-infamous Nebraska Kickback. To his credit, Gov. Heineman gave a straightforward reply. Here’s the relevant portion of the interview:

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, now, you talk about “all these” special deals, and I take it that you mean, like, all the ones to Florida, to Connecticut. What about to your state alone? Are you willing to give up the…are you willing to say, We don’t want the $100 million in our state, Nebraska?

HEINEMAN: Absolutely. Nebraska doesn’t want a special deal. We only want a fair deal. We’re embarrassed by what’s going on. We’re very surprised. Nebraskans are angry and upset about what occurred. And so they need to set this straight.

I’ve also asked Senator Nelson…I’m going to repeat it again tonight. He has a chance tomorrow to vote no on cloture. That would be the best thing for Nebraska, the best thing for America. Send this bill back to committee. Go home for Christmas and think about it and get it right.

Anyone thinking that Sen. Nelson’s troubles will soon be behind him doesn’t know human nature. According to Frank Luntz, 72 percent of the American people “are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore.” Dr. Luntz said that the anger that people are feeling right now is equal to what they felt in 1994.

Back then, huge numbers of voters felt like Congress didn’t represent them, that Congress essentially ignored them. Another similarity between then and now is that people feel like politicians only hear the things said inside the Beltway echochamber. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

It’s apparent that Sen. Nelson went looking for a deal with Sen. Reid so he could rationalize his support for the bill. It’s apparent that Sen. Nelson was counting on the goodies to buy off the resentment coming from his constituents. Nebraskans figured out that those goodies don’t mean a thing because they’re going to pay higher insurance premiums and their taxes are getting raised.

I’m betting, too, that Sen. Nelson wasn’t expecting Gov. Heineman and Sen. Johanns to react as strongly as they did. You can tell that because Sen. Nelson’s speech on the Senate floor was totally defensive. He tried rationalizing his actions. He tried telling Nebraskans that this was a good deal for them.

During the course of his radio interviews yesterday, Nebraskans told him that the few trinkets given to the government wouldn’t help them pay higher insurance premiums and higher taxes. Sen. Nelson essentially misread Nebraskans. They’re a fiscally conservative state. They aren’t as gullible as Sen. Nelson needed them to be. He needed them to think that a few trinkets would distract their attention.

Nebraskans, led by Gov. Heineman, emphatically responded by telling Sen. Nelson that they didn’t want any part of his bribe. In 2012, they’ll emphatically respond by giving Sen. Nelson an election night surprise retirement party.

Technorati: Interview, Dave Heineman, Health Care, Ben Nelson, Nebraska Kickback, Democrats, Mike Johanns, Public Opinion, Republicans, Election 2012

Cross-posted at California Conservative