David Axelrod Knocks Sen. Ben Nelson For Threatening Filibuster

Sam Stein
HuffPost

One of the president's top advisers criticized Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) on Thursday for threatening to filibuster health care reform despite his record of opposing that parliamentary tactic in the past.

In a conference call with progressive bloggers, White House senior adviser David Axelrod urged Nelson to drop his demand for stricter abortion limits and let the bill come to a vote.

"We are working hard to persuade Senator Nelson that this is in the best interest of Nebraska and his constituents and the country. And we will continue to do that as we will with other members of the Senate," Axelrod said. "And the main thing I would say to him and others members of the Senate is that after a long, long, long and thorough debate, let us have a vote.

"What we are arguing about today is not whether a majority support the bill in the Senate," Axelrod added. "A majority does. What we are arguing about is whether they will have a chance to express themselves and vote -- or whether a minority will thwart the majority and keep that vote from happening.

(More here.)