Folks,
The piece below is revealing on any number of levels, but when all is said and done I have no sympathy for Stupak. If he had any principles, he would declare himself an independent. The very term "Pro-life Democrat" is as much an oxymoron as "pro-gun Democrat." But the principal reason I post this from National Review OnLine is to illustrate how absolutely determined the Obamanoids are to work their will upon us.
Mike
III
Friday, March 12, 2010
‘They Just Want This Over’ [Robert Costa]
Sitting in an airport, on his way home to Michigan, Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, is chagrined. “They’re ignoring me,” he says, in a phone interview with National Review Online. “That’s their strategy now. The House Democratic leaders think they have the votes to pass the Senate’s health-care bill without us. At this point, there is no doubt that they’ve been able to peel off one or two of my twelve. And even if they don’t have the votes, it’s been made clear to us that they won’t insert our language on the abortion issue.”
According to Stupak, that group of twelve pro-life House Democrats — the “Stupak dozen” — has privately agreed for months to vote ‘no’ on the Senate’s health-care bill if federal funding for abortion is included in the final legislative language. Now, in the debate’s final hours, Stupak says the other eleven are coming under “enormous” political pressure from both the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). “I am a definite ‘no’ vote,” he says. “I didn’t cave. The others are having both of their arms twisted, and we’re all getting pounded by our traditional Democratic supporters, like unions.”
Stupak says he also doesn’t trust the “Slaughter solution,” a legislative maneuver being bandied about on Capitol Hill as a way to pass the Senate bill in the House without actually voting on it. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” he says. “I don’t have a warm-and-fuzzy feeling about what I’m hearing.”
Stupak notes that his negotiations with House Democratic leaders in recent days have been revealing. “I really believe that the Democratic leadership is simply unwilling to change its stance,” he says. “Their position says that women, especially those without means available, should have their abortions covered.” The arguments they have made to him in recent deliberations, he adds, “are a pretty sad commentary on the state of the Democratic party.”
What are Democratic leaders saying? “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.”
If Obamacare passes, Stupak says, it could signal the end of any meaningful role for pro-life Democrats within their own party. “It would be very, very hard for someone who is a right-to-life Democrat to run for office,” he says. “I won’t leave the party. I’m more comfortable here and still believe in a role within it for the right-to-life cause, but this bill will make being a pro-life Democrat much more difficult. They don’t even want to debate this issue. We’ll probably have to wait until the Republicans take back the majority to fix this.”
“Throughout this debate, even when the House leaders have acknowledged us, it’s always been in a backhanded way,” he laments. “I’m telling the others to hold firm, and we’ll meet next week, but I’m disappointed in my colleagues who said they’d be with us and now they’re not. It’s almost like some right-to-life members don’t want to be bothered. They just want this over.”
And the politics of the issue are pretty rough. “This has really reached an unhealthy stage,” Stupak says. “People are threatening ethics complaints on me. On the left, they’re really stepping it up. Every day, from Rachel Maddow to the Daily Kos, it keeps coming. Does it bother me? Sure. Does it change my position? No.”
8 comments:
A politician who is willing to hold a position to the bitter end, no matter what the cost? Who'd a thunk that would ever happen? Of course obuma, reid, and nancy are just as determined to pass this bill come hell or high water. This guy still would pass the bill if they caved in on this one issue so my sympathy is just not there.
oneangrytaxpayer.org
ken lowder
As a Christian, and a pro-lifer, I say God bless this man for standing against our American holocaust.
As a Libertarian, I hope he learns that the grass is greener over here-- and that he can keep his anti-abortion position.
As a Patriot, I hope he soon realizes that the battle lines have been drawn, and that he switches sides before it is too late.
As if they are going to let 12 people stop them from forcing their agenda...
All these legislative assh**les (pro HELLthKill & con HELLthKill; Senators and Reps; Dems, RINOs, and Republicans) in DC are picking through the nits and combing through the detail. That's ALL they're doing. No one - NOT ONE - is saying, "STOP", "This is UnConstitutional, and therefore, illegal." "The people, our bosses, the ones who put us here, DON'T WANT IT."
Most of these assh**les deserve to die; long, slow & painfully. Might as well kill them all & start fresh.
Will sanity prevail, even if it is by accident? if not, and this bill passes, who will fire the first shot in the battle of Fort Sumter?
Continue to prepare, as much as you can, with the short time left to us. God grant us enough time.
B Woodman
III-per
If he had any principles, he wouldn't be a Democrat now would he? Same goes for the BlueDogs.
A street hooker might modify her name to advertise her special talent, but she's still a street hooker.
Eric
III
And furthermore... It would not matter in the least if the "majority" of "the people" really and truly wanted this bill. There is still NO legitimate justification for any of it, constitutional or otherwise.
The rush to work their designs continues, the pretense of representation is dead. They will do anything by any method. The rule of law? forget it. Constitution? What's that?
It is far past shooting time.
After looking @ Stupak's legislative history, anyone who believes that he's okay or somehow salvageable is @ best misplacing their faith in the power of redemption & @ worst indulging in self-delusion. Like Joe Lieberman, he gives the impression of being someone who has the same principles you do but in reality is the less obvious version of Maxine Waters.
Cassandra (of Troy)
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