First, let there be no more wrangling about the facts. The Bill as proposed by Nancy Pelosi – an unfaithful Catholic who should be ashamed and strongly opposed in her next campaign while we all pray for her return to the truth – promoted the intrinsic evil of abortion. It would have funded the feticide of our first neighbors in the womb. End of discussion. All of those folks who tried to argue that all of us who sounded the alarm over this evil were wrong have been exposed as frauds. The phony compromises and fake amendments were a subterfuge.
Before the determined and courageous efforts of Congressman Bart Stupak, a Pro-Life Catholic Democrat whose name along with Republican Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania of the 16th District of Pennsylvania is on the now historic amendment, the legislation would have funded more abortions with tax dollars. The “Health Care Reform” legislation which passed last night as HR 3962 – by a vote in the House of Representatives by a vote of 220 ”“ 215 – would have had a lethal effect, resulting in the intentional killing of potentially millions more of our first neighbors. Thank God for the courage and perseverance of faithful Catholic Democrat Bart Stupak!
The Stupak/Pitts Amendment was strongly supported by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops who worked with admirable persistence and courageous clarity in order to force its passage. It actually was passed earlier in the evening by an historic vote of 240 to 194.Some cowardly members did not vote at all.
The tactical stupidity of the Republicans in this matter is remarkable.
Had they voted AGAINST the Stupak amendment it would have failed, putting the 40 Stupak allies in a position of more or less having to vote against HR3962 in its entirety. Given that about three dozen fiscally conservative Democrats also voted against the bill, it would have been defeated by something like 205 to 230.
Note to House Republicans: if you defeat the entire bill, guess what? You also defeated the abortion component. You made a monumental unforced error and coughed up the ball for a big turnover near your own goal line. Nobody should blame the Democrats for having scored as a result.
As I noted earlier this week, if the Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment think abortion won’t be in the final bill, they are probably too stupid to be wandering the street without an escort. And, if the blue dogs vote against the final bill, they will be stripped of all party seniority and denied funds from the DNC for elections in 2010–and I’m not making that up. That was announced by the White House yesterday.
Bart: Ed Morrissey at [url=http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/09/house-dem-conference-committee-will-strip-stupak-amendment/]Hot Air[/url] makes a very good argument that defeating the Stupak amendment would have been counter-productive. Check it out.
In any case, I think it’s all academic. There’s no form of this legislation that can get enough votes to pass both houses. There are too many variables (abortion, mandates, public option, etc.) that run afoul of members unwilling to compromise to enable anything to get through.
This entire HR3962 bill is profoundly anti-life, and Stupak dealt only with foetuses. I’ve been reading Morrissey since the early CQ days, but disagree with him on this one. Whatever tactical errors the Republicans may have made, the Donks are making a profound [i]strategic[/i] error — they read the ’08 election as an enthusiastic mandate and are consequently revealing their real beliefs and intentions for the first time since 1968. I say, let them. Americans dislike extremists, and these folks are most definitely that.
After LBJ they became a profoundly statist and anti-life group who would happily come into your house to re-adjust the temperature of your shower water. Of [i]course[/i] they want to manage daily details of your life, and by running health care they can say “You know, we’re paying for this, so you really need to live [i]this[/i] way, and not that way.”
The issue is far bigger than federal coverage of abortion. The narrowness of single-issue politics is costing us rather dearly.
David Keller (#2),
I’m not surprised, but that the Dems would resort to such harsh arm-twisting methods is still very revealing. Very chilling and disturbing.
As fas as I’m concerned, there’s more than enough blame to spread around here. Very few politicians have come off well in this sordid mess. But I have to make an exception for the pro-life Democrat celebrated in this article, Congressman Bart Stupak of Mich is indeed the man of the hour, and the hero of the day.
But that still leaves tomorrow. Who will step up and be the new hero (or heroine) that will be needed then??
David Handy+
1. and 2.
This Stupak ammendment is a charade. It is just political cover to prevent the Reps, Catholics and others from having an issue to organize around in the weeks that remain. Be sure that abortion will be funded in the final draft with an 11th hour ammendment.
On the other hand, making the libs mad as heck over abortion and getting them to show their hand early, like today, Reps, Catholics and other ProLifers will still have an issue to talk about.
The only way to stop this beast is to get the Dems to war against each other. That is happening as we speak. The Pelosi scheme to keep this off the talking points until the final hour is now being completely frustrated by her own undisciplined liberal wing.
As the Obama romance continues to wear off, there will be less and less leverage for Pelosi and Reed to apply. The only bill I fear getting passed now is some kind of trigger scheme. That could be deadly.
#5 NRA–I agree with you except on one point. I believe in 2009 it is no longer possible to be pro-life and a Democrat. But I certainly salute Stupak for trying.
As a pro-life Democrat myself I’m particularly proud of Stupak and his fellow congressmen who passed this amendment. So much so I’m going to look into a contribution to his campaign. Hopefully that language will remain in the final bill. Hopefully the far left will see that this is the only way they will get any bill passed (I’m not going to bet on that – though Pelosi does seem to see this and may think it best to get try to get the public option through then work on changing the abortion rules down the road). I know I am in the minority here (though if polls are to be believed I’m in the slim majority of the country), but I am hoping Congress will be able to work something out and move forward with reform.