Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who's served nine terms in the House, won't be running for reelection this year, a victim of the abortion fight that erupted as Congress debated the recently-passed health care bill. The critics who've succeeded in forcing him out are the anti-abortion groups, which is ironic because Mr. Stupak himself is anti-abortion, a leader of the Congressional Pro-life Caucus. Apparently, he's just not anti enough. He was stripped of a pro-life award after the bill passed. What happened? Well, President Obama, seeking House votes for the bill, offered a compromise--an executive order outlining the prohibitions against the use of federal funds for abortions, prohibitions which seem strict to me. But they weren't enough for the pro-life groups and they vowed to unseat Stupak. Now they have. The Republican National Committee gloated, "Red Alert: Former pro-life Democrat throws in the towel rather than running on health care sellout." The Democrats had no immediate comment but the New York Times quotes on official as saying the party doesn't have a strong candidate in the district, which is in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It's a tough business sometimes.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
No comments:
Post a Comment