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| Stupak Calls His Critics in Pro-Life Movement |
| 2010-03-24 |
| The war among pro-lifers over health care reform is worsening, not easing, in the wake of the passage of health care reform: Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, leader of a key Democratic bloc that held out for tougher language against abortion funding, has called the Catholic bishops and conservative anti-abortion lobbies "hypocrites" for not supporting the bill after Stupak won last-minute concessions from the White House. Damn. Where's a ticked off nun with a ruler when you really need some knuckles rapped? Stupak received a guarantee from President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Obama would sign an executive order after the bill's passage that reiterates the bill's ban on any federal funds going to pay for abortions. Stupak, a pro-life Catholic who had been strongly supported by the bishops and other groups for his stand, was satisfied with the deal. But his allies said the executive order was a fig leaf and Stupak has been vilified by conservative Catholic groups and lobbies like the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) since his switch. In response, Stupak told The Daily Caller that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and NRLC applauded President George W. Bush in 2007 when he used an executive order to limit embryonic stem cell research. "The Democratic Congress passed [a bill] saying we'll do embryonic stem cell research. Bush vetoed it in 2007. That same day he issued an executive order saying we will not do it, and all these groups applauded that he protected life," Stupak said. "So now President Obama's going to sign an executive order protecting life and everyone's condemning it. The hypocrisy is great." Stupak said he wondered whether the Catholic bishops and others were motivated more by politics than pro-life convictions and were "just using the life issue to try to bring down health-care reform." "I question, did they want to protect the sanctity of life, or did they want to defeat health care?" he told The Daily Caller. Obama will sign the order at the White House today, and Stupak and 12 other pro-life Democrats who voted for the health bill have been invited to the signing ceremony. BTW, this is one time that the Precedent will NOT have cameras around to record the moment. Wonder why? Two days before the health care vote, Richard Doerflinger, who coordinated pro-life strategy with Stupak and NRLC and conservative opponents of the bill, acknowledged that the battle could leave serious divisions within the Catholic ranks. "The church does have some work to do in dealing with frayed nerves and divisions on policy questions," he said. Hmm. I'm a Catholic, and didn't notice that anyone had a major problem with the bishops' approach to the situation. It was kind of what we expected after all these years in the pews. But hey, I'm just a hick in flyover country, not some policy wonk in DC, so what do I know? But Doerflinger then said that pro-lifers -- like the Catholic Health Care Association and many religious orders, as well as Catholic leaders, politicians and the nation's leading health care experts -- were "cooking the details" of the bill. The CHA, for example, does not "have policy people who work on these pro-life issues day in and day out." Well, yeah. But when the Church's policy is, and has been, an emphatic "thou shalt not" in all circumstances, there isn't a huge need to work on the nuances much, now, is there? It's not likely the same could be said of Bart Stupak, however. And it seems clear the wounds can only deepen before the healing begins. |
| Posted by:Cornsilk Blondie |
| #6 I object that they can be bought so cheaply. That's what you call a two-bit whore. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2010-03-24 23:31 |
| #5 "Mr. Principled" got half the cab fare and the condom wrapper left on the dresser. Just hope he doesn't end up pregnant, his options will be limited...or not, as his his bend-over for the EO shows. He can always abort. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-03-24 19:58 |
| #4 All he got was an executive order that hasn't yet been signed and can't be enforced, and about three-quarters of a million bucks for some regional airports. I don't object to the fact that politicians can be bought. I object that they can be bought so cheaply. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-03-24 19:40 |
| #3 Oh, just for a little more background on all this.... The bishops told ol' Stupie that the executive order was BS. He still went ahead and did it anyway... |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2010-03-24 17:52 |
| #2 CHA specifically and explicitly went counter to the USCCB's intent and teaching on this. To put it bluntly a bitch of an old lefty nun running CHA decided to substitute her opinion and override the ruling issued by the Bishops. This is in the process of being corrected by many of us inside the church. We have requested out parishes refuse to fund the CHA until it moves unrepentant reprobates like that Sister from their positions of authority, and adheres to the teachings of the Church as expressed by the USCCB and Vatican. We are also asking her Superior in her Order and her Bishop to sanction her specifically for promoting abortion via material cooperation with evil. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-03-24 15:25 |
| #1 "So now President Obama's going to sign an executive order protecting life and everyone's condemning it. The hypocrisy is great." Because it is MEANINGLESS congressman, MEANINGLESS, and you know it. Please celebrate your own hyporcisy and say no more. You are history as a legislator. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-03-24 13:46 |