Jakubczyk on Life

Stupak attempts to defend his vote - and fails miserably.

I just listened to a replay of Bart Stupak's lame attempt to defend his decision to abandon the principled defense of the long standing history in the Congress not to provide federal funding of abortion. as everyone knows by now, Stupak caved into the rigid and unwavering position of the speaker and the president to vote on the Senate language. Thus after six months of holding the pro-life banner, he dropped it, all the while claiming that this was the best he could do under the circumstances.

Of course he admits that the president could rescind the Executive Order that he has "promised" to sign. This is the same president who canceled the Mexico City policy with a stroke of his pen, the very week of his inauguration. This is the same president who promised Planned Parenthood that he would sign the Freedom of Choice Act. This is the same president who while telling everyone in the country that the bill would not expand or fund abortions,refused to get behind the amendment and put his political capitol on the line. 

And we have not even begun to talk about the rationed care issues addressed in the bill or the rights of conscience.

Either Stupak is totally clueless or he has just scammed the entire pro-life movement.

or

Perhaps the Chicago style approach in Washington, D.C. is as powerful as we suspect.
After all look at the attack by MSNBC and Rachel Maddow on Stupak concerning his housing arrangements. The hit piece was a blatant attempt to threaten Stupak by suggesting that he accepted illegal gifts. Add to that the admissions by Stupak that he was being besieged by all sorts of personal attacks and that he had to leave the phone off the hook. In his last few appearances before the vote, he looked very haggard and worn. So what did Pelosi "suggest" to him? Who knows?  Was there a Justice Department investigation about to be opened? Could the House Ethics Committee have a file on him? But 24 hours later, after the vote, the question of Bart Stupak's betrayal of the pro-life community, his willingness to abandon the principled stand he had taken for life concerning this bill for over six long months, and the bizarre behavior after the passage of the bill, all signal to me something a little more deceitful and unnerving. One close political analyst said, "They took him in the back room and figuratively beat the **** out of him."  He also said that not only did this set back the movement for trusting someone like Stupak, but that the idea of an honest pro-life democrat is now a joke. He did say that there could be such a backlash that has never been seen in the history of the nation, but that Pelosi and Obama are banking on the American people's classic case of amnesia to get them through November.

Then again he could be as dense as they come and actually believe by doing all this, he was helping to stop abortion funding and this was the best he could do.

Right ....  no .... I don't think so. I am still going with my gut that the House leadership "made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

There is one other group of people also responsible for Sunday's vote. I will address their complicity in my next post.

posted by Jakubczyk on Life @ 1:40 AM