Stupak’s Arrogant Exit

Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who was a key vote on the health care bill, does not seem to understand what he has done.  The Democrat who made it clear for months leading up to the final vote swore not only to his constituents, but the pro-lifers both on the right and the left that he would not vote for the healthcare bill if there was public funding for abortion in it.

At the eleventh hour, Stupak got an assurance from the most liberal pro-choice President this country has ever seen, that an Executive Order would be signed to prevent public funding for abortion.

If Mr. Stupak was not in Congress for 18 years, it would make it easy to believe he didn’t know that an Executive Order cannot change law.  So, I believe he knew it.  Many people felt the same way, and he received a backlash he never saw coming.

But beyond that, he was on television constantly making it seem like his insistence that “no public funding for abortions” was going to stop this bill from going through.   When he held a press conference at 4 pm on the day of the vote, it was clear he was making deals to be able to vote for the bill.

People across his district expressed outrage, in the form of emails and phone calls, but perhaps he didn’t understand that the decision he made on the behalf of his district affected the entire nation.

Calls to oust Stupak began immediately and a Republican challenger was thrust into the forefront and received mountains of donations to defeat the 9-term Congressman.

Dan Benishek, a general surgeon from Crystal Falls, MI, was thrust into the glare of FOX news, numerous telephone, newspaper and newsmagazine interviews online and in print.  He took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from small contributions from all over the nation.  The Sunday of the vote, he had his wife and daughter working for him, and did not have a proper website set up yet.  That did not matter for most folks, they sent checks via snail mail to his home, with one main issue–Please Defeat Mr. Stupak.

The Tea Party Express, a group that formed last year, of traveling authors, entertainers, and speakers, began a petition to Repeal the Bill.  The following Saturday, the Express was to begin a tour of the nation, beginning in Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, Nevada.  That tour was to eventually make it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in our First District, the one represented by Bart Stupak.  They crossed the border of Michigan, offering Stupak 700,000 dollars to retire.  The following day, while crowds formed at tea parties across the UP, Bart Stupak held a press conference in Marquette, MI announcing his retirement.

But when asked if the tea parties had anything to do with Mr. Stupak’s retirement announcement, Stupak responded with arrogance, “If anything I just made the tea party people spend a lot of money that wasn’t necessary on all these ads they have to run against me so they can’t use it on anyone else. So I’ll take credit for sucking their treasury dry.”

Mr. Stupak let down ordinary Americans, and totally inflamed his constituency.  The people at the tea parties are Americans angered at his vote.  Mr. Stupak’s arrogance combined with the timing of his retirement speaks volumes, and I for one, am very glad I don’t have to write about him anymore.

Unless of course, his new “career” is in the Obama Administration, affecting our everyday life.