Posted on 01/07/2010 4:59:52 AM PST by rhema
MENOMINEE, Mich. Representative Bart Stupak often endures things others find unbearable. He crisscrosses a Congressional district so vast that some constituents live eight hours apart and so cold that the beer at his beloved football games sometimes freezes. Years ago, as a state trooper, he blew out his knee chasing a suspect, and he has since had so many operations that he now returns to work the same day, toting crutches and ice.
After his younger son committed suicide in 2000, using the congressmans gun, Mr. Stupak soon resumed his predawn commute to Washington and his solid voting record with the National Rifle Association.
Now he is enduring more hatred than perhaps any other member of Congress, much of it from fellow Democrats. His name has become a slogan: Stop Stupak!
Scott Schloegel, his chief of staff, said wearily, I cant tell you how many New Yorkers have called me up and yelled at me about this Stupak guy.
With final negotiations on a health care overhaul beginning this week, complaints about the evil Stupak amendment, as the congressman dryly called it over dinner here recently, are likely to grow even louder. The amendment prevents women who receive federal insurance subsidies from buying abortion coverage but critics assert it could cause women who buy their own insurance difficulty in obtaining coverage.
Mr. Stupak insists that the final bill include his terms, which he says merely reflect current law. If he prevails, he will have won an audacious, counterintuitive victory, forcing a Democratic-controlled Congress to pass a measure that will be hailed as an anti-abortion triumph. If party members do not accept his terms and many vow they will not Mr. Stupak is prepared to block passage of the health care overhaul.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Were members without a party, he said. Democrats are mad at you, and Republicans dont trust you. . . .
In the primary, he beat a candidate who supported abortion rights. But when he tried to hire Democratic political consultants for the general election, they refused with expletives, he says to work for a candidate with his views.
Mr. Stupak won anyway, and his freshman year in Washington, he requested but did not receive a seat on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. I had one or two members tell me Id never get on because Im right-to-life, he said.
I like this guy, if how he is portrayed in this article is for real.
His treatment by his own party shows just how obsessed Democrats are with abortion. It isn't rational.
Abortion is elective surgery and very few insurance companies cover elective surgery. And taxpayers sure as hell shouldn't be on the hook for it.
Further, pregnancy isn't hard to prevent.
There is the rape issue and sometimes medically necessary abortion which I think is covered even where a birth control abortion isn't.
A politician with principles? This must be a mistake! /sarc
... Until they find his price.
There are no more men of principle in Washington.
The opposite is true Blue Cross and CIGNA in my area cover Abortion as part of the standard policy, the Catholic Archdiocese has to opt out of abortion coverage and they make an ammendment to the Policy. THE USCB staff didn’t know they claim they could opt and had been paying for abortion for a decade or more..
Ya Right!
You are a RAT Stupak, you WILL sellout!
Exactly my thought. If he is as the article portrays, he's a better Republican than half of the Republicans in Congress (and I've read articles that portray Arlen Specter as a "conservative Republican" so I take anything I read about Dems / Rinos with a large grain of salt).
Bart Stupak needs your support.
A former state trooper...Just doesn't believe in killing babies ...Despised by the abortion-enthusiasts in the Democratic party...Makes "big name" Republican leadership nervous... AND HE'S WILLING TO KILL THE HELLCARE BILL FROM HELL.
Please contact Bart Stupak with you support. Please do it now. Bart Stupak Contact Information --- Phone and Fax District Offices.
It's a "cheap" (cheap being relative) policy though. I pay 100% out of pocket so I was looking for something I could afford and I can barely afford a crap policy.
Maybe a more expensive one would cover abortion.
Unlike these pathetic cowardly morons who actually hope Stupak screws us, I’ll support him for doing the right thing.
They have had they BS hammered into their heads for generations and it's more important to them than abortion or guns not to mention their inability to deal with reality of the elitism of the democrat party.
If Pelousy neede his vote for anything,he’d cave just like they all do.
Stupak’s district is the upper penninsula which would be hard red conservative if not for the college and prisons (union labor). Lots of pro gun democrats in Michigan.
How often does he vote with Pelosi?
Please explain how this reconciles with Stupak’s support for John Edwards’ presidential campaign and was Edward’s campaign mgr. in Michigan (A+ rating from NARAL)? Some people will do anything to stay in office - screw the country in every other way, but Stup’s against abortion, so bless him. Big Wup! Can’t you all do better up there in the UP???
I’m guessing you won’t be encouraging him to do the right thing.
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