Sources: Stupak will retire
posted at 9:30 am on April 9, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
To no one’s great surprise, Bart Stupak has found the limelight he so assiduously courted from both sides of the ObamaCare debate a little too hot for his taste. CNN reports this morning that the Congressman from Michigan won’t run for another term, leaving another open seat for Democrats to defend:
Nine-term Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, will reveal Friday he is retiring from Congress, several Democratic sources close to Stupak tell CNN.
The anti-abortion Democrat has been facing opposition from both the right and the left for his 11th hour deal with the White House that he says bans federal funding for abortion. The deal ultimately led to his decisive vote in favor of the health care bill. …
Democratic sources in Washington and Michigan say they fear losing Stupak, a historically popular Democrat in a sprawling conservative district, will mean likely losing his seat to the Republicans.
They fear losing the seat because of Stupak’s high-profile betrayal of his allies in the pro-life movement. If Democrats were really concerned about Stupak keeping his seat, they would have insisted on restoring Stupak’s language in the final reconciliation bill on banning federal funding for abortion. Instead, they gave Stupak a meaningless executive order to cover his (back)tracks — and it didn’t work.
The Upper Peninsula district that Stupak represents normally wouldn’t be entirely hostile to a Democrat. They tend to be working-class, pro-life but not necessarily deeply conservative. Stupak offered them a kind of middle-road populism with a pro-life core that suited his constituents.
After Stupak’s reversal, Democrats won’t get that chance. His populist-lite patter merely enabled the radicals in the Democratic Party to seize control of Congress, and Stupak in the end refused to stand against it. In this district, expect to see a referendum on Nancy Pelosi, and don’t expect the constituents to get enthusiastic about sending another Democrat to Washington to enable her and her radical agenda.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3
Apologies if somebody already made this point in a previous post on this comment thread, but shortly after he retires, Bart is going to move to some foreign country with his entire family so they all can live in luxury on the tens of millions of dollars the White House deposited in a secret foreign account for him in exchange for his vote.
Mahdi on April 10, 2010 at 9:16 AM
Ya know, it is pretty easy to sit back on the couch and talk about how you would have single-handedly won the game, if you had only bothered to play.
What a dunce! Still trying to Stupack the public with pure BS.
joedoe on April 10, 2010 at 9:27 AM
There ya go! When the shit hits the fan, and we’re all scraping for survival in a Mad Max type scenario, you’ll know where to go for a little public assistance, if you get my drift.
In fact, now that I think about it, the country is probably already in the process of forming a new upper class consisting of politicians and government employees. When the country collapses, these people will be the last with any wealth. With a large, angry population of have-nots in a collapsed nation, there is going to be a whole new type of spreadin’ the wealth. Talk about getting hoisted on one’s own petard! Goodness, we’re going to run out of petards to hoist these bastards on.
justltl on April 10, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Boy, this is one fella who sure painted himself into a bad corner.
I’d resign, too. LOL*
What a mess.
AnninCA on April 10, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Au revoir, Judas Dorquemada.
Boom, boom, boom, Another One Bites the Dust! One down, several more to go . . . .
OneVision on April 10, 2010 at 2:12 PM
Is STUPAK an acronym for stupid Alaskan?
Cybergeezer on April 10, 2010 at 5:29 PM
One Democrat down… Another 50 to go by November 2nd…
WHO’S NEXT!!
Khun Joe on April 11, 2010 at 12:43 AM
Ode to Bart: http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/542744.html?nav=5067
freebird on April 11, 2010 at 10:33 AM
Maybe my eyes are bad, but is that Bert’s Brain sitting on top of his head in the lead picture?
unclesmrgol on April 11, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3