Few people have gone from hero to heavy so quickly in American politics as Rep. Bart Stupak, who billed himself as the champion of the unborn ... until he sold his vote to the abortion industry to support Obamacare.
Columnist Kathleen Parker offers a look at Stupak's pathetic betrayal of the pro-life movement.
From her column:
Ultimately, he was weak and overwhelmed by raw political power. History is no stranger to such moments, but this one needs to be understood for what it was. A deception.
The executive order promising that no federal funds will be used for abortion is utterly useless, and everybody knows it. First, the president can revoke it as quickly as he signs it.
Second, an order cannot confer jurisdiction in the courts or establish any grounds for suing anybody in court, according to a former White House counsel. The order is therefore judicially unenforceable.
Finally, an executive order cannot trump or change a federal statute.
One can reasonably surmise that Obama, a former constitutional law professor, is well aware of the uselessness of his promise. Perhaps this is why he didn't mention it during the bill-signing ceremony Tuesday.
Stupak, too, knew that the executive order was merely political cover for him and his pro-life colleagues. He knew it because several members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explained it to him, according to sources. The only way to prevent public funding for abortion was for his amendment to be added to the Senate bill.
Clearly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the president didn't want that. What they did want was the abortion funding that the Senate bill allowed.
Read the full column, "Stupak's fall from pro-life grace", here.
Rep. Joe Pitts: 'This is a career-defining vote on the life issue'
Rep. Bart Stupak accepted his 30 pieces of silver from Barack Obama on Sunday to give the Democrats enough votes to pass a government takeover of health care.
Rep. Joe Pitts (PA-16) issued the following statement following the announcement that President Barack Obama will issue an executive order addressing the concerns pro-life Democrats have with the Senate health bill:
"From a pro-life perspective, I find absolutely no comfort in this executive order. This puts the fate of the unborn in the hands of the most pro-abortion president in history.
"This is a career-defining vote on the life issue. Any member of either party who votes for this bill will never again be able to claim they have always stood for the most important and fundamental of all human rights.
"I congratulate the many pro-life Democrats who continue to hold firm on principle and who will join me in voting against this terrible bill later today."
Barack Obama had a lifetime pro-life rating of 0 (zero) percent during his Senate career from the National Right to Life Committee, according to Pitts, and a 100 percent pro-choice rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League.
A hilarious new political ad released by the Joe Hoeffel for Governor campaign proclaims Joe stands for "old-fashioned values" such as abortion-on-demand, gun control, same-sex marriage, protectionism and special breaks for unions.
This guy couldn't get elected in Massachusetts let alone Pennsylvania.
The final howler is when Hoeffel describes himself as "fiscally responsible."
Before Hoeffel took control of Montgomery County government in 2008, the county was a model of efficiency that other Pennsylvania counties could emulate. Montco government was so well run that the commissioners were able to cut property taxes while increasing services.
Under Hoeffel, Montgomery County has turned into an economic basket-case, facing deficits, layoffs and cuts in services. Cronyism is rampant as Hoeffel has hired all sorts of political allies to well-paying county jobs that didn't exist before Hoeffel came into the picture.
Now Hoeffel wants to do the same for Pennsylvania? Good luck with that.
Actually Hoeffel may be too late. His pal, Ed Rendell, has already bankrupted the state.
Prediction: Hoeffel will finish a distant third or maybe even fourth in the four-man race for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania governor.
FRC on the Christmas Eve Passage of the Health Care 'Reform' Bill
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments on the passage by Senate Democrats of the so-called "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act --
"Today's Christmas Eve vote may signal the end of the debate in the Senate, but it's far from the end of the debate at large. Since Senator Reid's bad bill is substantially different from the House's bad bill, the lower chamber will have to vote on the plan again. The Senate bill's massive funding for elective abortions and the construction of abortion facilities are among the most radical differences. On Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted in an interview that the Senate health care bill will force 'everybody' in the exchange to pay an abortion premium. The so-called Nelson 'compromise' ensures that everyone will pay for abortion--no matter how the funds are divided up.
"According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Americans -- by a huge three to one margin -- are overwhelmingly opposed to using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. Seventy-two percent of the country is now firmly on the side of Congressman Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) solution to ban the government's financial involvement in the deadly procedure. House and Senate conferees would do well to heed that warning when they come together to iron out their differences with the final bill, else this bill could collapse because of it.
"Disagreement over abortion funding is one of the many reasons this fight is far from over. Both House and Senate versions of the bill are seriously flawed. Both bills still allow rationing of health care for seniors, raise health costs for families, mandate that families purchase under threat of fines and penalties, offer counsel about assisted suicide in some states, do not offer broad conscience protections for health care workers and seek to insert the federal government into all aspects of citizen's lives. Additionally, the bills would place a crushing debt on both current and future generations."
'Obama is Wrong: Health Care Plan Includes Abortion Funding'
The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation wants to set the record straight about claims by Barack Obama that his health-care reform plan does not cover taxpayer-funded abortions.
The group issued the following release in response to statements Obama made during a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday:
President Barack Obama is misleading the American public by claiming that no federal dollars will be used to pay for abortions under his health care reform plan.
"It's time to stop playing word games," said Michael Ciccocioppo, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, the state’s largest pro-life organization. "The House plan which Obama backs would authorize the federal insurance plan to pay for abortions. It would also mean federal subsidies for private abortion insurance. Federal funding of abortion is clearly part of the House health care plan," Ciccocioppo added.
For decades, the Hyde Amendment, named for the late pro-life Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois, has prevented federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother. However, the Hyde Amendment would not apply to the health care plan, since the amendment only applies to funds appropriated through the annual Health and Human Services appropriations bill. Health care reform would not be paid for out of that appropriations bill, so the Hyde Amendment would not be applicable.
"Unless abortion is specifically excluded from the health care reform plan, federal funding of abortions will occur—something that national public opinion polls show that the vast majority of Americans oppose," Ciccocioppo said.
Obama Puts Politics Before Principle in Abortion Coverage
Government-paid abortions is a major part of the health care reform Barack Obama is pushing. Explain to me again how that will help reduce the cost of health care for the average American?
Has anyone in Congress read the 1,018-page Obamacare bill?
Did you hear about the Muslim fanatic who gunned down a soldier outside an Arkansas Army recruitment center? Probably not.
The story received little coverage by the mainstream media, which has been fixated all week with the murder of an infamous Kansas abortion doctor.
Michelle Malkin couldn't help but notice the double-standard in the media's coverage of the two violent acts.
The killing of abortionist George Tiller was Page 1 news in most newspapers and led the network news broadcasts. The murder of Pvt. William Long by a domestic terrorist was virtually ignored by the media and the Obama Administration, which is working hard to persuade Americans that we are not at war with radical Islam despite having several hundred thousand troops currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
From Malkin's latest column:
When a right-wing Christian vigilante kills, millions of fingers pull the trigger. When a left-wing Muslim vigilante kills, he kills alone.
These are the instantly ossifying narratives in the Sunday shooting death of late-term abortion provider George Tiller of Kansas vs. the Monday shootings of two Arkansas military recruiters.
Tiller's suspected murderer, Scott Roeder, is white, Christian, anti-government and anti-abortion. The gunman in the military recruitment center attack, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, is black, a Muslim convert, anti-military and anti-American.
Both crimes are despicable, cowardly acts of domestic terrorism. But the disparate treatment of the two brutal cases by both the White House and the media is striking.
President Obama issued a statement condemning "heinous acts of violence" within hours of Tiller's death. The Justice Department issued its own statement and sent federal marshals to protect abortion clinics.
News anchors and headline writers abandoned all qualms about labeling the gunman a terrorist. An almost gleeful excess of mainstream commentary poured forth on the climate of hate and fear created by conservative talk radio, blogs and Fox News in reporting Tiller's activities.
By contrast, Obama was silent about the military recruiter attacks that left 24-year-old Pvt. William Long dead and 18-year-old Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula gravely wounded.
Americans United for Life: Obama Nominates Avowed Judicial Activist Judge Who Undermines Common Ground
Americans United for Life (AUL) President & CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest on Sonia Sotomayor:
"A vote to confirm Judge Sotomayor as the next Supreme Court Justice is a vote to strip Americans of the ability to choose for themselves how to regulate abortion. Our recent polling data speaks to this point of judicial activism: 69% of the American people believe that 'some federal judges have gone too far by doing more than just interpreting the law and instead are making new law.'
Barack Obama has found the perfect Supreme Court nominee in Sonia Sotomayor.
Far-left radical. Check.
Judicial Activist. Check.
Female. Check.
Minority. Check.
Those appear to be Sotomayor's chief qualifications for serving on the Supreme Court.
This is a woman who has said publicly that "empathy" is as important as the law when considering cases. From The Washington Post: Sotomayor "has stirred controversy by saying that judges' legal findings are informed by their own life experiences as well as their legal research."
This is a woman has has stated publicly (it's on tape) that judges have a policy-making role. And I thought the Constitution reserved that right for the Legislative branch. Has Sotomayor ever read the Constitution?
This is a woman who believes in racial quotas and supports partial-birth abortion.
This is the country's worst nightmare in electing Barack Obama last November. The radicals will take over the Supreme Court and will change this country by decree.
It's clear that the Sotomayor nomination is payback to the far-left loons who helped Obama get elected. Obama did not pick the most qualified person for the job, just someone who fit the liberal stereotype of a judge.
From The New Republic:
The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was "not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench," as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. "She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren't penetrating and don't get to the heart of the issue."
The American Life League has launched a campaign to oppose President Barack Obama's nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services Secretary, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
"The American people will not stand for Sebelius' disturbing and radical record of promoting abortion on demand," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "Sebelius, governor of Kansas - the late-term abortion capital of the world - is a threat to the health and well-being of our country and her appointment must be stopped."
Tony Perkins, president of FRC Action, the legislative arm of Family Research Council, had this to say on Barack Obama picking Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be his pick to be the new Secretary of Health and Human Services:
"President Obama is now zero for two in attempting to pick qualified people to head up his Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and zero for four in defending proven methods that contribute to his stated goal of reducing abortions.
"In a little over a month President Obama has reinstated taxpayer funding of abortionists overseas, been complicit in both the increased taxpayer funding of abortionists in the United States and in the overturning of a long-standing policy that prevented taxpayer dollars from going toward international coercive abortion programs. This weekend the cause for life was struck a double blow by first the halting of conscience protections for health care professionals who might otherwise be forced to perform or assist in abortions and the naming of the extremely pro-abortion Gov. Sebelius to HHS.
Gallup Poll: Most Americans Disapprove of Obama Abortion Policy
President Obama's decision to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. funding to organizations that perform and promote abortions overseas is opposed by a majority of Americans, according to a new poll.
More than 700,000 people have watched the ad online, but NBC, the low-rated TV network that now caters to the far-left, won't allow the pro-life spot to be telecast during the Super Bowl.
Why would a corporation turned down money during these economic times?
The real reason NBC won't show the ad: It finally settles the abortion debate.
Obama OK with using taxpayer funds to promote abortion
In case you forgot that Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate to ever seek the presidency, he is expected to rescind current U.S. policy that prohibits U.S. foreign aid to be used to promote abortions overseas.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has a good point about the mainstream media ignoring pro-life events, such as the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where 200,000 Americans protested abortion-on-demand.
From Perkins:
The media considers a dozen war protesters newsworthy, but why not 200,000 pro-life witnesses? As those of you who have visited Washington, D.C. on January 22 know, the tradition of the press ignoring America's biggest pro-life event is almost as old as the March itself. Over the years, the scant coverage hasn't deterred us. Instead, we have banded together to find new ways around it. One of the most popular vehicles has been the rise of the conservative blog.
Today, FRC hosted a power-packed line-up of the who's who in the online pro-life community, many of whom are changing the face of the abortion debate over the heads of the "mainstream" media. Along with a standing-room-only crowd, the fourth annual Blogs for Life conference attracted some key Hill leaders, including speakers Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wa). It was also the subject of a feature article in today's Washington Times.
Speaking of making a difference, a core group of Republican members marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by making pro-life speeches in the House chamber last night. We applaud them for remaining faithful to their convictions and representing the majority of Americans who believe that our inalienable rights include the right to life.
It's a shame the "Civil Forum" at Rick Warren's Saddleback church was held on a Saturday night in August during the Olympics, guaranteeing a small audience.
Sen. John McCain mopped the floor with Sen. Barack Obama. McCain was decisive in his answers and offered a clear vision of his presidency. Sen. Obama danced around most of the questions and tried to avoid taking a position on any controversial issue.
The biggest flop was Obama's answer to a question about abortion. Obama, the most pro-abortion candidate to ever seek the presidency, couldn't give a simple answer to a simple question, "When does life begin?"
He avoided the question entirely, eventually saying, "Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade."
Above my pay grade? You want to be president of the United States and you can't answer a question because it's "above my pay grade"? Doesn't sound like Sen. Obama is up to the job.
Writing at Lincoln Blog, Lowman Henry says,
"Obama both waffled politically, and revealed himself as a politician still not clear in his own mind who he is and what he is about. While smooth and engaging, Obama's performance at the forum left open the question of exactly what kind of 'change' his candidacy would bring to America."
Tony Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. Phyrillas has won several national and state awards for his columns. Phyrillas has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and in The New York Times and is a frequent commentator on radio and television programs. He co-hosted "Talking Politics with Tony Phyrillas & Mike Pincus" on WPAZ 1370 AM.
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Few people have gone from hero to heavy so quickly in American politics as Rep. Bart Stupak, who billed himself as the champion of the unborn ... until he sold his vote to the abortion industry to support Obamacare.
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