Stupak Sells Out ... [UPDATED]

... and speaks out against and then votes against his own Stupak Amendment (which all the House Republicans, not to mention the U.S. Bishops, supported):



Deep down, I always had a feeling that this would happen. After all, he is a Democrat:

I have to admit that, when push comes to shove, I fear ... no ... I truly expect the pro-life Democrat contingent - including Stupak - to do what they always do: put party over pro-life principle and line up lockstep behind Pelosi and the Democrat leadership.

Any notion that there is a REAL pro-life presence in the Democrat Party ought to officially be laid to rest at this point.

Kathryn Lopez shares this view:

I think we’re witnessing Bart Stupak write the obit for the concept of the “pro-life Democrat”.

(Hat tip: Chris Blosser)

As I noted the other day:

... by undermining a solidly pro-life [ED.: cough, cough!] Catholic Democrat like Stupak, these folks have all but quashed any meaningful chance of there being a subtantial pro-life voice or presence in the Democratic Party. What pro-life Democrat is going to go out on a limb and take an unpopular stand within his or her party or against his or her party leadership after this?

Rather than fight what could have been a winnable battle to include the Stupak language in health care reform, they've sold out the unborn, they've sold out the Church and her Bishops, they've sold out their allegedly pro-life principles, and they've even sold out their own party by consigning it to perpetual "pro-choice" status. They'll never win their party back to the pro-life cause after this.

Too bad Stupak was among those selling himself out. Again, I had a feeling that, in the end, even Stupak would sell out his pro-life principles.

My friend Don McClarey aptly sums it up:

For pro-lifers the Republican party is the only game in town for meaningful pro-life legislation. This will be distasteful for pro-lifers who hate the Republican party only a little less than they love the unborn, but that is the simple truth. For people who wish to continue the effort to spread the pro-life message in the Democrat party, may you have success. I expect that you will fail, and in future I will assume that all elected pro-life Democrats are being mendacious until they prove otherwise by hard votes.

Yep.


UPDATE
Yeah, what Joe Hargrave said:

The viciousness with which he [Stupak] then attacked pro-life Republicans during the following vote was like a victory dance with salt-coated shoes over open wounds. And all they were trying to do was get HIS language in the bill – his reason for berating them was that he had the utmost confidence in Obama’s EO.

What a chump. What an irrational, foolish man.

(emphasis added)

When an allegedly "pro-life" Democrat would rather party with and be feted by death cultists (who just a few days ago were reviling him as "un-American") and rub his supposedly fellow pro-lifers' faces in excrement than stand firm on HIS OWN anti-abortion language, that's when I feel quite comfortable in assessing the notion of a "pro-life" Democrat to be an utter lie.


UPDATE #2
Congressman Mike Pence to Stupak:

"You traded 30 years of pro-life law for a promise from the most pro-abortion president in history."

Yeah, something like that.


UPDATE #3
Susan B. Anthony List rescinds pro-life award to Stupak:

Stupak Stripped of "Defender of Life" Award

... Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser offered the following statement:

"This Wednesday night is our third annual Campaign for Life Gala, where we were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform-We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country."

"Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this healthcare bill can no longer call themselves 'pro-life.' The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund will not endorse, or support in any capacity, any Member of Congress who votes for this bill in any future election. Now through Election Day 2010, these representatives will learn that votes have consequences. The SBA List Candidate Fund will work tirelessly to help defeat Members who support this legislation and make sure their constituents know exactly how they voted. We will actively seek out true pro-life candidates to oppose Members who vote 'yes' on this bill, whether it be in general or primary elections...

(emphasis added)


UPDATE #4
From CatholicVoteAction.org:

... [Stupak's] actions gutted any hope for a bipartisan pro-life movement that many argued would have been possible had he stood firm.

After everything we did to support Stupak and his coalition, his actions yesterday were devastating. We were betrayed.

Confronting a loss of such significance is dispiriting. The emails pouring into CatholicVote range from frustration with politics in general to questions about whether there can truly be a pro-life Democrat.

I share many of these frustrations. Our staff did everything possible to stop this disaster. We worked around the clock last week and all weekend to hold the votes together. We worked with individual bishops and staff to encourage wavering votes to hold firm. We were in regular communication with key representatives and their staffs. We ran radio ads, and launched the Stand With Stupak campaign.

We were confident that we had the votes to stop the legislation, until the end, when Stupak and his key allies folded.

The “Stand With Stupak” campaign was about a principle, not a single man. The principle was simple – no compromise on abortion.

And in the end, even Bart Stupak didn’t stand with Stupak...

(emphasis added)


UPDATE #5 (23 March)
Bill McGurn: "Pro-life Democrats, R.I.P."