Joe Pitts Is The Pitts... But So Is Steve Pestka

You remember the horrible Stupak Amendment that conservatives and reactionaries used to nearly derail the whole healthcare reform bill? The Republicans all opposed healthcare reform and anti-Choice psychotic Joe Pitts (R-PA) worked with equally crazy anti-Choice fanatic Bart Stupak (D-MI) to try to force more unwarranted restrictions on women's choice. The 64 Democrats who joined the Republicans to push it through were the worst of the worst of the Democratic Party and most of them were either forced to retire or were defeated in the next election, failing to persuade Democrats and left-leaning independents to even bother showing up at the polls. Here's the list of the Democratic anti-Choice assholes who joined the GOP to vote for Stupak-Pitts. (Keep in mind that every Republican, including the women, voted for it.) The bolded names were either defeated, forced into retirement or are about to retire:

Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)
Joe Baca (Blue Dog-CA)
John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)
Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR)
Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
John Boccieri (D-OH)
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)
Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)
Dennis Cardoza (Blue Dog-CA)
Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA)
Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)
Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)
Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)
Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
Jerry Costello (D-IL)
Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
Kathleen Dahlkemper (Blue Dog-PA)
Artur Davis (D-AL)
Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)
Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN)
Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Steve Driehaus (D-OH)
Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN)
Bob Etheridge (D-NC)
Bart Gordon (Blue Dog-TN)
Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL)
Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)
Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Dale Kildee (D-MI)
Jim Langevin (D-RI)
Dan Lipinski (D-IL)
Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA)
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)
Mike Michaud (Blue Dog-ME)
Alan Mollohan (D-WV)
Jack Murtha (D-PA)
Richard Neal (D-MA)
Jim Oberstar (D-MN)
Dave Obey (D-WI)
Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)
Tom Perriello (D-VA)
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
Earl Pomeroy (Blue Dog-ND)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)
Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX)
Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)
Tim Ryan (D-OH)
John Salazar (Blue Dog-CO)
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)
Ike Skelton (D-MO)
Vic Snyder (D-AR)
Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH)
John Spratt (D-SC)
Bart Stupak (D-MI)
John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN)
Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)
Harry Teague (Blue Dog-NM)
Charlie Wilson (Blue Dog-OH)

The toll for their anti-Choice votes: 43 "Democrats down; maybe they should learn a lesson. And yet, even today Blue America-endorsed Trevor Thomas in Michigan's new Grand Rapids/Battle Creek district is fighting a primary against a multimillionaire Establishment fave, Steve Pestka who is as anti-Choice as any of those 64 Stupak votes. Actually he's even worse, having joined with the Republicans in the state legislature to defund Planned Parenthood. And, yes, he was calling himself-- as he does now-- a Democrat at the time. Pestka is trying not to address his anti-Choice fanaticism and just skate by by spending lots and lots of money and hoping he can swamp Trevor. Trevor isn't making that easy for him:

"I believe every woman should have access to healthcare services, particularly those who are hurting most in these difficult economic times. This is not a political issue, it's personal and strikes at the heart of who we are as a community. As the son of a breast cancer survivor, I can't imagine my mother being denied services that could save her life. Mr. Pestka's vote to defund these critical programs and services was wrong then, just as the continuing attacks against women are wrong today. In Congress, I will fight to make sure the folks who need healthcare the most are not cut off from it, either by the budget or extreme ideology."

And on Sunday the Grand Rapids Press published this letter to the editor from Kathleen Lee Bruinsma about why Democratic and independent women in the district are refusing to support Pestka:

In December 2001, while serving as a state legislator, 3rd Congressional District candidate Steve Pestka voted ‘Yes’ on Michigan house Bill 4655 to de-fund Planned Parenthood (Roll Call 834).

As a woman voter in the 3rd District, I’d like Pestka to explain: Would he vote the same way on the federal level if elected to the U.S. House? Cutting federal funds to Planned Parenthood has arisen more than once in the U.S. Congress; if Romney wins the presidency, he has vowed to “get rid of” Planned Parenthood. Would Pestka join Romney in this effort, or not?

Planned Parenthood plays a critical role in women’s health care. Its health care centers are essential to women who are uninsured or struggling financially. More than 90 percent of the health care that Planned Parenthood delivers is preventative – cancer and blood pressure screenings, contraception, prenatal care.

Three million Americans receive primary and preventative care from Planned Parenthood health centers each year. For many women, especially those in rural areas and underserved communities, Planned Parenthood is their only source of health care. By playing a major role in reducing unplanned pregnancies through contraception counseling, Planned Parenthood also reduces the number of abortions and saves taxpayers money.

How will Steve Pestka vote on funding Planned Parenthood-– essential to the least among us in many ways-– if he wins a seat in the U.S. Congress?

Clearly,people are worried that Pestka wants to take up where fellow Michigander Bart Stupak left off. But recall for a moment that Stupak was just the cat's paw in this amendment which is remembered for him. He was just Boehner's and Cantor's pawn and the bill was actually written by Joe Pitts and, in fact, the amendment is actually the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. With a 2.26 lifetime crucial vote score from ProgressivePunch, Pitts is the most radical right Member of Congress from Pennsylvania (other than deranged mental patient Bill Shuster)-- even to the right of crackpot freshmen teabaggers Tom Marino, Mike Kelly and Lou Barletta.

Now, if you haven't watched the video up top, now's the time to do it. Don't be surprised by the 5'2" young mother giving the speech. "Reinforcements," Aryanna Strader, a battle-hardened army vet tells the crowd, "have arrived." And she's got Pitts in her sites. "The experiences I've had in my life, have made me the woman I am today." When I first met her a couple months ago, that woman blew me away with the force of her convictions and her personality. And what makes that even better is that the Republicans gerrymandering up Pennsylvania weren't especially kind to Joe Pitts.

They took away rural, conservative deep red parts of Lancaster County and added in Reading and Coatesville, which are Democratic. Obama lost the 16th to McCain 48-51%. But under the new lines, he would have won it with 50.1%. This is now a swing district and Aryanna can win there.

This is a district that can be won, not just by a Democrat, but by a tough, fighting progressive who looks to me like a rising star for a party that really needs some rising stars to replace all those confused old Blue Dogs who are going extinct. If you can, please consider helping Aryanna Strader here at our ActBlue page.

John Boehner Is The Only Kind Of Abortion Conservatives Like

Good news for anyone who'd like to see women pushed back into the servile social position Bronze Age patriarchs created for them through their brutal, self-serving mythology. Ohio Congressman John Boehner, having just led House conservatives in denying unemployment benefits to millions of Americans-- and probably to a politically expedient economic slowdown-- now plans an assault on women's right to Choice. And, as he noted, because the DCCC has been so spectacularly successful in destroying primary candidacies of pro-Choice progressives while pushing forward hopelessly conservative anti-Choice fanatics, Boehner may have the numbers he needs to deal the crippling blow to women the right has been attempting for years.

Saturday Boehner, whose aim is to replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, delivered a fanatic rant at an annual anti-Choice convention in Pittsburgh and promised new legislation that would ban all federal funding for abortion. "The American people-- and a bipartisan majority in the House-- supported the Stupak amendment," brayed Boehner, "which would have prohibited taxpayer funding of abortion through the health care bill. [But] instead of heeding the will of the people and a bipartisan majority, [President Obama and Democratic leaders] crafted a disingenuous, last-minute executive order that they claimed eliminated the need for pro-life protections... I believe this must be the next objective for pro-life America.  It’s clear from the health care debate that the American people don’t want their tax dollars paying for abortion, and a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives agrees.  It’s the will of the people, and it ought to be the law of the land-- right now."

Last week Hoyer, the DNC, OFA, the DCCC and the whole Democratic Inside-the-Beltway Establishment stood firmly behind Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT) as he struggled to retain the Democratic Party nomination for the November election. Last November, he was one of 64 Democrats voting with Boehner to pass the Stupak Amendment to the healthcare reform bill. No one talked about Mathson's vote because his default position on virtually every contentious issue is to follow Boehner's lead. He ran against a progressive pro-Choice woman with no funding whatsoever. No pro-choice congressional leaders came to her assistance; they were all on Matheson's side. This is something that has been playing itself out-- and continues to play itself out-- everywhere in the country. The DCCC and the Democratic Establishment just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect conservative, anti-Choice, anti-gay fanatic Mark Critz in Pennsylvania. He may be wearing the right color jersey but he's already proven himself a devoted Boehner Boy, crossing the aisle on every important vote since being sworn in on May 20.

His first vote in Congress, to congratulate the University of Texas mens swimming and diving team for winning the NCAA Division I national championship, was a vote with his own party-- and it passed 405-0. And the Democrats have been able to count on Critz on votes like that. The important ones... not so much. His first vote on a contentious proposal was Patrick Murphy's amendment to the Defense Authorization Act which will lead to the repeal of DADT. Making clear to anyone who hadn't been paying attention that the DCCC had just wasted a fortune on electing another vicious bigot to Congress, Critz joined Boehner, all but 5 of the Republicans and a couple dozen homophobic Blue Dogs to oppose Murphy's legislation. He's also been voting with the GOP to recommit (kill) major legislation, like the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act and voted outright against the DISCLOSE Act last week, one of 36 Democrats who nearly tanked the bill that is meant to take some of the corrupt practices Critz-watchers knew he is so eager to immerse himself in out of politics. As Boehner talked yesterday about taking away Choice from American women, you could almost see Mark Critz's image dancing in the orange glow around his forehead.

Like I mentioned above, even before the DCCC managed to slide Critz into the western Pennsylvania House seat, there were 64 hardcore anti-Choice Democratic votes (the miscreants who voted to pass Stupak). And, like in the case of Matheson, the DCCC and Obama are supporting each one of them who is getting a challenge from a grassroots progressive back home. (Well, the DCCC and Obama aren't supporting Parker Griffith; right after voting against Choice, he jumped the fence and changed into a red jersey.) Right now Blue America is trying to help raise money for three primary challengers running against the anti-Choicers Boehner is counting on to help him put another nail in the coffin of women's Choice. These are the races:

Regina Thomas vs John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)
Jim Wilson vs Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)
Mac D'Alessandro vs Stephen Lynch (MA)

Each of the Blue America candidates is a staunch supporter of Choice and each incumbent is an anti-Choice voter who John Boehner will be calling on to help the GOP bring back the bad old days of back-alley abortions. I wish this issue was as important to the progressive "movement" at large as it is to Digby, John and I. Is it important to you? Today (for the next 24 hours) everyone who donates to one of these 3 candidates at the page linked above gets entered in a drawing to win an autographed copy of the 2-disc deluxe concert film, Melissa Etheridge, Live... And Alone. Just contribute to one of the campaigns through the ActBlue pages in the links and you'll have a chance to win the DVD set. There's no minimum; any amount is fine and any amount will help put a progressive Democrat in the House instead of an anti-Choice Boehner-boy.

Regina Thomas, a former state legislator, first a House member then a Senator, representing Savannah, was sickened by Boehner's divisive call for anti-Choice legislation. This morning she told us it's "cowardly to pick on women and our choices. Do something meaningful and let the voters see that you are there for America and not just to get re-elected on non-issues." And, of course, she's running against someone who is one of the original Boehner-boys and who votes with Boehner against Democratic ideals and values every chance he gets-- especially against women.

It is hard to believe that these fanatics would address this issue (Women's' Choice) at a time when Congress needs to come together to fix the ills of our economy. Instead of addressing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to bring our troops home, or addressing the horrific "No Child Left Behind" and the unfunded mandate that has our educators and children thinking that they are inadequate and failing; instead of addressing the BP Oil spill and banning offshore oil drilling what do they do???? Attack women. Women we are under seige!

The 'so-called' "right" feels that it is better to attack us-- whom they consider the "Weaker Sex", than to address the real issues. This is a News Flash!!! Gentlemen-- we can take care of ourselves-- we can make our own decisions and choices-- we do not need your interference. I have a few suggestions if you do not have anything else to do: 1) Repeal the tax cuts that were given to so many BIG Industries; 2) Put the public option back in the Health Care Bill; 3) Take care of our environment with clean energy solutions and not delusional attempts; 4) Make Social Security Solvent again and stop borrowing from it; 5) Help Homeowners keep their homes by passing real restrictions on Financial Institutions and stop the extraordinary high interest rates; 6) Take care of our Military men, women and their families and bring our troops home; 7) Stop campaigning on DADT because it is an election year and do what is right; 8) Pass a Hate Crimes bill that has some teeth in it.

Connie Saltonstall Drops Out Of Race In Michigan

We had high hopes for Connie Saltonstall's challenge to Bart Stupak. This morning, having driven Stupak himself out of the race, she also threw in the towel under pressure from the Michigan Democratic Party, no doubt under pressure from the DCCC. Connie's announcement:

I regretfully announce that I am withdrawing from the Democratic primary for the U.S. Representative in Michigan's First Congressional District.

I am forced to do this because it has become apparent to my campaign that the leadership of the Michigan Democratic Paarty has preemptively anointed Gary McDowell as their Democratic candidate. They are replacing Bart Stupak with another Upper Peninsula, Anti-Choice, Anti-Women's healthcare rights candidate. From past experience I realize that with the Michigan Democratic Party actively opposing me, I will not be able to raise the money necessary to conduct a winning campaign. I am not the only candidate that has been the target of this kind of manipulation. I hope that in the future the Party will reject this interference and insist on an open primary allowing voters to choose the candidate who represents their values.

I challenged Bart Stupak because he was threatening to take down the healthcare bill. His amendment threatened access for women to get health insurance even with private funds. There is an aggressive movement across the country to pass laws to restrict women from making responsible healthcare choices to protect their health, and furthermore, to criminalize their actions. The same people who think government should stay out of their lives, are legislating government into the doctor's office. Individuals, families, and physicians are the ones who should be making the complicated and difficult decisions we all face regarding reproductive healthcare and life issues.

While I think Gary McDowell is a very nice person, I cannot support his anti-choice politics, and I cannot support a party that endorses candidates who vote to restrict women's legal rights and access to healthcare. It is time for Democrats to stop compromising on this issue. I am proud that my campaign has raised the dialogue on healthcare and cgoice, and I will continue my leadership role concerning these issues.

I want to thank all my supporters in the First District and across the nation who contributed their time, money, endorsements, and good wishes for my campaign. We were first in the race, raised more money than any other Democratic candidate to date, collected over 1,500 petition signatures, put together a professional campaign team and a path to victory. Without the interference of the Democratic leadership, we might just have won the election!

I'm stunned and disappointed. I always believe Stalanism should be fought. The Michigan Democratic Party is waving around some poll they took-- paid for by the slimebags at the DCCC, of course-- which "proves" Connie couldn't win. Of course, the question about her describes her as a "socialist." Remind me again what makes the Democratic Party insiders any better than the Republican Party insiders. Please send a message to the Democratic Party by helping defeat some of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's favorite conservatives, like Lori Edwards, John Barrow, Jane Harman, Blanche Lincoln and Katrina Swett.

Everyday Should Be Connie Saltonstall Day

Today is the infamous "end of the quarter" for congressional filings. "OMG!" candidates will tell you. "It's now or never!" If only! Tomorrow is even more important-- the first day of the even more crucial next quarter. Screw the DCCC desperate e-mails trying to get you to donate money on behalf of healthcare and Wall Street reform only to see them channel virtually all of it to understandably unpopular conservative Blue Dogs and other faux Dems who have brazenly voted against healthcare reform and against bankster reform, from Larry Kissell (NC), Bobby Bright (AL), Walt Minnick (ID), John Adler (NJ), and Suzanne Kosmas (FL), to John Barrow (GA), Travis Childers (MS), and Glenn Nye (VA). And then there's Bart Stupak. North Michigan conservative Bart Stupak has become a cartoon character villain for progressives nationally, primarily because he was willing-- even eager-- to work with Republicans to tank healthcare reform if he couldn't use it as a vehicle to impinge on women's right to choice and privacy based on a bizarre set of cult-like "religious convictions" he shares with some of the most dangerous far right elements in the country.

As you may know, Blue America has a page dedicated to sending Democrats a message and contributing to Connie Saltonstall's primary campaign against Stupak is a music it is very healthy for Inside-the-Beltway Democrats of all stripes to hear. This morning I spoke with Connie and asked her if she'd do a guest post about why her race is more important than ever, even though pressure from Democrats forced Stupak to eventually vote for the healthcare reform bill. This is how she put it:

We all know by now that Bart Stupak finally gave in, dropped the ‘Stupak Amendment,’ and voted for the healthcare bill. While I applaud his vote, it does not change my determination defeat him in the Michigan primary on August 3rd.

Representative Stupak’s reluctant support of healthcare reform came at a very high cost.

Mr. Stupak’s dogmatic insistence on inserting his own religious views into the legislative debate and threatening to deprive his constituents of needed healthcare reform eroded people’s trust in him. Throughout the debate there was the sense that our Congressman let us down and that sense has not disappeared with the change in his vote. For me and so many of his constituents, he crossed the line with his grandstanding.

My campaign is about getting past the kind of political obstruction that marred the healthcare debate. I look forward to working in Congress to represent the Democratic values of the First District-- affordable, accessible healthcare for all, healthcare that allows women the opportunity to make responsible life decisions for themselves and their families, protecting our Great Lakes and other precious natural resources, and fighting to put people in our district, so hard hit by this recession, back to work.

Since announcing my candidacy I have been overwhelmed and humbled by the enthusiasm, support and outreach for my campaign, both nationally and locally. People from all over the district are calling daily offering to donate and do anything they can to help. Political pundits like to say that someone from the lower peninsula cannot win in Michigan’s First District. I don’t believe that. I have heard from people all the way from Gogebic County in the Northwest of our district to Bay County in the southeast of our district. We are all Michiganders and our commonalties are far more important than our differences. I am here to give the people of Michigan’s First District a choice!

And Blue America wants to help her do just that. Please consider helping Connie, not because this is the last day of the quarter, but because we just have to save the Democratic Party and our country from characters like Bart Stupak.

Connie Saltonstall's Perspective on Stupak's Annoucement That He'll Vote "Yes" On Healthcare Reform

Desperate and scared about his career longevity, Bart Stupak, sought a face saving way of being able to vote yes in the hopes of derailing Connie Saltonstall's grassroots-fueled primary. President Obama agreed to sign an executive order that reiterates the odious Hyde Amendment. Nothing new there. And Stupak, who had already been abandoned by most of his anti-Choice band, was happy to announce he would vote yes. I asked Blue America endorsed Democrat, Connie Saltonstall to share her read on his actions today.

I’m pleased that Bart Stupak has announced he will vote for Healthcare reform. This bill will create a real difference in Michigan’s First District with provisions that extend healthcare coverage to 44,000 uninsured residents, protect 1,100 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs, grow jobs by extending tax credits to small businesses, and improve Medicare for 141,000 beneficiaries, including closing the prescription donut hole.

However, it appears that there is nothing new in the executive order that wasn’t already in the Senate bill. This means Stupak’s obstructive maneuvering and threats could have been avoided and saved the Democratic party and process much time and effort. Stupak has promised to continue this fight. In the August 3rd primary, Democrats will have the choice of voting against this kind of representation. They will have a choice to vote for Connie Saltonstall who supports universal health care and allowing women the opportunity to make responsible life decisions for themselves and their families.

Please consider helping Connie to win the race for the House seat representing MI-01. You can do it here. People in northern Michigan deserve a member of Congress who has them on his mind, not his own religious hang-ups and not the insidious agenda of the C-Street cult.

The Republicans are on the floor as I write claiming the health care bill is a pro-abortion bill. They sound demented. Here's the statement today from Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards:

“We regret that a pro-choice president of a pro-choice nation was forced to sign an Executive Order that further codifies the proposed anti-choice language in the health care reform bill, originally proposed by Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. What the president’s executive order did not do is include the complete and total ban on private health insurance coverage for abortion that Congressman Bart Stupak (D–MI) had insisted upon. So while we regret that this proposed Executive Order has given the imprimatur of the president to Senator Nelson’s language, we are grateful that it does not include the Stupak abortion ban.“

Will C Street Cultist Bart Stupak Force Democrats To Choose Between Choice And Healthcare?

Last night we talked about how the Democratic leadership was rolling out an impressive array of "yes" votes on healthcare from conservative Democrats like Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog and Senate candidate-IN) and Allen Boyd (Blue Dog with a primary challenge-FL). There was even a well-timed endorsement from the AMA:

"The pending bill is imperfect, but we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to something as important as the health of Americans,” said J. James Rohack, M.D., AMA president. “By extending health coverage to the vast majority of the uninsured, improving competition and choice in the insurance marketplace, promoting prevention and wellness, reducing administrative burdens, and promoting clinical comparative effectiveness research, this bill will help patients and their physicians.”

“While the final product is certainly not what we would have devised, we strongly support the parts of this bill that are desperately needed by millions of Americans who are struggling to get or keep health insurance coverage,” Dr. Rohack said. “We will continue to work with Congress and the administration to solve important issues that cannot be addressed through the reconciliation process.”

“This is not the last step, but the next step toward real health system reform,” Dr. Rohack said. “We will remain actively engaged with Congress and the administration to ensure that before Congress adjourns there are additional important changes to our health system. Congress must act to preserve access to care for seniors and military families by permanently repealing the Medicare physician payment formula that will cut Medicare payments by 21 percent next month. According to an AARP poll, nearly 90 percent of people age 50 and older are concerned that the Medicare physician payment cuts threaten their access to care.”

But this momentum didn't stop the worst conservatives in the Democratic Party from lining up with the GOP and their corporate sponsors, slimy conservatives like Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA), Mike Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY), the execrable John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), and Harry Teague (NM). And then there was deranged C-Street cultist and anti-Choice fanatic Bart Stupak.

Although Pelosi seemed to indicate she wasn't going to give in to his blackmail, by late last night she still didn't have the 216 votes and was being forced by Stupak and his half-dozen allies to compromise on women's Choice. Pelosi also met with livid progressives who were threatening-- but why should anyone ever believe their toothless threats?-- to withdraw support if Stupak is allowed to torpedo Choice. (By the way, Blue America is asking all our readers to contribute to Connie Saltonstall's primary challenge to Stupak as well as to Regina Thomas' primary challenge to John Barrow.)

According to The Hill "a senior Democratic aide directly involved in the abortion debate said Pelosi appeared to have agreed to give Stupak a vote on an 'enrollment resolution' offered by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), a key Stupak ally."

Kaptur’s resolution contains the same abortion language that Stupak successfully attached at the 11th hour to the House healthcare bill in November. Were the resolution to pass the House, it would instruct the Senate clerk to change the healthcare bill to reflect Stupak’s more restrictive language to prohibit federal dollars from going toward abortion coverage.

Stupak late Friday said that he was still in talks with the Speaker on the possibility of such an enrollment resolution-- which he and others have been floating as a possible solution this week.

“There's a proposal out there, and we want to see it in writing and massage it,” Stupak said. “We have nothing yet.”

Pelosi spoke on the floor with Stupak for 10 minutes immediately before a group of pro-abortion rights Democrats angrily surrounded Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), and then headed into the Speaker’s office just off the House floor.

Stupak, meanwhile, has scheduled a press conference at 11 a.m. Saturday. "Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll have it for you and can give it to you," he said of the proposal.

Stupak has maintained that he has enough votes to kill the healthcare bill, and has threatened to do so unless his demands that his language be included in the eventual healthcare law are met.

Meanwhile, the disloyal opposition (the ones on the other side of the aisle) are manufacturing phony memos, threatening secession, suing the government, threatening to torpedo immigration reform, and, of course, impeach President Obama.

Responses from around the country-- other than from the riled-up and ignorant teabaggers-- seemed a lot more balanced and sane. I heard from a Democratic congressional candidate in Montana, Tyler Gernant, who's running against multimillionaire healthcare foe Denny Rehberg. Here's a guest post he wrote yesterday:

Recently, Congressman Dennis Rehberg mourned the approaching of “another artificial health care deadline.” Having heard the voice of his supporters loud and clear, he vowed to fight against health care reform until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately for Montana, Dennis’ comprehensive solution to health care was spelled out last August, when he told Montanans that we need to join a gym and stop smoking. Perhaps that is why Dennis doesn’t understand the urgency of tackling this challenge. While a deadline in Washington may seem artificial to Dennis, it has real consequences here in Montana.

The health care reform that Dennis is threatening to kill would improve health insurance coverage for 564,000 Montanans by prohibiting annual and lifetime limits, eliminating rescissions for Montanans who become sick while insured, banning coverage denials for pre-existing conditions and reducing the costs of preventative care. The bill would also give tax credits and other assistance for up to 261,000 Montana families and 34,900 of Montana’s small businesses. These tax credits and other assistance would help Montanans afford meaningful health care coverage. Most importantly, this bill would cut waste, fraud, abuse and excessive profits for private insurers. In doing so, it would reduce our budget deficit by about $1.3 trillion over the next twenty years.

While Dennis may find this deadline artificial, the benefits to Montanans are very real. That is not to say that this legislation is perfect; it is not. Montanans still need a meaningful alternative to private insurance through a deficit-neutral public option. We still need a system that pays doctors for the value of their services instead of the volume. Although we may not get everything this year, there are a lot of positive changes that this legislation would bring to our health care system. We have waited nearly forty years to attempt reform that would merely get us out of the starting gate. We cannot wait another forty years for Dennis Rehberg to decide that true health care reform means more than to join a gym and stop smoking.

If the current health care reform passes, we need someone in Congress who will be willing to work with others to build upon it, not destroy it. Montanans are proudly independent and they don’t need a Congressman who is proudly partisan. Instead of mocking a bill because of its length, Dennis should be working to improve upon the bill. Instead of using fear and scare tactics to drum up opposition, Dennis should be working to build support for his own ideas, if he has any real ones. Instead of demonizing the opposite party, he should be working to find common ground. Dennis is using the tried and true tactics of a tired politician. We need a Congressman who will look past the next election to do what is right for the next generation.

UPDATE: Situation Fluid

Stupak just postponed his 11am press conference in which he had planned to announce his triumph over Choice. And a CNN reporter just tweeted that there is no deal:



And now a fascist-oriented GOP propaganda sheet is also reporting that there is no deal between Democrats and Stupak. So who will Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) stand with in the end-- the people or the Church? (Were Republicans right when they warned during the JFK election that Catholics couldn't be trusted in high office because of the Vatican? I never thought so, but these anti-Choice extremists are mighty strange. I wonder what Michael Moore thinks about Marcy now!) Meanwhile, my friends, remember, do not listen to the shrieking voices in other people's heads! It looks like Pelosi has the votes she needs without bending down and kissing any papal rings. Latest conservative Democrats to jump onboard: Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA) and Bill Owens (D-NY). And the latest Blue Dog to jump overboard is cowardly conservative shill Zack Space (OH).

Did we mention that Blue America is encouraging donations to Connie Saltonstall's primary campaign against Bart Stupak? It's the only way to hold these faithless Democrats accountable for their perfidy.

Stupak Stigmata And The Martyrdom Of A Deranged Cultist

Bart sees himself as a martyr now, rather than as an asshole

Michigan mishuganah, Bart Stupak, a putative Democrat from the northernmost reaches of that state-- 1% African-American, less than 1% Hispanic and 0.4% Asian-- joined Washington's most dangerous religious cult, The Family, and flipped out. He then figured out he could sabotage the Democratic Party entirely by wrecking the president's #1 agenda item-- healthcare reform-- by working with fellow C-Street cultist, Joe Pitts (R-PA), to falsely paint the healthcare reform bill as a trick to make abortion opponents pay for poor women's abortions. He's been working directly with the Republicans and right-wing elements to bring down the bill-- and the party-- something applauded Inside-the-Beltway as "bipartisanship."

As you know, anger has been building and building and exploded last week into a primary challenge from Connie Saltonstall. In less than a week, she has already raised over $50,000 online, more than $15,000 of it from Blue America. Stupak is freaking out now and realizes he could actually lose his seat over this.

He's complaining that his life has become a living hell, with his phone lines "jammed" with angry pro-choice and/or pro-health care callers and his wife has become so disconcerted that she's had to disconnect the family phone, an unlisted number, which seems to indicate that even their own friends are calling them to complain about Stupak's nefarious role in the healthcare debate.

“All the phones are unplugged at our house — tired of the obscene calls and threats. She won’t watch TV,” Stupak said during an hourlong interview with The Hill in his Rayburn office. “People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.”

...“How’s it been? Like a living hell,” Stupak said.

The 57-year-old Democrat said he has a history of working behind the scenes with Democratic leaders on abortion.

“In the past, we’ve always been able to work it out,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve not been able to work it out.”

Other anti-abortion-rights Democrats have said they’ll support the Senate bill.

Rep. Dale Kildee, another Democrat from Michigan known for opposing abortion, released a statement on Wednesday supporting the Senate bill, which he said would prevent federal funds from going to abortion services.

But the intensity of the resistance to Stupak’s position has, if anything, stiffened his resolve. He shows no signs of voting for the Senate healthcare bill, which could hit the House floor this week.

“I’m pretty stubborn,” said Stupak, who keeps in his shirt pocket a list of lawmakers who are willing to vote no. The so-called Stupak Dozen met Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill to strategize and exchange stories of the pressure they are under.

Today Stupak tried making a deal with the leadership-- to vote for the bill, in the hope of slowing down the tidal wave of support Connie has been getting for standing up to his shameless bullying, in return-- listen to this-- for them letting him bring up his anti-Choice bill every single year. And he says if they agree, he can deliver useful idiot Marcy Kaptur as well. So far they've told him to go take a hike. We'll see. Meanwhile, please continue to support Connie's campaign. It certainly seems to be having an impact-- and sending the Democrats a message they can understand.

At about 8 minutes in, Rachel Maddow explains the battle between Stupak and almost 60,000 Catholic nuns. (Earlier she chats with Ezra Klein about the missing CBO numbers which, as you probably know, are no longer missing-- and are awesome, numbers that would even be hard for honest fiscal conservatives to vote against... if there were any. In fact, I watched demented Oklahoma anti-healthcare fanatic Tom Coburn publicly threatening to "get" any Republican in the House who breaks rank with the zombie-army and votes for the bill, regardless of the fact that it would bring the deficit down by $1.3 trillion.



And, in case you missed it yesterday, Stupak's own committeeHouse Commerce and Energy , came out with a review of the impact of the bill on Stupak's constituents, the very people who are now encouraging Connie to run. Highlights of what the bill will achieve in Northern Michigan's first CD:

* Improve coverage for 364,000 residents with health insurance.

* Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 197,000 families and 17,900 small businesses to help
them afford coverage.

* Improve Medicare for 141,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

* Extend coverage to 44,000 uninsured residents.

* Guarantee that 10,000 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

* Protect 1,100 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

* Allow 50,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

* Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 41 community health centers.

* Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $102
million annually.

You know about the C Street cult, right?

Blue America Welcomes Connie Saltonstall

I woke up early in the morning a few days ago and saw that finally someone in Michigan's vast first congressional district had decided to step up and stop letting anti-Choice fanatic Bart Stupak get a free ride to re-election. On seeing a brief news item about Connie Saltonstall running for Congress, I was on the phone with her in half an hour, ascertained she was of a distinctly progressive bent, and had her on the Blue America Sending Democrats A Message ActBlue page within an hour. Since then close to 200 people have contributed over $5,000 to her campaign. These were primarily people who didn't know much about Connie, but knew all they would ever need to know about Bart Stupak.

Within a day or two Digby was winging her way east to sit down, face-to-face, with Connie and... well, see what she was made of. A couple days later, Digby, John and I sat down and decided that Connie merits a full scale Blue America endorsement. We added her to our candidates page and she's already gotten another 160 donations and, again, over $5,000. Today at 3pm (est/noon on the West Coast) Connie will be doing her first ever live blog session. It's being hosted by Digby at Crooks and Liars. NOW, one of the biggest and most important women's advocacy groups in the nation, just endorsed her this morning. They said, in part:

The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee is proud to announce our endorsement of Connie Saltonstall for Congress, representing Michigan's 1st District. Saltonstall is taking on reproductive rights foe and health care reform obstructer Rep. Bart Stupak in the state's Democratic primary this August.

What a relief that a courageous feminist candidate stepped up to the plate to challenge the co-author of the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Thanks to Connie Saltonstall, Stupak's bullying attempts to use health care reform as an opportunity to restrict women's access to abortion will be contested at the polls. Saltonstall stated: "I believe that [Stupak] has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible."

Saltonstall is a strong supporter of the full range of feminist issues, including reproductive justice, affirmative action, pay equity, constitutional equality and equal marriage rights. More specifically, she is in favor of repealing the Hyde Amendment, fully funding the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, rescinding the Defense Of Marriage Act, expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to add paid leave, and undoing the Bush-era damage done to Title IX.

There have been plenty of naysayers-- "she can't win" (which reminded me of how the battle started when we decided to back Donna Edwards against Al Wynn) and "he's entitled to his religious beliefs," being two of the most persistent comments-- but the folks who have been donating this week see an opportunity to hold a faithless politician who has gone way too far accountable.

Stupak has worked closely with conservatives to build a coalition to hold healthcare reform hostage, insisting that the bill will force Americans to pay for abortions, an out and out lie straight from John Boehner's messaging shop. Sadly, the bill will actually restrict women's ability to purchase insurance coverage for abortions, even with their own money. This was the result of a wrenching compromise by the pro-choice members of Congress who reluctantly acquiesced to the unreasonable demands of the minority so that millions of uninsured Americans might have access to health care. But that wasn't good enough for Mr. Stupak, who continues to lie about the provisions of the bill and is committed to vote with the Republicans who are determined to make healthcare reform President Obama's "Waterloo." Stupak refuses to take yes for an answer.

Well, as Digby pointed out to Blue America donors, Bart Stupak isn't good enough for a frustrated constituent named Connie Saltonstall, who waited patiently for months for someone to step up as Stupak waged his quixotic crusade against reproductive rights on the backs of the uninsured. When no one did, she finally decided that she had no choice but to challenge him herself. She says,

"Our Congressman has let us down. Bart Stupak has threatened to block healthcare reform unless the Amendment that bears his name is included in the final bill. I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed healthcare reform because of those views is reprehensible."

Saltonstall is an experienced and qualified politician having served in various capacities in Michigan politics for decades. More importantly, she is a person of deep commitment to progressive politics who not only believes that it's not too much to ask that the Democratic party protects a woman's constitutional right to privacy and provide health care for everyone at the same time, but that the progressive agenda can best deliver to her friends and neighbors what they need to get through these tough economic times, preserve their liberty and keep America a strong, tolerant, future-oriented nation.

Blue America is proud to endorse Connie Saltonstall for Congress. We hope that you'll join us for a live chat at CrooksandLiars.com at 3PM, meet Connie for yourself and gage how much you want to participate in this campaign. The future of the health care reform bill, the Democratic Party and the country are at stake and regardless of the outcome when the vote is finally taken, Bart Stupak has proven that he is willing to go to any length to impose his personal religious views on the whole country. If you feel, as we do, that this is not in keeping with the fundamental values of the Democratic Party, then a donation to Connie Saltonstall's campaign is the best way to ensure that he no longer has the opportunity to do it.




UPDATE: And By The Way The Healthcare Reform Bill Would Benefit The Residents of MI-01 Tremendously

The Commerce and Energy Commttee has come out with a review of the impact of the bill on Stupak's constituents, people who are now encouraging Connie to run. Highlights of what the bill will achieve there:

* Improve coverage for 364,000 residents with health insurance.

* Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 197,000 families and 17,900 small businesses to help
them afford coverage.

* Improve Medicare for 141,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

* Extend coverage to 44,000 uninsured residents.

* Guarantee that 10,000 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

* Protect 1,100 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

* Allow 50,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

* Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 41 community health centers.

* Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $102
million annually.

But Stupak is still insisting on joining the GOP obstructionists in opposition.

Defeat Bart Stupak And Joseph Pitts And Build A Movement In Their Districts

Connie & Lois at the Women's Campaign Forum last week

-by Mary Jean Collins

Bart Stupak Democrat (MI-1) clearly wants to be remembered as the Democrat who destroyed health care reform proposed by a Democratic President and Congress.  Together with Republican Joseph Pitts (PA-16) he offered the amendment to the Affordable Health Care Act that used the health reform effort to extend the Hyde prohibition on abortion funding to restrict women’s ability to secure abortion coverage with their own funds under the reform bill. The amendment to the Act passed on November 7, 2009 by a vote of 240-194 with 64 Democrats and all Republicans voting for the restrictive language. 
 
The Amendment supporters allege their intention is only to extend the Hyde Amendment policy which prohibits federal money for abortion services. In reality, the amendment restricts private insurance from providing abortion services in their policies under either a public option or exchanges. So Stupak and Pitts are using the Health Care Act intended to address need for health care for all Americans, to advance a narrow anti-choice agenda.

The Senate rejected the Stupak-Pitts language and put in a barely tolerable substitute which pro-choice Senate and House members have reluctantly supported in order to pass the overall bill. Now Bart Stupak is again threatening to kill the reform and refusing to vote for the Senate version. This is intolerable and goes beyond a member supporting a strongly held position. All the parties fighting for health care over the last year have made compromises in order to secure the best bill possible. All progressives who support the flawed bill have given up very strongly held values to come to a compromise that will address the immoral lack of health care in the US. Mr. Stupak is holding the Bill and his party hostage to his own deeply flawed view.
 
Pitts and Stupak opportunity in 2010

Stupak and Pitts provide an electoral opportunity for holding accountable legislators in both parties for their anti-choice actions and their opposition to health care reform.
 
We are very fortunate to have progressive candidates willing to take on Stupak and Pitts in 2010. Connie Saltonstall just declared her candidacy last Friday in Michigan 1 and Lois Herr is hard at work in PA 16. Both these districts are challenging to win. Why should we let these legislators get by year after year voting against our interests without even challenge them? Particularly as Democrats have won more districts in Republican majority districts, the need for organizing by progressives in these districts has become even more critical. One of the best ways to identify and organize progressives in conservative areas is to run candidates who can gain respect and will attract hard working progressives and ordinary citizens to their campaigns. These candidates need our support and resources. 

Connie Saltonstall is an experienced and qualified public servant who has served in various capacities in Michigan. She is deeply committed to health care and the protection of a woman’s right to choose. She is responding to a deep dissatisfaction with Rep. Stupak putting his own anti-choice concerns ahead of the needs of the district and the nation. Tomorrow she will be live-blogging with Blue America at Crooks and Liars (2pm, est); please go over and meet her yourself. Meanwhile if you'd like to help elect Connie to the seat Stupak holds, you can contribute to her campaign at the Blue America page.
  
Joe Pitts was the co-sponsor of the anti-choice amendment and is a leader in Congress pushing restrictions on abortion in all areas of policy. 

Joe Pitts is in his 7th term representing the 16th District of Pennsylvania. He is active in the fundamentalist group described in Jeff Sharlet’s book The Family. He has a right wing record on everything we care about. Lois Herr is Pitt’s opponent in PA-16. Lois is a long-time friend. I’ve known her for 30 years as an activist when she organized women inside A T & T for fair policies for women employees. She wrote a book about that experience and the larger struggle against A T & T called Women, Power & AT & T. Lois was born and raised in her district. Lois has been a farmer, business leader and has always been a passionate progressive.
   
Lois ran for the Pitts congressional seat the first time in 2004. That year Joe Pitts received 64.4 % of the vote, in 2008 he was down to 55.9. In 2004 Kerry lost the district by 24 points, in 2008 President Obama lost by 3 points. The impact of having congressional campaigns that are real in this district have organized the progressives in the district. Democratic Party registration in the district has increased 30%. None of this would have happened without the willingness of progressive candidates to put themselves forward. Lois is fighting hard to win. She needs money and volunteers to run a successful campaign. You can learn a lot more about her and her campaign here at her website. And you can donate here at ActBlue.
 
I hope we can show these candidates we appreciate their courage and get them the resources they need to lead and to organize and to win. 

Is Healthcare reform On The Verge Of Passing? Or Will Jim DeMint Be Proven Right About Obama's Waterloo?

Does Democratic whip Jim Clyburn know something about anti-Choice fanatic Bart Stupak that no one else does? Yesterday on Meet the Press Clyburn predicted that Stupak would vote for the final bill. "There will be no federal funds for abortion," Clyburn reiterated, the Democratic position from the earliest negotiations. "And I think that most people that look at this have now come to that conclusion. And I do believe that Congressman Stupak will end up voting for this bill because I think he's going to be very comfortable with it in the coming days."

But while more and more Democrats have been rallying to Connie Saltonstall, the former Charlevoix County commissioner who just decided to run a primary race against Stupak, he ran to his anti-choice conservative allies whining that the Democratic leadership has been ignoring his deranged and infantile outbursts. "They're ignoring me," he complained to the neo-fascist National Review. “That’s their strategy now. The House Democratic leaders think they have the votes to pass the Senate’s health-care bill without us. At this point, there is no doubt that they’ve been able to peel off one or two of my twelve. And even if they don’t have the votes, it’s been made clear to us that they won’t insert our language on the abortion issue... I am a definite 'no' vote. I didn’t cave. The others are having both of their arms twisted, and we’re all getting pounded by our traditional Democratic supporters, like unions."

Unions have defended and supported Stupak. If he wants to demonize them in the right-wing media, he must really be feeling the heat. Just by mentioning that Connie was in the race, Blue America has raised nearly $4,500 for her in a few days. Now that Digby has traveled to meet her in person and speak with her about a broad range of issues, kick the tires and determine that she's of good character, our PAC will be formally endorsing her on Wednesday morning. (She'll be live blogging with us at Crooks and Liars at 3pm (EST/12pm PT). Stupak realizes he's now turned himself into another Joe Lieberman or Blanche Lincoln. He's pissed off the base so badly that it will be difficult for him to ever win an election again.

Picture DeMint, McConnell, Boehner & Lindsey onstage

Although Boehner, a guest on CNN's State of the Union yesterday claimed that Pelosi doesn't have the 216 votes she needs to pass healthcare reform, Pelosi disagrees and Clyburn says he's confident that they will have the votes when the vote is taken. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was on Fox News Sunday predicting that within one week healthcare reform would be "the law of the land." But the latest Hill report sounds like a real gut-wrenching drama

More than a few politically vulnerable lawmakers, such as freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), appear torn.

On Wednesday night, Pelosi cornered Perriello for an intense conversation on the House floor.

Asked about that conversation, Perriello walked away, telling The Hill that he “wouldn’t talk about healthcare.” Perriello, who is in a tossup race, voted yes last fall.

The enormous media attention on healthcare reform doesn't make the members' situations any easier.

Some members have expressed their views to hometown newspapers while others have kept mum. For example, Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.), a no vote last November, has declined to talk to the Denver Post about her position.

Supposedly Markey wanted to vote "yes" in November but was warned by her own leaders that it was too risky in her district and forced her-- tears in her eyes-- to vote "no." She then ran and joined the Blue Dog caucus. Now she's in a pickle.

The pressure will be most intense on the Democrats from the classes of 2006 and 2008. These members are the most vulnerable in the midterm elections and are considered more likely to be persuaded by Democratic leaders, including Obama.

A yes vote could help them climb the ladder in the Democratic Party. Yet, it could also be a liability in the elections.

Freshman Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio), a GOP target who voted no last year, told Foxnews.com, "I'm not afraid to cast a tough vote and I'm not afraid to stand up to leadership in doing so."

...Little over two weeks ago, freshman New York Democratic Rep. Michael McMahon told the Staten Island Advance that he didn’t “see anything” in the president’s revamped healthcare proposal “to have me come off my ‘no’ vote."

But since then, his position has shifted somewhat.

Noting that the Democratic Caucus hadn't seen the actual bill yet, McMahon said he "can't say finally" how he will vote but "you know I didn't vote for the health bill the first time."

Asked if he was "undecided" or "leaning no," McMahon joked, "Is there a place in between?"

Then he responded, "I'm leaning no."

According to The Hill's tracking of member positions, 35 Democrats say they are going to vote no or are likely to vote no. Another 73 are publicly undecided.

Of course, it is impossible to read the minds of legislators, and it is highly probable that some undecided Democrats have decided. For tactical and other reasons, they are deciding to keep their votes to themselves-- and perhaps Democratic leaders.

Likewise, there are certainly some Democrats in the no/leaning no category who could be persuaded.

But not all of them.

Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.), who voted no in November, has said he is an absolute firm no this time around. Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.), one of the most conservative Democrats in the lower chamber, has repeatedly promised his constituents he will vote no. Similarly, there is no chance that Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) will vote yes. Davis represents a district that Obama won with 71 percent of the vote, but is running to win the governor's mansion in a state that gave Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over 60 percent in the 2008 presidential race.

Don't you wish there were men and women as courageous as Connie Saltonstall in all these districts? Wouldn't you love to see a forthright Democrats stand up against Boren. At least Democrats in the Alabama gubernatorial primary have an opportunity to Just Say No to Davis and end his disgraceful political career. And for the rest of us... please Send A Message Democrats Will Understand. Connie: “Our Congressman has let us down. Bart Stupak has threatened to block healthcare reform unless the Amendment that bears his name is included in the final bill. I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed healthcare reform because of those views is reprehensible.” She believes that voters in Michigan’s 1st CD will support a candidate who will work for them on the important issues of job creation, heath care, education, infrastructure maintenance and improvements, and protecting the environment. (They take the threats to the Great Lakes eco-system very seriously in MI-01). “Michigan and the First District are facing enormous challenges and we cannot afford to sacrifice solutions for individual agendas. Stupak is co-chair of the Pro-Life Caucus and is putting their interests above those of his district. No federal funds have been used for abortions since 1977, and that provision will stay in effect without his amendment. In my opinion, Bart Stupak has shown that he is willing to block important legislation to support his own agenda at the expense of those he was elected to represent.”



Update: Backing Grayson

Marcy Winograd, who is running for Congress against corporate Blue Dog Jane Harman, is urging all House members to get behind Alan Grayson's legislation to allow Americans to buy into Medicare at cost. The last we checked there were 60 co-sponsors. Marcy told us she would have been the first co-sponsor to sign on if she were in Congress. Although residents of CA-36 strongly favor meaningful healthcare reform with a public option (or single payer), Harman has refused to co-sponsor Grayson's bill, although is likely to do it if Marcy keeps campaigning about it as she has been doing all week.

"By all means, Americans should be allowed to participate in an already-established single-payer system that cuts waste while offering quality health care. Unfortunately, my opponent Jane Harman has yet to co-sponsor this much-needed bill, despite her pledges to support a public option. In Congress, I will champion efforts to make Medicare available to anyone who wants to participate."

Is There A Republican Case FOR Healthcare Reform? And Is Bart Stupak Breaking The Law?

LaHood and Schock, havin' a party

Since there isn't a single Republican in the House or Senate who isn't too scared to death of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and that pack of far right media hyenas and their raucous, self-righteous followers to make the argument for meaningful healthcare reform, Obama's Republican Secretary of Transportation did it yesterday in the Chicago Tribune.

LaHood was a conservative Republican congressman, as partisan as the rest of them, although not notably sociopathic. He was elected to represent the strongly Republican central Illinois 18th CD in 1994, a district that has an R+5 PVI and that was one of only three in Illinois McCain won, albeit with only 50% of the vote. (In the 2006 Democratic wave year LaHood was re-elected with 67% of the vote.) LaHood campaigned for and voted for McCain. If he got into fights with his Republican colleagues, it was generally because he is a deficit hawk and resented them spending tax money like a bunch of drunken sailors. He calls himself "a fiscal conservative, an advocate for a smart, but restrained, government."

For those reasons and others, most people wouldn't expect me to be an advocate for comprehensive health care reform. But the truth is, I believe there is no bigger issue to solve and no better chance to solve it than now.

If I were still a member of Congress, I would proudly vote for the bill that President Barack Obama is championing and I would urge my colleagues to do the same, not because I don't believe in fiscal discipline, but because I do.

We do not need to look that far down the road to see the pain that failure to pass health care reform will cause. Americans of every background, class, race and political persuasion are suffering. We have the best health care system in the world, yet more than 40 million Americans lack access to it, a reality that is morally reprehensible. Health care is an essential, as important as food, water and shelter. Those who don't have it are left without the tools to survive.

In the coming days, Congress has a chance to change that. The bill that will be voted on will reduce the deficit by about $1 trillion over the next two decades, and will reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will slow the rate of growth in health care costs and put America back on the path toward fiscal sustainability.

The bill will give families and small business owners greater control over their own health care. It will expand coverage to more than 31 million Americans and will include tax credits to individuals, families and small businesses, giving them the same choices that members of Congress have to purchase private coverage. It will create state-based exchanges that will bring competition and transparency to insurance markets. And it will put in place common-sense rules of the road to hold insurance companies accountable and end some of the most outrageous practices of the insurance industry.

Never again will people be denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. Never again will insurance companies be able to raise rates unfairly-- like the 60 percent hikes expected in Illinois.

While the ultimate vote on health care may not be bipartisan, the ultimate bill certainly is.

There are several Republican ideas in the bill. It allows Americans to buy health insurance across state lines. It increases the bargaining power of small businesses by allowing them to pool together-- much like large corporations or labor unions-- to bargain for a better insurance rate. It gives states the flexibility to come up with an alternate health care plan, and it gives them resources to reform our tort system by developing new ways to deal with medical malpractice.

LaHood's plea to his former colleagues in Congress-- or the twerpy, cowardly little closet queen who won his seat, Adam Schock-- to seize "the opportunity to change the lives of their friends and neighbors for the better by voting for health care reform"-- will fall on deaf ears. I doubt even Ahn Cao (R-LA), the one Republican who voted for it the first time around, will vote for it again, even though the majority of Americans-- and certainly the majority of Americans in his congressional district-- want healthcare reform and reject Jim DeMint's tactic of using healthcare obstructionism to cripple Obama's presidency.

On the other hand, it looks like Bart Stupak's attempt to hold the entire nation's healthcare reform hostage (I'm told based on a sudden conversion to religious fanaticism due to his son's suicide, with Stupak's gun) is failing. As Rachel Maddow explained, the House leadership peeled away some of his support, which was largely garnered by using false GOP talking points about abortion funding, and then called Stupak's bluff and left him muttering darkly to himself on the sidelines. (Please consider contributing to Connie Saltonstall, the progressive woman standing up to him on his home turf by running a primary against him.)

Healthcare On The Hustings

Stupak, a Dem trying to keep Connie Saltonstall from protecting Choice

Maybe Inside the Beltway journos-- what we call The Village-- ought to venture out of the bubble before they make sweeping generalizations like the headline in today's Hill about how Democratic candidates are distancing themselves from healthcare reform. That's just plain wrong. "Hardly any Democrat running for Congress seems to want to talk about healthcare," is the first sentence. Aaron, come on over to a Blue America session any Saturday at Crooks and Liars and hear what actual Democratic candidates have to say about healthcare reform. True, the DCCC-controlled anti-grassroots candidates have been instructed to not discuss "controversial" issues, but real Democrats are hammering healthcare reform, especially in primaries against the conservative Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Patrick Murphy are trying to weigh the Democratic Party down with.

One of Marcy Winograd's campaign slogans is "Healthcare, Not Warfare and her campaign website-- unlike the issueless pabulum the DCCC insists on for "their" candidates-- features a detailed healthcare reform plan. Unlike Jane Harman, her Blue Dog opponent, Marcy supports single-payer healthcare.

We need Medicare for All – or a single-payer system that pays doctors, nurses, and other health care providers from a single fund. The administrator of the fund is the federal government, which ensures every American has access to quality affordable health care. Under a Medicare for All plan, you can go to a public clinic or a private doctor.  It’s up to you.
Health Care for All is paid for by a tax on the employer, and, to a lesser extent, the employee.  No one goes bankrupt paying their medical bills.  Premiums are low and so are medical bills.
When elected Winograd will work to:

- Ensure that states and cities are not pre-empted by federal legislation prohibiting their implementation of a single-payer system

- Lead the Progressive Caucus in fighting for quality affordable health care for all

According to a study by Harvard Medical School, insurance companies spend up to 30% of their budget on administrative costs, which are then passed on to the consumer in the form of  higher medical bills.  In contrast, Medicare spends only 3% on administration. Under a single-payer system, the federal government or individual states could purchase pharmaceuticals in bulk, thus lowering the cost of medicine.  

We have a system that works-- Medicare. Let’s make it work for everyone!

That sounds an awful lot like the proposal Alan Grayson made on the floor of Congress this week, a proposal that is gathering dozens of co-sponsors (though, obviously, not Harman). And that is, in general, what all the Blue America candidates are campaigning on this year.

The Hill might be interested in knowing that, according to the National Journal's survey of which organizations' congressional endorsements for 2008 had the best track record, the list Blue America put together with People For the American Way-- of course, they ONLY count Inside-the-Beltway organizations for the actual survey-- was #1. Our track record was better than any insider or DC-based organization. But, of course, insider, DC-based media like The Hill would never conceive of the idea of going to a grassroots organization to find out what's really going on in America.


Barely a day goes by without progressive, grassroots Democrats like Bill Hedrick (CA), Regina Thomas (GA), Elaine Marshall (NC), Billy Kennedy (NC) and Jennifer Brunner (OH) talking about the need for serious healthcare reform. This week Connie Saltonstall launched a primary campaign based almost entirely on the fact that the incumbent, anti-Choice religious fanatic Bart Stupak, is willing to destroy healthcare reform for all Americans in order to impose his hysterical and patriarchal positions on the role of women in society on the whole country.

Yesterday Florida progressive Doug Tudor spoke-- along with the conservative Blue Dog Lori Edwards, before a Democratic Club in FL-12. In response to a question about healthcare, specifically the public option from a concerned Democrat, the Blue Dog/DCCC shill ducked the question (except to say she opposes single-payer; when queried for the Hill article, an Edwards spokesperson said she isn't "ready to talk" about it), while Dog Tudor, who takes all questions head on, had this to say:

"I support John Conyer's bill, H.R. 676, which is a single payer system. I've been on government healthcare all my life. My father was a Navy Master Chief; I did my service. I am now, along with being a retired military member and covered by the Veterans Administration, I'm also a military dependent because my wife is an active duty Air Force Master Sergeant. It works; it's cheaper. It will cost not only families less, but our government less. The only reason we can't get to it is because too many people are taking insurance lobbyists' money. Corporare lobbyists are stopping our country from moving forward."

Blake's Hill article never mentions progressive state Senator Craig Pridemore, the grassroots candidate running to replace retiring Brain Baird in southwest Washington state. Instead he quotes the multimillionaire conservative insider candidate, Denny Heck, who he's been told is the "front-runner." Blake grouses that Heck "would only lay out a series of policy goals and declined to delve into the details of the Senate bill. He echoed a line frequently used by the candidates-- that something must be done."

Had Blake bothered to contact Pridemore he would have found a state legislator who-- in the words on his own website-- "has consistently worked to protect health care programs for kids, seniors, and low income families.  In Congress, Craig will make progress, not more excuses." Faced with frightened, vacillating Democrats, heartless Republican obstructionists, and bribe-besotted members from both parties working to kill the bill, Pridemore would have told Blake what he told me:

An overwhelming number of people in this country wanted legitimate healthcare reform, including the choice of going to a public option. It wasn't just Republicans who thwarted that reform; it was Democrats too. We need strong, progressive Democrats who are going to fight for what the people want-- not just for insurance companies.

...It’s difficult to just walk away from what little progress this bill does make. Covering 31 million more Americans and pre-existing conditions are great things and should be done immediately. But the rest of this proposal, as with both the House and Senate versions, leaves far more to be desired than it does to satisfy. If this really is the best we can accomplish right now, health care reform will continue to be a high priority issue in the next Congress.

As for Obama... he must think it's still viable since he postponed his trip to Indonsesia, not a big deal in Peoria, but a major disappointment in the world's biggest Muslim country.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs brushed aside suggestions that the president planned to postpone or cancel the long-planned trip to his childhood home in Indonesia, even as Hill Democrats groused that the excursion came at the precise time he demanded they finalize a deal.

On Thursday, both Gibbs and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House was close to finalizing a strategy for pushing a previously passed Senate bill through the lower chamber, but that the deal might require a few extra days. By postponing his trip, Obama effectively gives the House some breathing room, preserving the hope that members will be able to depart the Capitol for their Easter break two weeks from today with a deal in their pockets.

Help Connie Saltonstall Defeat Stupak

It's better not to let your emotions get in the way of real life political decisions. But yesterday when I read that former Charlevoix County commissioner Connie Saltonstall had jumped into the primary race against anti-Choice fanatic Bart Stupak, I was on the phone to her within minutes. Pro-choice and pro-healthcare reform, hardheaded and hardworking, we were happy to get her right up on the Blue America Sending Democrats A Message page. And I was also happy pulling out my credit card and making a donation to the very tough campaign she's taking on.

Michigan's northernmost district (MI-01)-- the entire Upper Peninsula plus 16 northern counties-- is the second largest district east of the Mississippi River. It leans Republican, voted for narrowly Bush twice and then narrowly for Obama in 2008 (while going for Stupak with 65% of the vote). Stupak has successfully painted himself as a Democratic populist and justifies his anti-Choice mania with a veneer of sanctimonious moralism. His overall voting record isn't nearly as populist or progressive as he attempts to portray it. According to Progressive Punch he's been with the Democrats only 66.15% of the time on the tough closely contested votes where he's been most needed. Since Obama was elected he's been the 159th most progressive Democrat, a pretty mediocre record but one that the district has been satisfied with. Connie has a great deal of sympathy in the district when she says that although Stupak "has a right to his personal, religious views... to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible."

"As a realist I know that defeating an incumbent is difficult," Saltonstall told CNN. "But I also know that there are many past supporters who have told me they have voted for Bart in every single election and they'll never vote for him again. It will be a lot of hard work, it will be a serious challenge, but we're going to try because the voters of this district deserve a choice."

Please, help us send the Democrats-- and conservatives-- a message, in this case, that their religious beliefs should not be imposed on the general public. Do it here at ActBlue.