Conffederate
Confederate

April 09, 2010

Breaking: Stupak Retiring

Good riddance:

Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan tells The Associated Press he'll retire from Congress rather than seek a 10th term this year.

Stupak has drawn stinging criticism from opponents of the recently enacted health care overhaul after leading a bloc of anti-abortion Democrats whose last-minute support was crucial to its approval by the House.

The target of Tea Party groups gunning for his seat, Stupak claimed he could have won reelection if he tried.

Uh-huh.

His retirement came over the objections of Democratic Party leaders:

President Barack Obama called Stupak on Wednesday and asked him not to retire. Stupak, 58, also resisted entreaties from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the dean of the Wolverine State delegation.
Posted by Confederate Yankee at April 9, 2010 07:57 AM
Comments

Obama even promised to sign an executive order providing federally funded daily ice cream and cookies to Stupak, as well as a pony, but to no avail.

Posted by: arb at April 9, 2010 08:17 AM

Good riddance, indeed. A resignation in disgrace for the guy whose name replaced Nelson's as the top synonym for "sellout."

Posted by: Dr. Horrible at April 9, 2010 08:59 AM

No such thing as a pro-life democrat

Posted by: don at April 9, 2010 02:12 PM

If it weren't for the fact the guy is going to get even richer than he is now I'd just say "Buh-Bye!" and be done with it. However Stupak is going to turn this into a cash-cow for him. He'll end up on talk shows for the next 20 years playing the victim when he's one of the biggest villains around.

Posted by: NevadaDailySteve at April 9, 2010 02:33 PM

I wonder what nice position Obama has reserved for Stupak in the administration. Granted, while Stupak is dishonest and deceitful--an advantage in this administration--he is not a tax cheat, pedophile-promoter, communist, global warmer, bigot, or obvious supporter of foreign tyrants. All of which is a definite disadvantage for anyone desiring an appointment in an Obama administration.

Posted by: iconoclast at April 9, 2010 04:35 PM

I understand he retired for health reasons -- his constituents were sick of him. It's also called yellow fever.

Posted by: Mark L at April 9, 2010 09:14 PM

Not surprising you toads are ok with Stupak leaving Congress. Clearly, like Pelosi, you were hoping for a more ideologically pure party. So you vent on Palin to hide that fact.

At least it has become clear that (1) no one opposed to abortion can be a Democrat, and (2) there is no such thing as a moderate Democrat. That buffoon Grayson and crooks like Wrangel are the face of the Dems now.

Posted by: iconoclast at April 9, 2010 09:16 PM

How is that any different from the way some Republicans treat RINOs or Romney? Wow, what a shock, people with strong political opinions prefer politicians who share those opinions. Lots of toads I guess.

Posted by: Jim at April 9, 2010 11:43 PM

I would rather see him fired by the people...

Posted by: DGJ at April 10, 2010 07:31 PM

"How is that any different from the way some Republicans treat RINOs"

That's a softball. The GOP's leftward edges rarely fall into line and are almost never made to do so. Heck, for most of my life, they and their allies have effectively run the party. That's how the GOP winds up with McCain as the nominee, Steele in charge of the RNC, a centrist Bush 43 as POTUS, Denny Hastert (remember that crook?) as Speaker, etc. (Even then, some nutjobs like Brooks and Frum argue their problem is that they aren't leftward enough.)

The Dems, OTOH, regularly force their supposedly less-extremist pols to abandon their mainstream positions. Remember how Lieberman had to give up every position that made him interesting except support for Israel to be veep?

Posted by: Dr. Horrible at April 11, 2010 08:10 PM