The most hated man in America

Let me start out by saying that hate is a strong word. So for someone to be called the most hated man in America, he must really be bad. In a more serious mode we would reserve such a title for mass murderers, puppy kickers or Bernie Madoff. But we won't consider hate to be very strong here. Kind of like Keith Olbermann and his "Worst Person in the World" moniker.





So who is today's most hated man in America? Some might say it's the President, Barack Obama himself. Sure his poll numbers are down and his approval rating is below 50%. Yes, he just signed the largest bill in history into law. A bill that could cripple this nation financially for decades. But hated? Some might hate him but I don't. I don't like him but I don't hate him. I just want him to get laid off, like I was. But that's not going to happen for a few years. He's not loved for sure but I don't think many actually hate the man. So we'll scratch him from the list.





Perhaps it's Jesse James. The California custom chopper builder. Not the long dead Missouri outlaw. Jesse you see is married to "America's Sweetheart" Sandra Bullock. "America's Sweetheart" is an endearing term that changes with the times. The most notable of course was Mary Pickford (who was actually Canadian). Silent film star of the 1920's later married to Douglas Fairbanks. Later it was Shirley Temple and in more contemporary times, it was Meg Ryan. Now somewhere along the line Sandra Bullock picked up the mantle of America's Sweetheart and she's been jilted, allegedly, by her husband Jesse James. James apparently had an affair with tattoo model Michelle "Bombshell" McGee. I don't know this gal but she looks like walking Silly Putty that got rolled over the Sunday funnies. (If you're too young to know what Silly Putty is or the Sunday funnies for that matter, Google it). So there is outrage that Sandra has been humiliated. But do we really hate Jesse James? I don't. It could mean Sandra is available again. But that's a selfish notion. He didn't hurt me and his actions haven't cost me any money.





No, today the most hated man in America is....


Bart Stupak!





Really Bucky? Yes! Bart Stupak. Now to be honest, I was perfectly ignorant of this man until six or eight months ago. Here's a little primer on Congressman Stupak. Bart Stupak is a Democratic Congressman from the 1st District of Michigan. The 1st District of Michigan comprises the Upper Peninsula and extends into the Lower Peninsula of that state. He was first elected in 1993 and has had a fairly unremarkable career. No bill he has sponsored has been enacted into law and very few co-sponsored pieces of legislation have gone on to be signed by the President. He votes with his party over 90% of the time. So as I said, fairly unremarkable. But the one thing that makes Congressman Stupak fairly unique is, he is a pro-life Democrat. Now there are actually a few of those folks serving in the House of Representatives. Just like there are fiscally conservative Democrats. Blue Dogs as they are known. I'm not sure what color animal that makes Mr. Stupak. Perhaps we can discuss that later.





Congressman Stupak flew onto our radar screen during the health care debate in the House. Sticking to his principles and his morals of being pro-life, he could not in good conscience sign onto the health care legislation with out a specific prohibition to Federal funds being used for abortions. Certainly a noble proposition. For those of us who are against the bill on grounds of fiscal responsibility, not to mention the threat of government intrusion to our lives, we would gladly take on an ally where ever we could get one. Even a Democrat who's opposition was on shaky ground. Now when I say shaky ground, don't think I'm questioning the congressman's sincerity, position or morality. I'm not. But we've all felt for a long time that prohibiting Federal funding for abortion in the bill could be compromised on. Whereas our opposition couldn't be. But Bart was smart. He gave us a small sense of security. He had half a dozen or so supporters to his cause and even drafted an amendment to the bill, The Stupak Amendment, which was ultimately included in the House version of the legislation. But this pissed off the liberal, pro-choice Democrat's. So the House was in disarray. The Dem's were fighting with one another. The Senate didn't like the amendment, so it voted in it's own legislation without the Stupak language. Stupak wouldn't vote for the Senate bill, and on, and on, and on it went. What it basically meant was, the deal was dead. Health care reform blown to smithereens. I didn't care why, just that it was dead.



So while Health Care Reform opponents were reveling in the demise of the hated bill, we forgot one small fact. Bart Stupak and his pro-life, Democrat colleagues were not against Health Care Reform. On the contrary, they wanted it. Some wanted the more aggressive single payer plan. The just didn't want Federal funding for abortions. They felt that the current law, the Hyde Amendment, wasn't strong enough and didn't reach into this legislation. All they wanted was specific language in this bill and they were in.

We should have been more vigilant. We should have seen this coming for months. Especially when the back room deals started on both sides of the Capitol. The sticking point for the Dems was, they couldn't have out right anti-abortion funding language in the bill for fear of alienating the far left (as if they were going to vote with the Republicans regardless, see Dennis Kucinich). But they had to find a way to appease the pro-lifers, at least for a safety cushion of a few votes as there were so many undecideds. So on and on it went. Daily reports from Capitol Hill about hard negotiations, back scratching, back stabbing, ear marks, arm twisting, shin kicking and the like. But no word on appeasement of the Democrat pro-lifers. Was this really coming un-done? Were they really short on votes?

Then this past Sunday morning dawned. The day of reckoning. We were finally going to put all this to rest. Health Care Reform was going to be defeated or made the law of the land. Whispers were then heard. Rumors started to swirl. The name Stupak was hanging in the air like an egg fart. I don't know what it was or what was said, but at noon I got a thought in my head and instinctively went to Twitter. I posted to Twitter: Why am I getting this sick feeling that Stupak is going to cave in to the WH and take his votes with him. That was at 12:07 on Sunday afternoon. At that moment, I knew that the biggest government take over of a personal aspect of our lives was to become a reality. I wanted to throw up.

Remember, Bart Stupak was standing on a moral principle that could be over come. Most in opposition were standing on a principle that could not be compromised or over come without the total scuttling of the bill. So the Speaker and the President came up with a solution that was satisfactory to Congressman Stupak and his pro-life colleagues. The President will sign an Executive Order prohibiting Federal funding of abortions. Bart and the pro-lifers were satisfied, they voted yea and the rest is history.

So Bart Stupak let down a legion of conservatives and countless millions of Americans by switching his vote. Bart Stupak doesn't give a flying fig about conservatives. Why should he? He is just one of 219 members of the House who voted for the bill. Any four could have voted no on the same principle that I and millions of Americans had in hoping for it's defeat. So why single him out? I guess it's because he stood in firm opposition to his party and his parties leadership on a very important, yet personal issue. The rights of the unborn. He can't stop abortions but by God he was going to make sure, that money from American citizens opposed to abortion wouldn't be spent subsidizing abortions. He wrote a controversial amendment that was adopted in the House and attached to this bill, ensuring that his principles would not be compromised.

And then he caved. He succumbed to the pressure. Whatever the reasoning for caving, the reality is, the little known congressman from the UP of Michigan, the mouse who roared in opposition, folded up like a AAA road map.

So what does all this mean? Well it means that the socialist utopia that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi envisioned is in the making. Conservatives and Republicans cannot trust any politician with a "D" next to their name. Not even the "Blue Dogs", the fiscally conservative Democrats. Not even the pro-life Dems who still voted no in spite of the President's executive order.

So what do we call a seemingly principled Democrat, who sells his morals and his vote for a bag of magic beans? How about a Yellow Rat.