The Wall Street Journal had an excellent article on Bart Stupak, the Democratic Congressman who is trying to address the egregious aspects of Obamacare by ensuring that there will be no direct or indirect taxpayer funding of abortion. The article is worth reading in its entirety, but the first and last paragraph explains everything you need to know about the political calculus facing Stupak:
Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak’s push for restrictions on abortion funding in the health-care overhaul is anathema to many liberal supporters of the bill. But Mr. Stupak sees them as a natural mix of the economic liberalism and social conservatism that defines his home district, Michigan’s economically depressed Upper Peninsula…
“I can go back to my district [on some issues] and say I did the best I could, I tried,” he said. “But on abortion you can’t go back and say, I used to be right to life; now I’m pro choice. That doesn’t work; it’s either or.”
None of this is to suggest that Stupak does not sincerely hold his pro-life views. Fortunately, the political reality in north Michigan is that voters will remind him of the principles on which he has ran where he ever to slip a little.
