It has seemed obvious to me since last year that Stupak would retire. The tragic thing is that he could have been an inspiring leader, a man who stood up on principle to the most prominent politicians of the day, of his own party. Instead, we know what he did — he surrendered all the power he had for a meaningless executive order, bowing at the altar of a party that long ago sold its soul to the culture of death he claimed to be standing athwart, to boot. The upside of Bart Stupak proving to be such a…
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum tells National Review Online that Sen. Bob Casey’s brokering of a potential compromise on the Senate health-care bill’s abortion language is a “betrayal” to the pro-life cause. Casey, the Democrat who defeated Santorum in 2006, has been negotiating the bill’s abortion language in recent days with Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.), a key undecided vote in the Democratic caucus. According to the Washington Post , Casey “proposed a compromise that would more clearly segregate public and private funds in the new insurance exchanges for individuals who do not have access to affordable coverage through an employer,” as well as create “a temporary $1,000 increase in the tax credit for adoptive parents and a new federal fund to assist teenagers, college students or victims of domestic violence who are pregnant and without resources.” Nelson told a radio station in his home state on Thursday that Casey’s outreach “isn’t sufficient” and that “the basic question about the funding of abortion has not been answered yet.” “The premise of these negotiations is to get Nelson language that will provide him cover without doing anything to protect babies,” says Santorum. “Bob Casey Sr. built up great will in the pro-life community. Now his son is using his name to give cover to a bill that does great harm the pro-life cause.