Obamacare casualty?

There’s lots of speculation in Washington over whether it’s fair to call U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the first congressional “casualty” of Obamacare after his retirement announcement Friday. It probably fits. For a time Stupak led a gaggle of about a dozen or so Democrats threatening to block health care’s passage because they didn’t think provisions barring the use of federal funds for abortion were strong enough. But in the end Stupak succumbed to pressure from the White House and Democratic leaders; Obamacare got his vote and many of the others’ as well. Stupak won’t run again, no doubt because he knew the race would be difficult. He was being derided as the guy who almost took a stand. Anti-abortion proponents saw him as a traitor, and a number of pundits said Stupak’s collapse on Obamacare proved there’s no such thing as a pro-life Democrat. That’s overboard, but Stupak’s Wikipedia entry likely will prominently note his attempted — then abandoned — stance on principle.

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