Health Care Alert: Maddow is Mad, NOW is Nasty. Bishops say No! Stupak Stands Strong.

'From Rachel Maddow to the Daily Kos...Does it bother me? Sure. Does it change my position? No.' 

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - She is the livewire host on MSNBC, a network which prides itself as being "the place for politics." Of course, it depends on your politics. Trained by Keith Olbermann, she is a little less annoying than her mentor. She does it with a smile. She is arrogant ...and she is an activist. And, when she gets mad.... she gets even.

That was eminently clear on March 10, 2010 when she decided to jettison any claims at being a reporter and simply verbally attack Congressman Bart Stupak. The piece was entitled "Bart Stupak´s 15 Minutes of Fame." It was among the worst examples of a vicious, agenda based diatribe as I have ever seen. Rachel, as well as MSNBC, ought to be ashamed of this broadcast.

Ms. Maddow simply does not like the fact that Bart Stupak is a defender of the fundamental human Right to Life. She is mad that he will not back down from his position rooted in the objective truth, revealed by the Natural Law and confirmed by medical science that the child in the womb is one of us. She is a supporter of what is being called the "Right to Choose", which simply means the protection with the Police Power of the State of those who engage in the killing of children in the womb.

Bart Stupak insists properly that abortion is not health care, it can never be. It is killing a child in the womb. He refuses to support any Health Care Reform package which provides funding for the intentional killing of children in that first home of the whole human race. For that, Bart Stupak should be applauded, not pilloried with thekind of verbal venom which poured out of Rachel Maddow´s smiling mouth.

I know that many of our readers oppose many other aspects of this legislation, not the least of which is the federalizing of health care delivery services, as violating the principle of subsidiarity. I share some of those concerns. The Catechismof the Catholic Church summarizes the principle, "In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies."  However, during this 11th hour, we must remember that there is a hierarchy of truths and values concerning this legislation as there as many other legislative and policy arenas. The protection of innocent life is most important.

In a recent interview, Richard Doerflinger, speaking on behalf of the US Catholic Bishop´s conference said, "The Senate may have to figure out whether it wants its abortion position or if it wants a health care bill...That´s the difficult decision (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi made, and she chose a health care bill. The Senate decided it could have its cake and eat it, too. That is no longer true. Something´s going to have to give...We have a simple position...Everybody gets covered. Nobody gets deliberately killed."

Using hardball legislative techniques which may be unconstitutional (see, ´Obamacare, Unleashing a Constitutional Crisis´ by Wesley J. Smith) this fatally flawed legislation may pass this week unless there is a huge outcry. And, without a lifesaving amendment, it will fund the killing of our youngest neighbors under the ruse of "Health Care."

For his unflinching defense of the Right to Life, Congressman Bart Stupak should be praised. Stupak shares the same position that Richard Doerflinger also stated so succinctly this past week: "If the bill attacks life itself, in our view, it's not health care reform." Stupak told Associated Press Reporter John Flesher this past week "I believe in the sanctity of life.... Because it may not be convenient, do you take a life? That's not the standard of a moral society."

Stupak is a Democrat who supports some kind of Health Care Reform Legislation. However, he knows that abortion is not health care. That is the most pressing matter we face in this 11th hour. He courageously refuses to compromise because innocent human life is at stake. He has not bought the sophism of Speaker Pelosi on the matter, no matter how much subterfuge and arm twisting she engages in. He is standing strong.

However, Rachel Maddow has decided she will make it her personal mission to destroy his reputation. She is hell bent on getting this current legislation through-  without the necessary life saving amendment. How else can one explain her snide, sarcastic and infantile verbal assault on the Congressman? In this alleged "Investigation" aired on MSNBC she threw a steady barrage of insults at him like an angry child. She interspersed her tantrum with unfounded allegations and innuendoes intended to impugn this man´s motives.

She asserted several times that he is "...trying to make himself famous" and that he is "...trying to hijack health care." Of course, that fails to take into account that he actually supports health care reform. He just refuses to compromise on funding the killing of children in the womb with federal dollars.

In addition, if he simply wanted fame, he could compromise and gain instant notoriety with many groups who stand to benefit from the current version of this legislation, like Planned Parenthood and others. Who knows, with the history of deals in the process of ramming this legislation through, he could have perhaps secured some significant funding for his constituents. However, he understands the foundational concern; those children in the womb are his constituents as well. Indeed, they are our youngest neighbors and we must defend them.

Rachel Maddow called Stupak´s principled defense of the Right to life "a stunt."  In one of her more emotional rants in this horrid report - rather than address the issues which Congressman Stupak and so many others are concerned about - she simply said "he´s lying." She ended by calling his effort a "quixotic, nonsense crusade" and in a final childish insult asserted "Bart Stupak gets to go on TV, that´s why he´s doing it."

Rachel Maddow is not alone in her venomous hatred of Congressman Stupak. She is joined by the National Organization for Women who have accused him of being "Un- American" and of "imposing" his Catholic faith on the Nation.

Our friend Bill Donohue leads the Catholic League, one of the greatest defenders of the Catholic faith in a culture which has lost its moral compass. The Catholic League released this statement concerning what I am calling Now´s nastiness:

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"Mary Pollock, legislative vice president of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for Women, yesterday accused Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic, of imposing his religious beliefs on the nation. "It is outrageous and un-American," Pollock said of the pro-life congressman.

"Commenting on this remark is Bill Donohue of the Catholic League:

"Smear words have been used against virtually every religious, racial and ethnic group in American history. Fortunately, they are rarely voiced anymore. Unfortunately, it is still fair game in many quarters to indict Roman Catholics.

"One of the most vile canards ever invoked against Catholics is the rap that they are "un-American." This bigoted slur has its origins in the early part of the 19th century. It is more than disconcerting—it is disgusting—that it is still being made against Catholics in 2010. That it should come from the mouth of a radical feminist activist is not wholly surprising, but it is reprehensible nonetheless.

"As the clock winds down on the health care bill, anti-Catholicism is raising its ugly head with greater frequency. It is time for men and women of goodwill from all faith backgrounds, and on both sides of the abortion issue, to unequivocally denounce these bigoted expressions. What Mary Pollock said should be condemned by everyone."

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Finally, Amy Sullivan of Time Magazine´s Blog released a story last week entitled"Pelosi Aborts Stupak Negotiations." What a horridly insensitive title.  In it she wote,

"...because the negotiations with Stupak this week were actually negotiations with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, this decision by the Democratic leadership does mean that the bishops will probably end up opposing health reform. That puts some Catholic Democrats in an uncomfortable position, but not many of them seem to be letting the bishops' opposition drive their votes. If that opposition stands and yet health reform passes anyway, it would reflect an interesting weakening of the bishops' influence".

Yes, the US Catholic Bishops have now urged every catholic in the United States to oppose this Bill because it funds abortion. For those who have bought the lies coming from Speaker Pelosi and even some Catholics who are advancing them, here is the specific detail see the Bishops clear proof right here. Also, Catholics around the United States were to have received this insert in their Parish Bulletins this Sunday, March 14, 2010 calling them to oppose this legislation.

So, here we are, in the 11th hour - Maddow is Mad, NOW is Nasty. However, in an excellent interview with Robert Costa of National Review entitled 'They Just Want This Over´, Bart Stupak reveals where he is headed in this 11th hou - he is standing strong!

"This has really reached an unhealthy stage," Stupak says. "People are threatening ethics complaints on me. On the left, they´re really stepping it up. Every day, from Rachel Maddow to the Daily Kos, it keeps coming. Does it bother me? Sure. Does it change my position? No."

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