Pro-Life Lipstick Meets Pelosicare Pig

Nothing is perfect. No person is perfect. Pelosi's bill is not only imperfect, it is seriously flawed. Putting some lipstick on this pig of a bill doesn't make it pretty or perfect. It's still a pig. The lipstick comes in the form of a Stupak Amendment to provide some pro-life insurance to the bill in case it passed. That's like putting lipstick on the pig in case you have to kiss it. Unfortunately, without the lipstick, this pig wouldn't need kissing.

It's understandable that pro-life advocates want that insurance. Politics takes a back seat to defending life. I get that. But if ever there was an example of placing personal objectives above team goals this was it. By doing so the team of those against this bill suffered an unnecessary loss. The bill would have failed if 3 votes had changed. 3 votes out of 220 in favor of this money-sucking pig. On such a contentious vote, 3 votes could have been found without the protection of Stupak.

The real frustration is that the Stupak Amendment (which I tweeted on Twitter was a Trojan Horse), gave an out to many Blue Dog Democrats a way to vote for the bill with less risk of political repercussions in 2010. Sadly, I was right.
I haven't cross-tabbed the results but take a look at those Democrats who voted for Stupak and for Pelosicare. I bet there are more than three Representatives.

And it gets worse. There is no guarantee that the Amendment will even stay in the bill when it gets reconciled with the eventual Senate version. The lipstick might get wiped off the pig before you have to kiss it.

So what was the point besides standing on principle? The bill could have been defeated in it's entirety without this amendment. True you don't play politics with human life. But in the end the Stupak piece will be pulled out of the bill, which passed enabled by the Stupak vote. Whatever happened to united we stand, divided we fall?

This isn't about blame. This process is far from over. The NOW crowd is already rumbling over Stupak and is threatening Senators with political trouble if their version includes the same stipulation that federal funds may not be used for abortions. In this case ironically, two political wrongs might make a right.

There's a shot a redemption here for all conservatives, pro-life or otherwise. That is, provided teamwork is a guiding principal. Conservatives of all stripes need to remember that liberalism is unrelenting. Since FDR's time the ultimate example of scope creep has been on display. Government has never stopped growing. Social morality has consistently decayed. Freedom has regularly eroded. The march can be slowed, even stopped at times. It has never in any significant way, been reversed, even under Reagan. All we can offer in response is eternal vigilance. That, a true sense of team and a willingness to get a bit dirty in the effort.