by Mark Rhoads
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd District in southwest Cook County) often makes a great show of attending Sunday mass at St. John of The Cross Parish in Western Springs and also makes a great show of pretending to be a leader on pro-life issues. He thinks today he got the political cover he needed by voting for the Bart Supak amendment that would have kept the Hyde Amendment in place and prohibited federal money being used to pay for taking the life of unborn innocent children. But when that amendment lost, Lipinski buckled to pressure and voted against his convictions and for the Pelosi bill which will pay for abortions.
Dan even has the chutzpah on his web site to claim just getting Pelosi to agree on allowing a vote on the Stupak Amendment was a "victory" for the pro-life cause even though it lost and Pelosi led the opposition. He also is dancing around the issue by saying he voted to "keep the process moving." What a lot of baloney. He is now trying to claim he won't vote for the Pelosi bill if it comes back from the Senate without the Hyde Amendment. Still more nonsense, then why did he vote for the Pelosi bill last night? Lipinski is not normally a bad congressman, but this is the worst and most immoral vote of his short career which now hopefully will get much shorter.
The third district is Democratic in the city parts of the district but even that part is socially conservative. In fact, the city precincts are more conservative than the RINOS who live in some farthest west suburban precincts. But the only reason Dan got elected in 2004 over other Democratic primary challengers was because people had high a regard for his father, former Congressman Bill Lipinski, who was s Blue Dog and always a reliable pro-life ally of the late Rep. Henry Hyde. So far apparently no Republican has filed to try to challenge Lipinski and it will be up to Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica and other GOP committeeman in the district to find a good challenger. I hope they don't lay down on the job and give Danny boy a pass. He deserves a real pro-life challenger who would be stong enough to stand up to pro-abortion fanatics such as Obama and Pelosi and Henry Waxman. A pro-life independent conservative Democrat with GOP backing could give Dan a run for his money in 2010. Some way must be found to educate Catholic and pro-life voters in Lipinski's district that Dan can no longer be trusted to stand up to the pro-abortion lobby when the chips are really down. Here below is the kind of nonsensical statement that Lipinski has on his web site in order to try to justify his vote for Pelosi. He is trying to be all things to all people as usual and his father Bill should be ashamed of him.
Just listen to this double talk from Dan. Who does he really think he is fooling? The fact remains that he voted for the Pelosi bill and it DOES NOW provide for taxpayer money to pay for abortions.
"After a painstaking review of its details, and after I succeeded in adding to it restrictions that will prevent taxpayer funding of abortion, I voted today to move the health care reform bill forward. Although it contains a number of critical reforms that I strongly support - including a ban on discrimination by insurers against people with preexisting conditions - this bill is far from perfect in my view, and it will not become law as it is currently drafted. But today's vote is only one step in the legislative process, and I will continue to work to improve the measure. If this bill does not improve when it comes back from the Senate, I will vote against it. Back in February, I made the same pledge on the stimulus bill, and when the Senate failed to return a better bill I did not vote for it. We need health care reform, but it must be the right reform. However, if we had defeated this bill today, we would have lost our opportunity to enact reforms we all know are needed."
"I greatly appreciate the thousands of constituents who have contacted me and my office to share their opinion on health care reform. I recognize that people feel very strongly about this issue, as health care is something that affects everyone. Having read the bill and spent hundreds of hours studying the health care system and speaking with experts, I realize that this bill has its shortcomings, but I believe it represents an honest approach to addressing many of the challenges people face under the current system. Too many people are uninsured and health care absorbs too much of working family budgets."
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