So say several liberal Democrats who were there, to media, who were not allowed in. Gutsy…
President Obama “reinforced” his stance on the controversial contraception mandate while speaking at the Democrats’ annual retreat at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. today, Senate Democrats said.
The retreat was closed to media.
Following President Obama’s speech at the retreat, a small group of Senate Democrats, mostly women, left the retreat early in order to hold a news conference on Capitol Hill to counter the Republicans’ news conference today at which they called for the mandate to be overturned.
Democrats said they will “fight strongly” to keep the mandate in place.
Well, other Democrats are joining the fight but on the other side, exposing the president’s party to the possibility of civil war going into primaries and the general election. Former DNC head and current Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine is not on board. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is not on board. He is teaming up with Sen. Marco Rubio to fight the mandate. Sen. Bob Casey, the pro-life Democrat who defeated Rick Santorum in 2006, is pushing back against the mandate. Former Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania now regrets voting to pass ObamaCare. Poor Bart Stupak, the pro-life Democrat who sold his vote for a bowl of empty Obama promises, says Obama could strip out the mandate if he wanted to. So…he just doesn’t want to.
What do most of these Democrats have in common, besides evidence of a conscience? They’re in states Obama needs in the fall. It’s the liberals in the states Obama already has in his pocket who are coming up with brilliant arguments about $600 a year being just too great a burden to pay for people to sustain their lifestyles. If that argument holds, we all should demand ObamaCare pay for our cell phones (since millions of Americans are already getting those paid for by the government) and cable bills. Hey, who are they to judge me for my chosen lifestyle of watching sports and the History Channel? If you listen to the progressive Democrats, living with your nuclear family in a home you’re actually paying for is now an alternate lifestyle.
The president is flirting with war in his own party, and does not seem to be responding to the normal democratic process here. He is violating the Constitution to satisfy a far left and very statist view on the role and authority of government, by taking a wrecking ball to the wall separating church and state. And if those liberal Democrats who support him are right, he’s not backing away any time soon.
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