The following quoted piece below is from Dr. Hunter, CEO of the Social Security Institute. If Republicans refuse to vote strategically as indicated in the referenced post, say goodbye to electoral gains for the GOP in November. A vote for any Stupak language effectively ushers in the end of any budding alliance between Tea Parties and the GOP. In short, lean and lean hard on the GOP to think carefully about any vote that expedites the passage of ObamaCare. Any vote for strengthening anti-abortion language in the healthcare bill is a vote for ObamaCare. To the point, anything that assists in the passage of ObamaCare is a tacit approval of ObamaCare. Excuses will not extricate the GOP from a blatant strategical failure and the subsequent loss of any goodwill by the electorate. There are many of us who will not rest until the public is completely aware of any betrayal of the Republican party concerning this matter. Obstruction and strategic voting is the only way to ensure the GOP maintains electoral gains. If the GOP had voted present in the first House vote, ObamaCare would be dead today. You can blame political expediency and the pro-life advocacy groups for this. I personally am pro-life, but do not appreciate the pro-life movement hijacking the fight against ObamaCare and pushing for votes that made it easier to pass this liberty stealing behemoth of a bill, knowing full well the language for federally funded abortion will make it into government run healthcare at some point in the future. The only solution is to kill the bill and they know it. If ObamaCare passes, they will be as much to blame as the Democrats.

As for Senator Stupak and those who claim to strongly resist federal funding of abortions, the game is up. Insult our intelligence and look for another job. It does not take a PhD to understand that once government controls healthcare, federal funding of abortions is a soon-to-be foregone conclusion. Just a little legislative fix down the road and say hello to your tax dollars being used to kill the unborn. Stupak knows it, the GOP knows it, and the pro-life groups know it. To use the combination of a social issue and the powder keg that is healthcare reform as a fundraiser knowing full well protection for the unborn is only temporary is pathetic. I hope the Tea Parties and other concerned citizens will inform pro-life groups that if they support ObamaCare in any way, they are supporting the use of federal funds for abortion regardless of what the language says or will soon say regarding this issue. They will pay and pay dearly for their worship of the dollar over the lives of the innocent.

If the tactic is to hang one’s hat on the Senate reconciliation process, Stupak knows better unless he is a complete idiot. Once the House bill is passed, ObamaCare is law, and the Democrats will pivot to jobs and off the issue in an effort to save their collective electoral butts. In either case neither Stupak or any who claim to be in his camp that subsequently votes for ObamaCare with the sorry excuse it now prohibits federal funding of abortion would expose themselves in all their glorious hypocrisy and contempt. A Representative who is disingenuous or a half-wit is no choice at all – unless the choice is to shove them out the door.

The following two posts, dated last year, still apply to the degree that strategic voting is discussed. It is shameful we must include the likes of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as opponents to the public will but also as opponents to the protection of the unborn. This left-wing organization’s only issue with ObamaCare is federally funded abortion. Fix that in the legislative language and they are quite happy with ObamaCare, even with the knowledge that federally funded abortion is all but guaranteed if ObamaCare passes. Hypocrisy, political expediency, and just plain stupidity are on the lunch menu today. We have met the enemy and he is us. The time of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is nigh.

Although the following posts are dated, much of the information is pertinent to the current situation:
Killing ObamaCare In The Senate – The Need For Strategic Voting and The Endgame Strategy To Kill ObamaCare – Lessons From The House Bill

From Dr. Hunter (italicized emphasis mine):

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops already has instant messaged their willingness not just to acquiesce in such shenanigans but also to actually mobilize the faithful to oppose any point of order in the Senate in order to lubricate passage of ObamaCare through the Senate:

The Roman Catholic bishops signaled Thursday that if agreement is reached with House leaders on anti-abortion language, the church would work to get the votes needed to protect the provisions in the Senate — and thereby advance the shared goal with Democrats of health care reform.

Now is the time for opponents of ObamaCare to focus, focus, focus on preventing Hoyer from maneuvering them into this corner. The only way for opponents of a government takeover of healthcare to prevent getting mouse trapped by a Separate Stupak is to recognize that the Stupak language and all Stupak lookalikes are a snare and a delusion.

NO legislative language will prevent ObamaCare once enacted into law from transforming very quickly into a federal abortion mill that provides abortion on demand. Given the obscure language inserted into the Senate Bill by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), which is being totally ignored by anti-abortion groups, even the strongest Stupak-like language will fail to stem a tide of transformative interpretations of bureaucrats and judges, which are sure to produce federally subsidized abortion on demand.

The Mikulski language gives plenary authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require every public and private healthcare plan in the nation to include “preventative services,” which is defined to include “abortion care.” Even without the Mikulski provision, both the House and Senate bills are shot through with provisions that will lead inevitably to federally subsidized abortion on demand.

There is simply no way cleanse the final bill of this authority without starting over. Hence, what anti-abortion Members of Congress and the pro-life groups must understand is that the only route to protecting the unborn from the effects of this bill is to defeat the entire bill. As long as Members of Congress and pro-life groups labor under the delusion that they can make ObamaCare safe for the unborn, they will actually serve as the President’s useful idiots and facilitate federal abortion on demand.

The political problem is there are many libertarians and moderate Republicans who oppose anti-abortion laws. This fact unnerves many Republican Members of Congress who therefore attempt to straddle the abortion issue so as not to offend moderate Republicans who agree with their libertarian constituents on abortion.

Stupak is a perfect straddle, which has the unfortunate by product of removing the last remaining block preventing enactment of ObamaCare into law. Unless Republicans refuse to take a pass on Stupak-like language, i.e., vote present on any Stupak vehicle however it is presented to them in the parliamentary chaos likely to ensue once the legislative bum’s rush begins—they will actually set the stage for enactment of ObamaCare into law.

The reluctance of Republican Members of Congress to help defeat Stupak language on strategic grounds is a huge political miscalculation. This miscalculation results from failing to comprehend the coincidence of interests on ObamaCare among libertarians/moderate Republicans and anti-abortion conservatives. Because of this blind spot, Senate Republicans are poised to make the same fatal mistake they made the first time around when they failed to comprehend the necessity of strategic voting on abortion language.

Read the whole thing.

Call pro-life groups, your Representative and Senator now. Tell them to resist strengthening ObamaCare and facilitating its passage. Let them know you are aware that if ObamaCare passes it is only a matter of time before federally funded abortion is a reality and that you will hold them personally responsible.

Michelle Malkin provides Stupak’s contact information:

Stupak’s contact info:

2268 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225 4735
(202) 225 4744 – Fax

Related:

Will Stupak be bought on Demcare?

AP: Stupak “more optimistic” on ObamaCare deal

Is Stupak Preparing to Cave?

Catholic bishops send message to faithful: We oppose ObamaCare

It is tiring writing about the complete lack of strategic thinking by the Senate GOP. Why they are unwilling to vote strategically on ObamaCare is a mystery to me. That latest casualty of a bunch of strategical dinosaurs is the rejection of the Dorgan amendment which would have allowed the importation of low cost drugs.

Before proceeding, one of the best primers on Unanimous Consent agreements requiring 60 votes can be found here. If one is confused by the procedural descriptions in the email I quote below from Dr. Larry Hunter, the gist of the matter is this: there is a procedural hurdle that can delay debate in the Senate on healthcare called the removal of Unanimous Consent. Below I link to a post on this site which goes into more detail. This tactic would effectively slow down and ultimately block ObamaCare from passage. The typical Republican excuse of not wanting to be labeled the “party of no” is also addressed.

Per an email I received from Dr. Larry Hunter (some editorial changes were made to translate from email shorthands to a more formal presentation):

Had the Dorgan re-importation amendment been adopted, it would have blown up the deal with Pharmaceuticals. This would have been another huge poison pill on top of the abortion poison pill that remains in the current Senate bill. Add on top the recent “public option/Medicare expansion” problem and ObamaCare would have been getting very heavy and taking on water.

The Republicans made several mistakes. First, they agreed to requiring 60 votes for the amendment to pass. But then, that was part of the original bigger problem in which they agreed to do everything by Unanimous Consent including making all amendments pass the 60-vote hurdle. Instead, they should have not agreed to any Unanimous Consents and filibustered every amendment, forcing Reid to file cloture, burn time and get 60 votes to shut off debate.

On the Dorgan amendment in particular, Republicans should have recognized the perfect opportunity to vote strategically, pass the amendment and put the poison pill in the bill. The amendment failed on a vote of 51 – 48, because it failed to get 60 votes. Here is how the vote broke down: 27 Democrats, 23 Republicans and 1 Independent voted in favor of Dorgan — 30 Democrats, 17 Republicans and 1 Independent voted no. Had but 9 of those 17 Republicans voted in favor of the amendment, it would have passed and the poison pill would have been in the bill and it would have punished Pharmaceuticals big time for selling out to Obama.

Better yet, Republicans should have never agreed to Unanimous Consent to begin with; forced Reid to file for cloture and then all vote no on Cloture. The Democrats would have been stuck between a rock and a hard place: Opponents of the Dorgan amendment would not want to invoke cloture because if they moved to a vote on the amendment itself, it would have passed with 51 votes; but had the opponents prevented cloture from being invoked, the Senate would have remained stuck on the Dorgan amendment and the Reid Bill could not have proceeded forward. You see, had the Republicans had their wits and guts about them, they could have tied the Senate up in knots and made life very, very difficult for Reid et al, and perhaps have weighted the bill down so much that it would have sunk of its own weight.

Once again, the GOP passed up the chance to be the party of no, which is why they poll lower than a generic Tea Party candidate. The American public does not want this bill, so being the party of no when it comes to this legislative boondoggle should make sense – to a sensible person – but then we are talking about the Senate GOP leadership and many of the GOP Senators themselves whose strategy is basically a non-strategy of being hands-off.

As the Tea Parties are the party of no, you would think the Senate GOP would pick up on the obvious and switch strategies. As explained here ObamaCare should be procedurally blocked at every turn, a fact even RNC Michael Steele is picking up on.

Next we have the pro-life movement whose complete lack of understanding of Senate strategy is going to bite them in the end. Make no mistake that their hero right now – Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) – is acting the part of Judas to the movement. In the end, through manager amendments, make no mistake that Nelson will get the language he needs to provide him coverage, but he language will be so obscure that, with the government running healthcare abortion will be covered, probably sooner rather than later. This is how DC works. By improving the bill you help guarantee its passage. Read The Endgame Strategy To Kill ObamaCare – Lessons From The House Bill and Killing ObamaCare In The Senate – The Need For Strategic Voting. From the later post:

The Republicans knew full well Pelosi’s plan but voted in the name of political expediency to include the Stupak amendment, all but guaranteeing the passage of healthcare legislation in the House. So twisted is the current legislative process that if the general public were truly aware of the posturing and cowardice of our so-called leaders it would sicken them. As Dr. Larry Hunter wrote to me in an email:

If you haven’t already figured it out, most everything that goes on inside Washington is pure posturing and self-serving. Most of these jokers would rather have the issue to raise funds on than win the battle. I knew asking people to engage in strategic voting would be a heavy lift, and it looks like it is going to be beyond them.

The reason politicians are able to pull off these shenanigans is the complete ignorance of many, but not all, of the public to the importance of strategic voting and our unwillingness to hold accountable those whose interests are self-serving, thereby aiding the enemy in the full-scale assault on our liberties and ultimately destroying this country. We must be willing to hold them accountable for their cowardice. Even more guilty are the tools of the Democrats, the Family Research Council, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Americans United for Life, and National Right to Life Committee. The reader may be shocked to read these groups are unwitting tools of the Democrats, but a useful idiot is a tool until they decide to quit being useful idiots.

Which is why I am frustrated this morning to read Stop the abortion mandate:

To get the latest breaking news from our nation’s capital, you are invited to participate in a LIVE webcast event on Tuesday, December 15, at 9 PM Eastern (6 PM Pacific, 7 PM Mountain, 8 PM Central.)

The event will be approximately one hour long. If you have access to the Internet — even with a dial-up connection — you can listen to the live webcast audio and ask questions.

During this important nationwide event, you will discover:

* The LATEST UPDATES straight from our nation’s capital…
* The shocking implications of the bill that the abortion industry is trying to ram through the United States Senate RIGHT NOW…
* Why respected leaders, national organizations, and pro-life people are joining together in record numbers to BLOCK this attempted power-grab…
* How YOU can make a difference at this crucial moment…
*… And much more!

We have met the enemy – and he is us.

While the Senate is the place to kill ObamaCare, to understand the dynamics of what must happen next it is important to understand the impact of the Stupak amendment to stop federally funded abortions on getting the bill passed in the House. Read: It Was The Stupak Amendment, Stupid. Before embarking on that journey, it is important to realize that winning this battle will require strategical voting, something many in the general public do not understand. It will require voting in a contrarian manner or at least voting present on an amendment if the vote itself will result in the death of the bill in question. To the point:

On the day of the vote on PelosiCare in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Democratic Leadership was at least 10 votes short of passing the bill because anti-abortion Members could not accept the prospect of government-funded abortions. Thus, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi allowed a vote on the Stupak Amendment, which provided anti-abortion Members a political fig leaf to hide behind even though as a matter of fact the amendment would be ineffective in preventing government-funded and assisted abortion once a government-run healthcare system is in place.

It is unambiguously clear that it was passage of the Stupak, anti-abortion amendment that allowed PelosiCare to pass the House. Had House opponents of PelosiCare had their strategic wits about them, they would have voted “present” on the Stupak Amendment, and it would have failed, thus taking down the entire Pelosi bill with it.

Defeating the entire Pelosi health bill by voting “present,” and hence defeating the Stupak Amendment would have been a far more effective way to prevent government-subsidized abortions than tacitly endorsing government-run healthcare by supporting a supposed prohibition on government-supported abortion that will be totally ineffective once a government-run healthcare system is in place. No legislative language will succeed in preventing bureaucrats, politicians and judges from finding a way to support abortions once the government takes over healthcare.

By supporting the Stupak fig leaf, anti-abortion forces snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on PelosiCare. That is what happens when single-issue politics run by Washington-based organizations strong arm Members of Congress. Four of the five leading anti-abortion organizations all issued conditional key-vote letters indicating they would score the vote on final passage of the Pelosi bill only if the Stupak Amendment was not adopted. In other words, these four groups told Members of Congress they would give them a free pass to vote “yea” on a government takeover of healthcare as long as it contained the anti-abortion fig leaf. Read the organizations’ letters: Family Research Council, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Americans United for Life, and National Right to Life Committee.

Read the whole thing, including the quoted Rush Limbaugh monologue. The Republicans knew full well Pelosi’s plan but voted in the name of political expediency to include the Stupak amendment, all but guaranteeing the passage of healthcare legislation in the House. So twisted is the current legislative process that if the general public were truly aware of the posturing and cowardice of our so-called leaders it would sicken them. As Dr. Larry Hunter wrote to me in an email:

If you haven’t already figured it out, most everything that goes on inside Washington is pure posturing and self-serving. Most of these jokers would rather have the issue to raise funds on than win the battle. I knew asking people to engage in strategic voting would be a heavy lift, and it looks like it is going to be beyond them.

The reason politicians are able to pull off these shenanigans is the complete ignorance of many, but not all, of the public to the importance of strategic voting and our unwillingness to hold accountable those whose interests are self-serving, thereby aiding the enemy in the full-scale assault on our liberties and ultimately destroying this country. We must be willing to hold them accountable for their cowardice. Even more guilty are the tools of the Democrats, the Family Research Council, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Americans United for Life, and National Right to Life Committee. The reader may be shocked to read these groups are tools of the Democrats, but a useful idiot is a tool until they decide to quit being useful idiots.

These groups should know better than anyone how strategic voting works – they lobby Washington all the time – but rather than play their cards correctly and take the time to educate their members, they would rather play right into the hands of Nancy Pelosi. As far as strategies go, our choice is either to pressure these groups to do what is in our best interests or be forced to quit considering them our strategic partners. As far as I am concerned, until they make the effort to do what is right for this country and perform the painful task required of them to educate their membership, they are as bad as the liberals trying to ram ObamaCare down our throats and I would hesitate to call them allies. Either they lack the will to do what is right, or their leadership is truly ignorant, and neither option is comforting.

The next fight in the Senate will require the same type of strategical voting – both on government funded abortion and on the public option. Many of the same players listed above will again play the role of useful idiots while spineless politicians cower in the corner at the very thought of strategic voting. It is the people who must pressure them to do what is right for this country – there will be no hiding behind skirts.

Based upon the above, it is clear how to defeat ObamaCare in the Senate.

Don’t forget to check out my discussion with Lewis K. Uhler and how 5 Republican Senators may hold the future of healthcare in their hands. A must read.

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Original Post

Update: ACLJ has Lawyers in Government Affairs Office working now on the legality of the White House spy program. Via the radio show today. To listen, see below (around 14:48 seconds into the show). Also read White House Spy Program Violates .Gov Domain Guidelines And Privacy Act of 1974 – Updates And Who To Contact.

Sign the petition The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ – think of the ACLU, only the opposite) website that asks Congress to remove abortion services from mandatory coverage in the health reform bill. Included in the petition is the following language (emphasis mine):

As a firm supporter of protecting life, I am deeply concerned about the official White House release calling on Americans to report those who make “fishy” statements about health care reform. The release is an attack on free speech and designed to stifle public debate about the health care issue.

Hear live casts and listen to archived radio shows at Jay Sekulow Live!. Play today’s show “Attack on Free Speech”, it’s a real eye opener. Forward the audio. GOP Sen. John Cornyn will be on the show tomorrow.

Related:

Is Obama Or Executive Branch In Violation Of The Privacy Act of 1974?

Bush Vs. Obama – Wiretapping Terrorists Vs. Spying on Citizens.

In other news and opinion:

“I hope Glenn Beck kills himself”

Thug life: Enter the unions

ACORN Watch: Louisiana investigates

Cornyn to Obama: Shut down Snitch Central