Ridiculous tea party? I consider myself a part of the tea party movement and I am no more ridiculous than you Rick! Bart needs to go because he can't take a stand and stick with it. We need people who know what they believe, proclaim what they believe, and act on what they believe. THAT is what the tea party movement really is and that's why liberals are so threatened by it. I believe the strength of our nation has always been our diversity. Unfortunately we now have a political system in place that is trying to make us all the same. They want us all on equal ground with the same pay, medical coverage, education, etc.... They want to tell us how to heat and cool our homes, what cars to drive and what can be said on the internet, radio, and cable tv. A lot of incumbents need to go and we need to replace them with people who know what they believe and are willing to fight for it.
While I believe Mr. Stupak feared this November's election I do not believe it is for the reason most may believe. I do not believe he feared the ridiculous Tea Party. All polls to date showed Stupak ahead of both his democratic rival and even those he may have faced on the republican side in the fall. I do believe he feared the radicals on both sides who were either anti-abortionists or health care reform haters. Constant harassment from these people, including vulgar and threatening phone calls to his office and home were taking a toll. I would prefer that he had braved it out and ran anyway, but it's easy for someone who has no children or a spouse to say what they would do in a case like this. As we know that he is married with a child it's not so easy to think what one would do with the same circumstances. Especially considering that the death threats he has received have even included both his wife and only surviving son. After the death of his son Bart Jr., it's not hard to imagine how one would want to protect the family he still has left. It's truly sad when anti-abortionist radicals and anti-health care attackers force a genuinely good man out of office. We all have to make hard decisions, even some that we don't always agree with simply because it's for the better of everyone involved. It's called compromising. We all do it. It's just a shame that Tea Party activist hypocrites and others used it as a basis to attack a good man.