It's no secret that Congressman Bart Stupak has been attacked quite a bit lately by my friends on kos and me. But he seems to like it, and since he's my Congressman, I had to send him an e-mail to let him in on what democrats in Michigan, in his district are saying about him. Read on to see my message.
So, the New York Times featured Rep. Stupak in an article this week, and after reading it, I felt Stupak came off arrogant and was shoving his personal views down the throats of his supporters. Since I am well-acquainted with him and some of his staff (I work at a newspaper and have met with Stupak and staff members several times), I felt his Press Secretary deserved to hear from me.
First off, here's a link to the NYT piece: http://tinyurl.com/...
And here's my e-mail.
Michelle,
This is (removing my name), editor of the (removing the name of my newspaper), from my personal e-mail account. I just read the Congressman's NY Times article, and personally, I feel very upset after reading it. Not because of the abortion measure, but because of the way he seems to jovially predict healthcare reform's demise at the end. After all of this time the House and Senate has spent to try to make people's lives better, I would expect a member of the party that has long-strived for universal healthcare, a man who I saw defending the reform in person at a town hall, to show optimism and willingness to play give and take, as the House has already played with him and as the Senate did with other "Conservadems." I also am very distressed about the way the Congressman seems to condescend Michigan voters when he says he can't win the state governorship because of his views on abortion and guns. He knows better, and we, as voters know better. We are well accustomed to conservative points of view and ideologies. As a person who supports Democrats and was happy to vote for Rep. Stupak in 2008, I am highly disappointed in the article I read today. Again, not because of his conservative views, but due to the fact that he seems to not care about his supporters. Maybe he needs to recall how non-Democrats treated him at the Standish town hall. These were the same type of people who share a similar view on abortion to Mr. Stupak. He was mostly mocked and not well-received. The way he talked in the NYT article, he seemed to embrace those people more than liberals in the first congressional district who have supported him for years.
That support may not be there when he needs it again. I hope he supports healthcare reform and I hope he continues to serve in the House of Representatives. But I believe he has put himself in serious jeopardy. As I said, this has nothing to do with the newspaper or my job as editor, and this e-mail will not affect my working relationship with the Congressman in the future. However, on a personal level, I am very disappointed in Rep Stupak and hope he doesn't put his own pride above 45,000 deaths per year and increasing bankruptcies due to health insurance.
Thank you very much and I hope to hear back.
By the way, I did hear back:
(Name removed again), I will certainly pass your email on to the congressman. You have always been fair in your coverage and great to work with, and I want to assure you that the concerns you have expressed here will in no way alter that relationship from this end either.
At least it seems we can both be courteous.
Discuss below, if you'd like. The Chairperson of my county democratic party was forwarded this e-mail and she agreed 100%. By the way, she's in her 60's, I'm 25 (until Jan. 26, happy birthday to me).
Also, I am running for state representatvie for Michigan's 97th District. I will soon post links to my facebook page and campaign blog, both of which will include many, many photos.