Hypocrisy

Before I say anything else, I should point out that most of the text of this post was originated previously and is located elsewhere on this site, but I believe it needs to be mentioned again and again and again.

As we know, Repug Mike Fitzpatrick has portrayed himself as a “moderate” in a district that has trended toward Democratic candidates in elections going back into the 90s. He succeeded Republican Jim Greenwood, who eventually threw in the towel, took a nice payout from Big Pharma, and retired to “K” street where he’s (presumably) living happily ever after.

I would ask that you keep this in mind while you read about the latest slime tossed by Fitzpatrick at Patrick Murphy; namely, that Murphy is a “hypocrite” for accepting money indirectly from Jack Abramoff’s clients, while Murphy has criticized Fitzpatrick for accepting donations from Abramoff via Tom DeLay (Mikey has done well from his one-time relationship with DeLay, who is up to his neck in legal trouble with Abramoff).

As we know and as I’ve pointed out many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times, Abramoff’s clients have done nothing wrong. Abramoff himself, on the other hand, is quite another story.

And as for Fitzpatrick’s “moderation”:

- Fitzpatrick voted for the House Immigration bill that would have punished priests and ministers performing aid work for illegal aliens (“undocumented”…whatever, with House cheese head and Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner saying complaints against the bill amounted to “a hysteria”). Financial penalties and jail time could follow, including up to five years in jail.

(I’m sure the Bucks County Courier Times would be shocked – absolutely shocked – to know that Fitzpatrick supported legislation that would hurt members of his own church. After all, Mikey’s such a good, Christian man who – and the paper NEVER misses an opportunity to let us know this – has fathered six children.)

- Fitzpatrick said he would support stem cell research when running for his seat in 2004, then contradicted himself by voting against HR 810 which would have enabled research using cells that would otherwise be discarded.

- Fitzpatrick voted to inject himself into the Terri Schiavo fiasco (where Dr. Bill Frist made his wonderful T.V. “diagnosis” that there was somehow brainwave activity going on in a terminally comatose woman).

- Fitzpatrick voted with Tom DeLay and the Republican leadership 86 percent of the time, according to The Washington Post.

- Fitzpatrick voted to strip away the Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances by withholding funds to a federal court in Indiana because he didn’t like a decision rendered by the court (HR 2862).

- Fitzpatrick voted to eliminate contraceptives from the list of prevention methods available under a new program to treat and prevent obstetric fistula—a debilitating injury with lifelong consequences for women. Simply, this vote jeopardizes the health and lives of women by limiting access to a full range of family planning options.

- Fitzpatrick voted for the budget bill that hurts children, senior citizens, students, working families, and child-support collection efforts, all the while protecting special interests and doing nothing to cut the debt (See Roll Call #s 601, 670, and 4). The bill was so bad that the Catholic Bishops opposed it, because it “failed to ‘meet the needs of the most vulnerable among us;’” but Mike called it “reasonable.”

I could go on and on about Fitzpatrick, but this is enough for now.

I don’t know in what universe someone like Fitzpatrick could be considered a “moderate,” but certainly none that I know of (and if that’s what he really was, when then would you make of this?).

Oh, and by the way, did you know that Mikey was a law school classmate of Sen. Scumwad?