Fred Upton represents a blue-leaning district in western Michigan that Obama won 53-45% in 2008 and lost to Romney by a handful of votes. The biggest county in the 6th district, by far, is Kalamazoo. Upton only got 49% of the vote there last year (same as his under-funded opponent). On the same day, Obama took Kalamazoo County with 56% and Senator Debbie Stabenow swamped her GOP opponent 57-39%.The only reason Upton, an out-of-touch hereditary multimillionaire, keeps winning is because DCCC chairman Steve Israel has given him a free reelection pass and refuses to back anyone running against him. This year Paul Clements is the candidate and Israel has again gone out of his way to tell Democratic donors to not contribute to Clements' campaign. Blue America disagrees-- and we hope you'll see it our way and lend a hand.Upton is part of Boehner's inner circle and Boehner gave him the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, despite as shocking number of conflicts of interest. Upton was once a dependably mainstream conservative but his fear of a Tea Party primary has made him into a kind of right-wing robot in the last couple of years. He votes almost the exact same way as Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann, even if "his heart's not in it." He's so concerned by extremists who could vote him down in a GOP primary, that he's taken to ignoring the best interests of the normal people in his district.So it was with some surprise last week when Boehner started touting Upton's OpEd on a Fox website as the long-waited Republican answer to healthcare-- beyond, "go to an emergency room" or "die quickly." Upton must be hoping his Tea Party constituents can't or don't read. He sure agrees with a lot of what President Obama says is good about the Affordable Care Act-- and what the crazed, drooling teabaggers call Obamacare. In fact, most Republicans would reject almost everything Upton claims about Republican Party healthcare intentions. Among the most blatant lies:
• We support expanding affordable insurance options for all Americans, but not in a one-size-fits-all way.• We will protect people with pre-existing conditions, so they are not denied insurance coverage through no fault of their own.• We preserve and improve Medicare for our seniors by giving them better options and more choices.• We strengthen the safety net for the poor and disabled by giving governors flexibility to provide higher quality, innovative services for the most vulnerable. And we ensure medical research continues to find cures for challenging diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.
Clements seems almost amused by Upton's disingenuous approach. "Mr. Upton," he asked him, "if you agree so much with President Obama on health care solutions, why not work with him?" His statement:
I am delighted to learn from Congressman Fred Upton’s recent letter on FoxNews.com that he supports so much of the President’s Affordable Care Act. He supports expanding affordable insurance options for all Americans, protecting people with pre-existing conditions, expanding affordable individual-based options, preserving and improving Medicare, and strengthening the safety net for the poor.Mr. Upton, since you agree with President Obama on so much, why not work with him?Although the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, confirmed by the Supreme Court, in a stunning waste of legislative energy Upton and his fellow House Republicans have voted against it 40 times in the past three years.Now Mr. Upton announces that he supports many of its principles, but still he wants to sweep it away and start over.Mr. Upton, whatever dream world you have drifted off to, please come home. The way to improve something you largely support is to discuss, negotiate, and compromise. This is how we get government that works.
We will also make a big step towards a government that works by replacing Fred Upton in Congress with Paul Clements. If you'd like to help, you can do that here. It makes a lot more sense than contributing to the DCCC and seeing your money go to support the Republican-lite candidates favored by Steve Israel.