Obamacare backlash sends Democrats to the foxholes

There was no health care bounce. In fact, there has been something of a health care swoon.

Democrats have seen the favorable rating of their party drop to the lowest level ever recorded by Gallup — 41 percent — and the president’s job approval rating remains below 50 percent.

Now, as Congress returns to work after a two-week Easter break, the choice before the majority party is this: keep plunging ahead or start running for cover?

President Obama is brimming with transformational ideas. Aside from ratifying a controversial nuclear treaty and confirming a new liberal Supreme Court justice, Obama wants new rules on bank bailouts, immigration reform and global warming legislation.

But Democrats are feeling skittish after being back among their constituents.

Rep. Bart Stupak gave up his bid for a 10th term as tea partiers swarmed his Michigan district. Stupak’s retreat on his abortion concerns in the president’s health plan allowed the bill to become law. His flip-flop also seems to have undone his career.

His fellow Democrats were mostly mum about health care during the spring break.

When they did speak publicly, it was about bringing home the appropriations bacon or their efforts to create jobs.

The Washington Examiner

Looks like Stupak's healthcare dealings have sent him packing.

The public doesn't like a public official to cave on his principles, and Bart Stupak is now a shining example of how the public will hear none of it. If your Pro Life then be Pro Life. The public has had its fill of the gamesmanship in DC.

The Hill is reporting:

Rep. Bart Stupak to retire after last-second deal on healthcare

Rep. Bart Stupak is expected to announce his retirement Friday, weeks after his critical role in healthcare's passage.

Stupak, the centrist Michigan Democrat who crafted a last-second deal on abortion that allowed President Barack Obama's healthcare bill to pass the house and become law, will say during a press conference this morning that he won't pursue reelection this fall.

Stupak has been wrestling with whether to retire for weeks, and the brutal healthcare fight certainly played a role in his decision.

Stupak told The Hill that fighting the healthcare bill had been "a living hell" a little more than a week before the bill was approved by the House.

Telephone lines to his office were jammed, and he and his wife received nasty calls at home.

“All the phones are unplugged at our house — tired of the obscene calls and threats. She won’t watch TV,” Stupak said during the interview. “People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.”

Things didn't get easier for Stupak after he reached a deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrats that allowed his group of anti-abortion rights centrist Democrats to vote for the healthcare bill.

The Hill

Related: Want to be a Congressman? Stupak and others targeted and threatened. (Listen)
Conservative Voters to Democrats: "We're Coming and Hell is Coming With Us!"

Want to be a Congressman? Stupak and others targeted and threatened (Listen)

Bart Stupak Left Threatening Messages for Health Care Vote

In the wake of his vote in favor of health care reform legislation, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), a strong opponent of abortion rights, has been on the receiving end of a string of extremely hostile and threatening messages, including death threats.

Stupak's office released some of those messages to CBS News, and you can listen to them here.

"Congressman Stupak, you baby-killing mother f***er... I hope you bleed out your a**, got cancer and die, you mother f***er," one man says in a message to Stupak.

"There are millions of people across the country who wish you ill," a woman says in a voicemail, "and all of those thoughts that are projected on you will materialize into something that's not very good for you."

CBS News also obtained copies of faxes sent to Stupak, which include racial epithets used in reference to President Obama and show pictures of nooses with Stupak's name.

Read the rest of the article at CBS News

Prior to the vote, Stupak also received threatening messages from supporters of the Health Insurance Legislation.