Neugebauer Admits to Yelling ‘Baby Killer’

The great mystery of the passage of health care reform is resolved. Who yelled “baby killer” at Bart Stupak during the debate over the motion to recommit? Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer just now issued the following statement:

“Last night was the climax of weeks and months of debate on a health care bill that my constituents fear and do not support.  In the heat and emotion of the debate, I exclaimed the phrase ‘it’s a baby killer’ in reference to the agreement reached by the Democratic leadership.  While I remain heartbroken over the passage of this bill and the tragic consequences it will have for the unborn, I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself.

“I have apologized to Mr. Stupak and also apologize to my colleagues for the manner in which I expressed my disappointment about the bill.  The House Chamber is a place of decorum and respect.  The timing and tone of my comment last night was inappropriate.”

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Related Topics: abortion, bart stupak, health care reform, randy neugebauer, vote, Congress, Democratic Party, Health Care, Republican Party
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  • tstar3

    Well Well we see that there really is no difference between a teabagger and a GOP congressman

  • allthingsinaname

    What abortions? It doesn’t provide money for abortions. Is he heartbroken over the excellent care it will provide for the unborn too?.
    .
    Wasn’t there a study that suggest that the Health Care reform in MA may have actually reduced abortions in that Stater?
    >
    It may now be cheaper to have the baby then to abort the baby.

  • deconstructiva

    Thanks, Jay, mystery solved. Was Neugebauer previously stonewalling or denying this by replying, “You lie!”? I asked Amy if Stupak will now face serious primary challenges – either from progressives po’ed with his abortion stalling tactics or from (now former?) anti-abortion allies for voting yes. She didn’t reply. Do you know?
    .
    And BTW, thank you for your HCR coverage and thanks to KT, Katie and Amy. Many are praising KT in her last post (including me, again) and deservedly so; I wanted to make sure you got props too, Jay.

  • sassiestsf

    I have just made a campaign contribution to Neugebauer’s opponent in the 19th District, Andy Wilson.

  • scottfburg

    What a bag of scum. I hope he faces a censure or some punishment for blatantly violating the Congress’ rules of decorum. Unfortunately, since he comes from a state in which many people agree with what he said, I suspect he’ll be cheered at home just like that other loser Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson. It’s like the Civil War never ended for some of these ignoramuses.

  • drsonnie

    What a shame that a great Republican Party has to resort to name calling, faggot, nigger, baby killer. I remember when they had ideas and could actually present ideas.
    The Tea Party control of the Grand Old Party has labeled them as racist.

  • Ivy_B

    Thanks for your work, Jay.

    decon, Connie Saltonstall is running against Stupak in the primary. The GOP challenger says he is energized because he thinks she’ll be easier to defeat, but he is also sure he can beat Stupak.

  • http://myweeklylisten.wordpress.com rickterp

    Well, it will be very interesting to see how much money Neugebauer raises from Tea Partiers in the next 24 hours after this admission — should be worth big bucks in fundraising from the rubes.

  • Ivy_B

    Neugebauer is also a birther. What a guy!

  • charlieromeobravo

    “I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself.”
    .
    I believe this statement about as much as a believe that last night’s bill established government run death panels.

  • deconstructiva

    Thanks, Ivy. I’ll be watching this race. The tight races will be interesting and I’ll look for the coverage here. With R’s stonewalling and D’s reluctantly doing the right thing, I wonder how much fallout will really happen.

  • charlieromeobravo

    is he really? If that’s true then this will make him a Tea Bagger folk hero…

  • charlieromeobravo

    is he really? If that’s true then this will make him a Tea Bagger folk hero. I’m shocked that he wait this long to claim responsibility and claim his prize.

  • Ivy_B

    According to GregMitchell via Twitter – Rep. Neugebauer, suspect in baby killer shout, was co-sponsor of bill calling for prez candidates to produce birth certificates.

  • bobcn1

    Now that we’ve got this name can we also get the names of the people who:

    o shouted N*gger at Congressman Lewis
    o spat on Congressman Cleaver
    o shouted F*ggot at Congressman Frank
    o shouted Wetb*ck at Congressman Rodriguez

    And, of course, the hundreds of teabaggers that have been screaming epithets and insults at public forums and waving around posters of Obama with a Hitler mustache or surrounded by swastikas and the hammer and sickle. The republican leaders (not just the back-benchers) who address these people at rallies don’t express a peep of disapproval.

    This IS the modern republican party. It has been catering to and cultivating extremists for years. The (rare) republicans who speak out against this kind of behavior (or the vicious rhetoric of Malkin, Coulter, Palin, Beck, etc.) only seem to find their voice when they’re challenged about it.

    Newt Gingrich warned that if the dems passed health care “They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years” (link)

    Honorable behavior seldom seems to enter into modern republican political calculations. The days when the party would separate themselves from crackpots like the Birchers are long gone. As long as they continue to behave this way they will only continue to drive decent people away from them.

  • Joe Bftsplk

    Thinking of poor impulse control, where are our pet trolls today? I was SOOO looking forward to hearing from them. I’ve seen a few posers in the early threads, but not our regulars. Did I miss a thread?

  • deconstructiva

    …you haven’t. Rusty and his frat brothers are missing today. I guess Galt’s Gulch no longer offers internet service. Or they’re still unpacking their bags in Costa Rica. Now CR definitely offers net service, yes? Isn’t that where some online betting sites are located?

  • Joe Bftsplk

    Thanks, decon.
    Surely they haven’t run out of specious arguments to make, so I was presuming that they were all hiding behind (or sleeping under) bottles of cheap hootch.
    I hadn’t considered that you probably can’t log on while en route to foreign havens of True Americanism.

  • lou58lou

    I do not object to a health care option. I do object to this one. No one asked the American public what we wanted in a health care bill. The one passed is unconstitutional; the Government is already being sued by a number of States. The Government always does stuff half a$$ed, and underhanded and expects us to take it. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Take a survey of what WE want; not a bunch of back door dealings, and lawyers who DO NOT have a clue. And a bill that is plain and simple, NO PORK, and not in lawyer speak. We as Americans deserve better than the crap that was voted on. Vote the bums out. This bill should have been done by States not the Feds.

  • deconstructiva

    …we’re well aware of the 10th Amendment vs. Interstate Commerce Clause™ MMA match. Are you?

  • shepherdwong

    What’s the matter with Texas?

  • apollyon07

    Things are actually going quite swimmingly in Texas. We were the last state to enter the recession and are expected to be the first to exit it, and are below the national average on unemployment. Pretty remarkable considering how huge and diverse our population is.

  • apollyon07

    Well said, lou. It’s an understood rule in politics that the ends justify the means, and this has been seen to be as true as ever with this nonsense. I am salivating at the thought of this reaching the Supreme Court. And you can bet that Alito is doing the same.

  • redisasreddoes

    Call this BUFFOON and let his office know what kind of an embarrassment he really is. (I know some of you kool-aid drinking faux news talking points posters will do just the opposite)

    Phone: (202) 225-4005
    Phone: (806) 763-1611
    Phone: (432) 264-0722
    Phone: (325) 675-9779

  • alr585

    Doesn’t the government pass bills/laws all the time without consulting the American public? How do you suggest that the government ask every single person what they want? It would take way too much time, so our government makes decisions that would benifit the population. Personally I am all for universal health care. I think it is our right as citizens and this bill is one step closer to giving that to us. I guess I don’t see the problem with everyone receiving the care that they should be receiving without paying hundreds of dollars every month.

  • artraveler

    Apollo, you forgot that you are also below average on average intelligence.

  • sue_n

    Wow, Apollyon07, “swimmingly”? Really? Wish I lived in your Texas instead of mine, then. Here in my Texas, folks have been/are getting laid off left and right, and those who aren’t are living so close to the bone it hurts.

    Also, my Texas:
    * has one of the highest rates (if not the highest) of uninsured residents in America, at 25%.
    * has one of the highest rates of uninsured children in America, at 20%.

    In addition, since Rick Perry became king, insurance premiums in Texas have risen more than 90 percent.

    So while you’re swimming, remember, lots of other Texans are drowning.

  • mbaumga

    Absolutely. I begin to wonder what country I actually live in. I did not believe that someone would have spit on John Lewis until I saw it with my own eyes. I’ve rarely seen such hysteria as exhibited on the floor last night. It was (unfortunately) quite laughable at times. You just can’t get through to these folks. My husband (a native of Switzerland, the last European country to pass universal healthcare in 1994) is thunderstruck. He can’t believe his eyes either. What planet do these Republicans live on? They just get worse, not better, they don’t even stay the same! I have lived in England, France, Italy and Switzerland, all countries with a universal health care system, and I received excellent, actually superb, top-notch healthcare in all countries (yes, in England, too, although I had a private “top up plan” so that I could see specialists quickly). People who have never experienced what it is like to live in a country with guaranteed health care have no idea what a secure feeling it gives you. You also live your life quite differently. My husband told me that when the debate was going on in Switzerland about healthcare reform, the government and the “people” were completely in favor of passing healthcare reform and it was (of course) the phamaceutical companies who were against it. The country was for it. They decided as a people that it was a moral, as well as an economic imperative that everyone be covered. It is just common sense. I simply do not understand the selfishness and narrow mindedness of some Americans. They keep spouting off about freedom? Well, their freedom will soon be over if they lose their jobs and then lose their healthcare. They can then live freely on the streets and have all the freedom that they want. Certainly change makes one uneasy, but this is ultimately change for the better. Where was the outrage when we were propagating a war that has cost our country billions? Where is the R outrage on that? I read somewhere that if we cut the DoD budget by 1% we could easily cover everyone in this country with healthcare. The R’s talk about waste? Who are they kidding? They are so disingenuous. Not that the HCR bill that was passed is going to change everything overnight, but at least it’s a start. And I am one of the people who wanted the public option, because I have experienced it in England, France and Italy in different forms. It’s too bad we could not have the French system, as it’s publicly funded but privately adminstered. Every healthcare system is going through changes because of the strains of the global economy, but that we should STILL be fighting about health equity is ludicrous in this day and age. Who started the social security system? The US did — and then the Europeans took the concept and ran with it. I feel we are going backwards in this country not forward.

  • mbaumga

    Sorry, but you pay for Social Security, for Medicare, Medicaid, etc. My taxes go for a whole host of things that I don’t particularly agree with but there you are. I don’t have children and it irks me a bit that I have to pay sky high property taxes that basically go to funding public schools. But of course I pay them because I want students to be educated. I want the roads fixed, too. No one asked me personally if I wanted to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that REALLY annoys me, but that ‘s the way it is. Do I think the bill is great/perfect? Of course not. But as people have said, it’s a first step. And believe me, you would not want the reform to be done state by state.

  • apollyon07

    artraveler, I think the people on here that have actually engaged with me on the issues would disagree with that. You, on the other hand, resorted to using a petty (and unrelated) insult with the maturity level of a 12 year old. Good job.
    .
    sue, yes we are at strikingly bad levels in terms of coverage. However, one indicator like that does not doom the rest of the economy. As far as this recession goes, Texas has remained in good shape in terms of GDP, unemployment, and general fiscal health. Look up how our numbers on those 3 areas compare to the rest of the country.
    .
    And it isn’t “your Texas” or “my Texas”. Numbers are numbers. Be glad you aren’t living in California, also known as a “job-free zone”.

  • CP in FL

    mbaumga- I agree with what you said. Some paragraph breaks would make this easier to read :)

  • apr2563

    Did you see the picture of 4 Rep. congress people out on a balcony waving a banner and encouraging the tea baggers. Rep. Anthony Weiner said he went out on the balcony and it made him feel like Mussolini. Love it. He and Jon Stewart must have had great laughs as roomies in college.

  • apr2563

    What’s wrong with Texas? Governor Good Hair (thanks Molly Ivins), a board taking schools books back to Creationist idiocy (add Phyllis Shafly as a American icon), before Governor Good Hair, Governor Shrub Bush (thanks Molly Ivins).
    ..
    What’s wrong with Texas? No more Molly Ivins.

  • bobcn1

    mbaumga — well said.
    .
    The paragraph breaks for replies on Swampland are broken. The convention people have adopted is to separate paragraphs with a dash or dot (as I’ve done above).

  • http://boremetotears.com Lynn

    :) at “Is he heartbroken over the excellent care (the legislation) will provide for the unborn too?” Excellent question.

  • carolynccrone

    one difference is teabaggers don’t like the GOP

  • Hesed

    Abortion is taking the life of a little boy/girl.

    The murder of babies inside and outside the womb seems worse when we see them as they are: little boys and girls.

    The Dems will pay at the polling places.

  • Hesed

    Can’t be much. They gave us two great presidents!

  • carolynccrone

    Send Neugebauer some money and he will open your mail. He might even send you a photo like Palin did for me. Any donation over $1,000 gets a photo. All I got from Obama was a request for more.

  • sacredh

    Lyndon Johnson and who else?

  • apollyon07

    Dwight Eisenhower.

  • justmy02cents

    I can only ASSUME that you are equally disgusted with the blatant violation of congressional rules used by Mr. Reid, Ms. Pelosi and our esteemed leader Mr. Obama to unconstitutionally nationalize 17 % of the United States economy….if not then you are a hypocrit…
    .

  • justmy02cents

    RUBE – noun Informal.
    an unsophisticated person from a rural area; hick.

    I am neither unsophisticated nor from a rural area, how does that comport with your concept of a “Tea Party” person?

    Although most of the founders were from rural areas, their brilliance at the construction of the Constitution of the United States should be obvious … even to you.

    I sometimes wonder if the current administration and pseudo elites like you have ever read and understood the actual documents.

  • justmy02cents

    Hope you stay healthy.

    Otherwise you will find out firsthand

  • larabee4444

    Go to Andy Wilson, his opponent’s site and donate!!
    http://www.istandwithandy.com/get-involved/donate-now

  • phillyska

    Jimmy – My definition of Rube (or Moron…your choice) is someone who doesn’t speak out against or hold people accountable who do any of the following:
    o shouted N*gger at Congressman Lewis
    o spat on Congressman Cleaver
    o shouted F*ggot at Congressman Frank
    o shouted Wetb*ck at Congressman Rodriguez

    I can add a few more things – yelling out “Liar” at the President during a joint session of Congress, yelling “Baby Killer” at a Congressman during a session of te House of Reps (yeah – sure he was yelling “It’s a baby killer” even if no tape reflects that…but same point about rudeness).

    If the label fits…wear it.

  • phillyska

    Jimmy 1 cent – Scott didn’t say he was “disgusted” just hoped the Congressman would face censure. Hey – since you’re such a pedantic debater, I thought I’d point out that you need to actually read the comments and not ASSUME you’ve read them.

  • phillyska

    Jimmy no sense – As a healthcare industry executive (who is very pro-healthcare reform), I can tell you firsthand that the panels you fear exist now – in insurance companies. They run multiple care review and disease management panels that make decisions for “private” buyers. I know because my business is to track these decisions and benchmark the trends.

    So, yes we all needed to stay healthy before this law passed…your health plan would have dropped your coverage.

  • phillyska

    Hey – I’m not from TX but in spite of all the problems and much of social policy that I can’t stand, what I like about TX is that you get what you see – open corruption, open racism (from some), but clear opinions. Most people are polite but upfront. Much prefer that to the yelling across crowds that happens out east (e.g. NJ) or in CA.

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