We return to North Carolina for the next installment in “Better Know an Anti-Choice Democrat.”  Mike McIntyre is from the other side of the state from Heath Shuler; North Carolina’s beautiful 7th district, which includes Wilmington and a decent chunk of the coast. 

It’s also been Democratic since 1899, when Theodore F. Kluttz succeeded Populist  Alonzo C. Shuford. The last Republican to represent that district was Alexander H. Jones, who left office in 1871. 

OK, I know, Democrats in 1915-ish were different than today. For one thing, they didn’t spend nearly as much time debating abortion politics. Still, this wasn’t exactly a district that had never voted Democratic before. The DCCC spent $270,246.62 to keep it Democratic in 2010, against the spectacularly loathsome (it’s true) Ilario Pantano, who was charged with premeditated murder of two unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2005 while serving as a second lieutenant with the US Marines. 

So I grant you that Mike McIntyre would have to be pretty bad to be THAT bad. But what else did the DCCC get for its money? (The race was the most expensive in North Carolina history.)

WELL!

“McIntyre said he supports the numerous, largely Republican state attorneys general suing the federal governmenton the grounds that the bill is unconstitutional, according to WECT.” 

Yep, he was one of three Democrats to vote with Republicans to repeal the health care bill. (What a surprise! The other two, Dan Boren and Mike Ross, are also members of the HR3 Ten! You will meet them soon, I promise.) That’s not just Blue Doggery, that’s seriously committed Blue Doggery.  (He’s also a “New Democrat”, because that worked out so well.)

Despite never having the slightest intention to vote for health care reform, McIntyre was disingenuously a signatory to the original Stupak letter demanding “no abortion funding” in the bill, and obviously voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment. 

So the Co-Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Responsible Fatherhood thinks that you shouldn’t have access to health care, but if that happens to sneak by him, you certainly shouldn’t be able to have an abortion. He’s a responsible father! No word on what he’s going to do about all the irresponsible fathers out there.

He’s also such a responsible father that he wants to make sure that kids everywhere get to keep their daddies’ and mommies’ money–he’s a cosponsor of the “Death Tax Repeal Act”, which would ensure that all those inheritances get to the rich kids of this country untouched by that greedy government. This is some sort of breathtaking hypocrisy from a supposed fiscal conservative who couldn’t vote for health care reform because it’s too costly. (And for someone who wants a Balanced Budget Amendment.) He wanted extension of the Bush tax cuts, of course. 

And being a responsible father doesn’t apparently include extending health care for kids, either–he voted against SCHIP the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. 

He’s also a cosponsor of HR 217, Mike Pence’s bill to defund Planned Parenthood. 

Who else does McIntyre think doesn’t deserve rights? If you guessed “immigrants,” you’d be right.  He’s one of three cosponsors of the “Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification and Illegal Immigration Control Act.” He also opposed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal.

If you can remember back that far (I’m sure you can) McIntyre supported giving the federal government the power to intervene in the Terri Schaivo case, and opposes stem cell research. 

Here’s the litany of stuff we’ve come to expect from the HR3 Ten: voting for war funding without benchmarks for withdrawal, extending FISA and the PATRIOT act. Voting for the Military Commissions act, too. 

For a fiscally-responsible Blue Dog, McIntyre sure does have a lot of earmarks–$111,777,500 worth. The top earmark was $12 million for Wilmington Harbor, requested along with Elizabeth Dole in 2009, but as usual, there are some military earmarks in there as well.

His top contributor was the National Association of Realtors, at $60,500. The National Association of Home Builders kicked in $52,000. As for industries, McIntyre has a lot of support among lawyers and law firms ($416,000) and tobacco ($175,550). 

Now, credit where due–McIntyre did introduce a bill to get the US the heck out of NAFTA, which is a sentiment I support wholeheartedly. So he’s not ENTIRELY bad. And he didn’t shoot any unarmed Iraqis. 

Do you want to ask Mike McIntyre why he thinks that children’s health care, adult’s health care, and oh yeah, our right to a safe and legal abortion are less important than the (admittedly lovely) Wilmington harbor or eliminating estate taxes for the ultra-rich? 

You can email him here, or contact his office:

2133 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2731 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (202) 225-2731      end_of_the_skype_highlighting phone
(202) 225-5773 fax

And of course, the DCCC: 

430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003
Main Phone Number: (202) 863-1500 

While you’re at it, you can ask them why they’re only asking for $100,000 for “the DCCC’s Women’s Health Rapid Response Fund.”  Antichoice Dems are worth $3.4 million and women’s health is worth $100,000?

Meet the rest of the antichoice HR3 Ten here. Meet Mike Ross next!