SCHIP

And that is a "victory" for you. Just ask Rep. Steve King, someone who apparently loves the thought of sick and dying children.

You get to stay away from the doctor and hospitals and maybe even having your life saved!

President Bush vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have expanded government-provided health insurance for children, his second slap-down of a bipartisan effort in Congress to dramatically increase funding for the popular program.

It was Bush's seventh veto in seven years — all but one coming since Democrats took control of Congress in January. Wednesday was the deadline for Bush to act or let the bill become law. The president also vetoed an earlier, similar bill expanding the health insurance program.

Bush vetoed the bill in private.

Love

George, Laura and Barney!!

Final vote was 273-156. The sick Republicans were cheering when the override failed. Glad to see they find illness and death involving children as something to cheer for.

44 Republicans voted with Democrats and two Democrats crossed over. The most upsetting part of this is it shows that the "House of Representatives" doesn't represent the people. Instead a majority of the minority party choose to Represent the worst President in American history. They do not deserve to be re-elected.

UPDATE:

Steve Benen makes a great point here:

Here’s the key number to keep in mind: last month 45 House Republicans voted for his bill. Today, that number dropped to 44.

In other words, after weeks of media scrutiny, public debate, constituent phone calls, right-wing smears of innocent families, and intense lobbying, the Republican Party ended up going backwards on providing healthcare for low-income kids.

I wonder how long until the wingnuts attack this person that changed sides?

For years right wingers would taunt out the fact that Democrats were in the minority. That minority was very slim though. Both times Bush won the White House, it was so damn close.

So these same wingnuts who so boldly reminded us of our minority status over the past several years now find themselves in the minority. This isn't by a few percentage points either.

Let me explain:

Eight in 10 Americans favor expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP, including large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

While the president has raised concerns about the additional cost of expanding S-CHIP, those who favor the proposal say they'd even be willing to pay more in taxes to help the program cover more children.

More generally, the poll finds that only about one in five Americans (22 percent) approve of the president’s handling of health care. That's lower even than his approval rating on Iraq (26 percent).

Ideologues like Michelle Malkin are thumping their chests over the S-CHIP fiasco going on. They have attacked children and basically advocated for abortion because a parent doesn't have insurance (right to life unless it costs money!). That is how pathetic they have become, and now they are in the super-minority. 22% of this country approves of Bush's veto. That sounds about like the FOX audience.

The problem is how these wingnuts approached the whole argument. They told lies to smear a 12 year old who suffered severely from an accident. For example - Malkin has constantly talked about insurance plans for a couple of hundred dollars. Wow! What a deal! Well she does fail to mention the fact that insurance companies will reject pre-existing conditions, such as these children suffer.

It is just another case of forgetting facts that the wingnuts are best known for. And when Malkin cries about losing this battle, we will sit back with the comfort of knowing who the winners are - the children who need this healthcare. Healthcare is family values and right to life. Apparently Malkin and the other right-wing blogs don't care about family values and life. Their anger just proves that money trumps anything. So - who would Jesus let die?

The wingnut attacks on Graeme Frost are getting ridiculous. It turns out that Malkin isn't the only one harassing the family now, according to ABC:

According to Senate Democratic aides, some bloggers have made repeated phone calls to the home of 12-year-old Graeme Frost, demanding information about his family's private life. On Monday, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused GOP leadership aides of "pushing falsehood" in an effort to distract from the political battle over S-CHIP.

Could you imagine if the political ideologies were reversed on this? Let me give you an idea of how that would go down. Malkin would appear on O'Reilly and talk about the criminal behavior of the left. O'Reilly would agree and then show his outrage of it. The rest of the news media would cover the story 24/7.

But it gets even worse. It appears that a GOP aide may have sparked this entire thing:

Manley cited an e-mail sent to reporters by a Senate Republican leadership aide, summing up recent blog traffic about the boy's family. A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to comment on Manley's charge that GOP aides were complicit in spreading disparaging information about Frosts.

Since McConnell's office is declining to even comment, that is a sure sign of some guilt.

John Cole also has a nice post up about this, reminding everyone that Malkin was yelling and screaming when maps were published to Cheney and Rumsfeld's house. Amazing that public servants are entitled to more privacy than a family suffering from a horrific accident.

A lot of chatter is going on about Graeme Frost, the 12 year old boy who gave the Democratic radio response a couple of weeks ago. He was speaking in support of SCHIP. Of course the viciousness of the right has come out on this, and they are making the victim into some monster. Think Progress has a good run down of what has been happening.

One thing worth pointing out in all this. Free Republic choose to publish the address of the Frost's today (I won't link it because I do value privacy). Now we find out that Malkin made a road trip there.

Update 2:50pm Eastern: I just returned from a visit to Frost’s commercial property near Patterson Park in Baltimore. It’s a modest place. Talked to one of the tenants, Mike Reilly, who is a talented welder. He said he had known the Frosts for 10 years. Business is good, he told me, though he characterized Frost as “struggling.” Reilly was an outspoken advocate for socialized health care without any means-testing whatsoever and an insistent critic of the Iraq war. Despite all that, he did agree with me that going without health insurance is often a matter of choice and a matter of priorities. Or maybe we were speaking two different languages.

I also passed by the Frosts’ rowhouse. There was an “01 - 20 -09? bumper sticker plastered on the door and a newer model GMC Suburban parked directly in front of the house. I’ve seen guesstimates of the house’s worth in the $400,000-plus range. Those are high. But Mark Tapscott’s point remains: “[P]eople make choices and it’s clear the Frosts have made choice to invest in property and a business, but not in private health insurance. The Maryland-administered version of the federal SCHIP program, by the way, does not impose an asset test on applicants.” More here.

Now think about this for a minute. This is the same Michelle Malkin that goes on FOX news and cries victim for every nasty email she gets. What the hell is she doing going out stalking this family? Malkin has proven time and again that she is off the rocker (for my medical term), and willing to do anything to push her agenda. Perhaps the Frost family should consider taking out a restraining order. I don't think anyone trusts her.

Well he vetoed SCHIP this morning, effectively telling millions of children they don't deserve healthcare. The most ironic thing about it is that he decided to do this veto without his usual "ceremony". Why? Well he knows his decision is unpopular.

I say it is time for a ballot issue saying that no elected officials receive tax paid healthcare until such time that every citizen gets the same. Children will and have died from a lack of health insurance. Again greed trumps life in the GOP. They are a disguising bunch of hypocrites.