Notes from Evil Bender

As you probably know, Dubya is set to veto a bipartisan bill which would reauthorize and expand the hugely popular children’s health care bill. What would be so objectionable that Bush would veto a measure designed to make sure kids have health insurance?

Instead of posturing by sending him a bill they know he will reject, Bush said, the Democrats should embrace fiscal and social responsibility and pass a bill that provides for reasonable increases in spending on health insurance for uninsured children without veering toward the “federalization of health care.”

Somehow this makes me more angry than Bush’s lies about Iraq. I’ve had years to get used to that, but it’s hard for me to imagine even Dubya opposing health care for kids. And for the least fiscally responsible President in recent memory to complain about an increase in the cigarette tax to pay for health care is beyond laughable. And “federalism” is code for “don’t worry, my extremist base, I’m in favor of helping my rich buddies with no-bid contracts while screwing over children of poor and middle class people.”

But unlike on Iraq, the Dems don’t seem ready to roll over for Bush on this one:

“The president hides behind the word ‘federalization’ because his political base opposes doing what is decent and humane,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Where was that kind of clear thinking and courage when Kerry was running for President?

Naturally, Bush feels differently:

“What I’m describing here is a philosophical divide that exists in Washington over the best approach for health care,” Bush said. “Democratic leaders in Congress want to put more power in the hands of government by expanding federal health care programs. Their … plan is an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American.”

Simply put, Bush is lying again. This isn’t about a difference of opinion for how to provide health care: Bush is offering no alternative plan. It isn’t like these kids are being moved from private health care to publicly funded care. They’re without health insurance and the plan is designed to fix that. So the “difference of opinion” is only this: should children have access to health care? Even most Republicans are behind this plan.

George W. Bush, meanwhile, would rather watch children go without health care than pony up $35 Billion to help them.

Meanwhile, the Iraq war cost has surged past $450 Billion dollars. Lying to get into a war and botching rebuilding is “fiscally responsible” but helping kids is “federalism”–from a state-administered program, no less.

The next 486 days can’t go by fast enough.