Blow in his ear Click to inflate
Eugene Robinson
To say that George W. Bush spends money like a drunken sailor is to insult every gin-soaked patron of every dockside dive in every dubious port of call. [...]
Having done a modicum of, er, research in that field in a previous life, I like that line!
So for Bush to get religion on fiscal responsibility at this late date is, well, a joke. And for him to make his stand on a measure that would have provided health insurance to needy children is a punch line that hasn't left many Republicans laughing.
That's cuz it ain't funny, Gene. Mean, petulant, and petty, yes. Bush is a sore-headed loser. He really doesn't want to see anybody actually getting anything useful for all the money he throws at Big Biz, Heaven should only forfend! Maybe the little voices he thinks are God told him to do it...
The program Congress voted to expand provides health insurance for children who fall into a perilous gap: Their families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but don't make enough to afford health insurance. The cost of covering an additional 4 million children was estimated at around $35 billion over five years. That's a lot of money. But in the context of a $13 trillion economy -- and set against Bush's history of devil-may-care, "buy the house another round" spending -- it's chump change.
It's hard for me to get my head around $35B as 'chump change', but in context it is. The Chimp's doing it 'for the children'. They're too young to drink, and he doesn't want them to end up a wet-brained dry drunk like him. Unless, of course, their parents pay the enablers of Big Med. Then they can have all they want until they get too much 'health care' and get cut off. Then they can just fucking die if it affects the bottom line.
Bush's stated reasons for vetoing the SCHIP bill left even reliable congressional allies -- such as Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Charles Grassley of Iowa, both of whom supported the legislation -- sputtering in incomprehension. As for me, I don't know what to call the president's rationale but a pack of flat-out lies (my em).
The president said Congress was trying to "federalize health care," even though the program in question is run by the states. The president said that "I don't want the federal government making decisions for doctors and customers," even though the vetoed bill authorizes no such decisions -- the program enrolls children in private, I repeat, private, health insurance plans.
Bush seems to be upset that Congress didn't adopt his pet idea to tackle the health insurance issue through -- guess what? -- tax breaks. None of the major players on Capitol Hill thought this would work. When the White House persisted, Congress moved ahead on its own.
Hatch said he believed Bush had been given bad advice by his staff. He didn't take the next step and draw what seems to me the obvious conclusion: Either Bush didn't understand the bill he vetoed or he's just being petulant -- with the health of 4 million children at stake.
"I hope the folks at home raise Cain," Hatch said. Oh, I think they will.
I sure hope they do. I think that until this country sees the light, private health insurance should come out of our tax money instead of on top of it.
Bush is scared pissless of 'socialized' health care. As a corporate whore, he should be. When we finally get universal single-payer health coverage for all, the private insurance companies are by and large going in the shitcan and good riddance.
It's coming, trust me. Health care for profit is getting to be an obscene notion and is on its way out. It's way past time we caught up with the world.
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