Posted on 10/07/2007 12:01:54 PM PDT by SJackson
Madison Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin may have gotten off the best line about President Bush's veto of the bipartisan measure to extend the successful State Children's Healthcare Insurance Program, known as BadgerCare in Wisconsin.
"The man who coined the phrase 'No Child Left Behind' abandoned 10 million children today with the stroke of his veto pen," said Baldwin, a Democrat.
That sums Bush up.
When it comes to caring for kids, he's all talk.
The only time he ever follows through on his sloganeering is if he thinks there is a political benefit to be accumulated if he does so -- or a price to be paid if he does not.
Since Bush will never again face the American electorate, it is ridiculous to criticize or even care about his actions. He will be dealt with in the history books as a man whose presidency established the baseline against which all other failed tenures in the Oval Office will be measured.
While it may be satisfying to pick on Bush, he has for the purposes of this debate made himself a malignant bystander.
Energy focused on the president is wasted. In contrast, energy focused on getting House Republicans to support an override of the president's veto is well expended.
One Wisconsin Republican, Fond du Lac's Tom Petri, voted with Democrats in the state's delegation to extend access to health care to almost 38,000 children in Wisconsin and millions more around the country.
Two Wisconsin Republicans, Janesville's Paul Ryan and Menomonee Falls' James Sensenbrenner, voted with the president and against the kids.
Ryan and Sensenbrenner need to hear from Wisconsinites, and the message needs to be a blunt one: This is not a partisan fight. This is a fight between right and wrong -- a moral struggle as clear as any the Congress will confront.
Wisconsin Reps. Baldwin, Petri, Ron Kind, Gwen Moore, Steve Kagen and Dave Obey have occupied the moral high ground. Ryan and Sensenbrenner have stood the low ground with their president.
Ryan and Sensenbrenner made one wrong choice. Now they can get it right. They can stand with their president or with the children of Wisconsin.
Obey outlined the choice well when he said, "The same president who wants to borrow $50 billion to give another round of tax cuts to folks who make over a million bucks a year, the same president who wants to spend another $200 billion on Iraq, is saying now that we can't afford to invest less than one-fifth that amount to provide decent health care for 10 million American kids.
"If there's anyone in America who has a more warped sense of budget priorities than the president and his White House team -- all of whom have first-rate health care -- I'd like to know who it is."
Bush's priorities are warped, and the country has suffered much as a result.
Paul Ryan and James Sensenbrenner must now decide whether they want to perpetuate the suffering or address it. We often counsel a search for common ground -- especially when conservative Republicans are involved -- but there is no room for compromise on so clear a choice between right and wrong.
Love the pic of the manufactured scuffed up kid made to look third world.
Who’s blocking that kid’s bath?
Hopefully she has billions of dollars in her bank account.
In the meantime it isn’t Bush versus the kids.
It’s the socialists versus the taxpayers.
Madison is yet another example of a major university town that has lost contact with reality.
Not only does Bush hate kids, I hear he Bar-B-Q’s kids on the front lawn.
I wonder where these kids are? we are in the best economy ever.
Free healthcare? It's "not yours to give", unless you do it from your own bank account, and keep your thieving hands out of the wallets of your neighbors.
Baldwin is the first woman elected to Congress from the state of Wisconsin, and is currently serving her fifth term. She was also the first ever openly gay non-incumbent to be elected to the House of Representatives, her election having won the backing of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. Baldwin is one of two openly gay members of Congress, the other being Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Her partner is Lauren Azar. Tammy Baldwin is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. On August 1, 2007, Tammy Baldwin signed on to cosponsor H. Res. 333, a bill proposing articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney and H Res. 589, a bill proposing the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. On July 26, 2004, she spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in prime time on the issue of health care. On October 10, 2002, Tammy Baldwin was among the 133 members of the House who voted against authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
Rather than abandon these 10,000,000 children, why don’t we abort them? Oh, they’ve already aborted 45,000,000 in the name of compassion? Then never mind.</thread hijack>
That sums Bush up.
Congresswoman, here’s a lesson...
Never end a sentence with a preposition. OK?
That left behind child who responded to Bush’s radio message turned out to attend a $20K per-year private school.
SCHIP is bad, Bad, BAd, BAD!!!!!!
The average American does not.
That line about "abandoning 10 million kids" is going to hurt the GOP - because they have once again failed to muster the oratorical skill to talk over the heads of the MSM and explain in clear, simple terms why this bill was bad.
LOL!!!
blah blah blah blah....
idiots!
These liberals get away with this because Bush doesn’t have the stones to shoot down the liberal lies with facts. All he has to do is hold a press conference and explain why he vetoed the bill. The bill provided benefits for “kids” who were in their 20s, illegals, and families that qualified even if they made $80,000 a year. How’s that New Tone working for you, Mr. President?
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