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.
Could not agree more. The Reps suck at selling. The bill had a funding cliff in 5 years. It ran out of money. Are the reps talking about that? No, once again they are on the defensive.
A moral struggle? A fight between right and wrong?
Yes and yes but for the opposite reasons.
This would be theft -- not that this fact has stopped any previous thefts or thefts already in progress by our bureaucracy. And, as an aside, if health care is an entitlement, why are not food and housing in the eyes of these fools, too. No, the moral struggle really going on here is the struggle for freedom, a freedom which was mandated in the amongst the final words of the Preamble to our constitution: "...and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,..."
Here's a "blunt one" for The Capital Times: you want socialism in Wisconsin? Fine, then pass legislation in your own state, feel moral and righteous about it, and watch a precipitous drop in population once the 2010 census is conducted and tallied.
And I love the sign the girl is holding...and I believe it too. Why did you know that right now, in our own country, children that need medical attention cannot get it? I'm serious; pediatricians haven't made a dime since the president's veto -- they've been forbidden to provide services and parents have been forbidden to take their children. Meanwhile those evil health insurers have no problem making those parents continue to make premiums on their family plans. I hear that Haliburton is considering jumping into the industry...no sh!t, I read this on the Daily Kos!
Well, the parents of 10 million illegal kids are unhappy.
What? I gotta pay for my own kids? I thought the gingos would do that.
Of course, maybe the govt of Mexico could pay for them, them being Mex citizens by and large?
I agree. I wish the government and big business would get off our backs.
Good.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Quit having kids you cannot support.
Quit telling ME that I have to suffer paying for the kids you had that you cannot support.
Quit expecting ME to provide health benefits for your kids when I don’t have them MYSELF.
There is a growing class of parasites in this country who think they are ENTITLED to anything and everything.
Madison is getting worse and worse.
Money Magazine thinks Middleton (right next to Madison) is the best place in USA to live and work???? They need to re-think that choice, IMO.
That left behind child who responded to Bush’s radio message turned out to attend a $20K per-year private school.””
That kid also had a sibling who attended the same school for another $20K per year.
Father claims combined income of family is $45K a year.
As a bookkeeper, the IRS needs to look into this family pronto.
Mortgage, food, insurance, car, tools for woodworker dad.
Smells to high heaven.
Hope he will be sorry he opened his big mouth. A thorough audit and a charge on income tax invasion will be proper.
That left behind child who responded to Bush’s radio message turned out to attend a $20K per-year private school.””
That kid also had a sibling who attended the same school for another $20K per year.
Father claims combined income of family is $45K a year.
As a bookkeeper, the IRS needs to look into this family pronto.
Mortgage, food, insurance, car, tools for woodworker dad.
Smells to high heaven.
Hope he will be sorry he opened his big mouth. A thorough audit and a charge on income tax evasion will be proper.
Geez! Warn a guy next time, huh?
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Another view...???
 ...Thanks to Prime Choice for this one! - SB |
(Please FReepmail if you want on, or off, this list. I certainly have no desire to increase anyone’s stress-level. Thanks!!!)
Yep.
Excellent!
there is no room for compromise on so clear a choice between right and wrongThat question indicates that you are a plant, and doesn't deserve a response. Oh, and Gore called to remind everyone that The Debate Is Over. Thanks SB.
Applause!
Thank you Seadog. That is a great graphic primechoice!
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