Punting

President George W. Bush signed into law legislation that increases Medicare and Medicaid payments to doctors and extends a U.S. children's health program.

The law funds a 0.5 percent payment increase for six months to doctors who treat patients under the government's Medicare and Medicaid plans, which provide health care to the elderly, disabled and poor. The legislation also maintains current funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program until March 31, 2009.

I get it. As much as I hate not being able to get proper legislation passed right now, I know it's going to be impossible as long as Commander Prissypants is riding the Oval Office Pony (no, that's not Condi Rice). If this is how the Dems want to play ball, that's fine, as long as they hammer it home that Bush and the Republicans are the ones who are preventing progress. On that count, I think the Democrats need to try harder.

Link.

Worst President Ever

Guess who?

U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday vetoed a bill expanding a popular children's health-care program for a second time, angering Democrats who are locked in a fight with the administration over the budget and spending.

Pushed by the Democratic-led Congress but also supported by many Republicans, the bill was aimed at providing health insurance to about 10 million children in low- and moderate-income families. Taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products would have been increased to pay for the aid.

Bush vetoed an earlier version of the bill in October but Congress quickly passed another one that included some changes but not enough to satisfy the White House concerns.

Can you believe it? Of course you can. Why doesn't our media get it? Bush doesn't give a shit about compromise, he only cares about being the only deciderer in power, and all he's interested in is getting exactly what he wants, with no deviations from his plan. He is a whiny, spoiled brat who hates everyone who disagrees with him, and as a result, a horrible human being.

Waaahhh!!!!

Deciderer in Command:

President George W. Bush said Congress has failed to complete work on a host of important spending measures while wasting time resending him legislation he has already vetoed.

``This is not what congressional leaders promised when they took control of Congress earlier this year,'' Bush said at the White House. ``With only a few weeks left on the legislative calendar, Congress needs to keep their promise to stop wasting time and get essential work done on behalf of the American people.''

He said he still objects to revised legislation that the House passed yesterday to expand a U.S. children's health insurance program.

``It costs more over the next five years than the one I vetoed,'' he said.

He's such a whiny ass titty baby. The country doesn't like you, Mr. 28%, so get over it.

Still Hating the Children

Bush:

President Bush will veto the House's latest attempt to extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program if it reaches his desk, the White House said Thursday.

The Office of Management and Budget said the bill, expected to face a House vote Thursday, doesn't address Mr. Bush's objections to the previous SCHIP bill, which he vetoed earlier this month. In a statement of administration policy, OMB complained that the bill would expand SCHIP coverage without assuring that poor children are already enrolled in the program, provide coverage for adults through 2012, move children away from private health insurance and cost more than the first SCHIP bill.

This is all about Bush and his war on everyone who disagrees with him on anything. Maybe he thinks this war is one he can win.

Enough is Enough

Even Time realizes Republicans have jumped the shark:

In short, just as the radio spot claimed, the Frosts are precisely the kind of people that the SCHIP program was intended to help.

...

Politics has never been a gentle game. As far back as 1895, satirist Finley Peter Dunne's fictional saloonkeeper Martin Dooley observed that women, children and prohibitionists would do well to stay out of it, because "politics ain't beanbag." But surely, even Mr. Dooley could never have imagined a day would come when a mere seventh grader could be swift-boated.

As has been pointed out before, this is about their tribalism, and anyone who attacks their leader will feel the full brunt of their wrath. They revel in their orgy-like bonding and collective venting of rage. We're past the point where society should recognize these brutish and nasty tendencies for what they are and work to exclude people who act in such a manner.

The longer this goes on the larger the pit of ice in my stomach grows.

Jumping the Shark

I'm sure I'll say this again sooner than I expect to, and I might have already said this, but this week will be memorialized as the moment the Republican party jumped the shark.

So when Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29, Republican opponents quickly accused them of exploiting the boy to score political points.

Then, they wasted little time in going after him to score their own.

In recent days, Graeme and his family have been attacked by conservative bloggers and other critics of the Democrats’ plan to expand the insurance program, known as S-chip. They scrutinized the family’s income and assets — even alleged the counters in their kitchen to be granite — and declared that the Frosts did not seem needy enough for government benefits.

I don't have anything original to say about this (I'll link to Digby! as an example), but Republicans and their cohorts have hit a new all-time low and they're continuing to dig. They're now a parody of themselves.

Assholosphere

Indeed.

President Pissypants

I can't believe this (wait, yes I can, it's just Monday morning and I'm not yet completely awake):

"Everybody wants children to have health insurance," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "The president has already said, 'I want a compromise.'"

Mr. Leavitt added, "If it takes more money, we'll put it up." He did not cite a figure.

Mr. Bush vetoed legislation last week that would increase spending for the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. Mr. Bush has called for a $5 billion increase.

Compromise? Congress has already compromised this bill and whittled it down to 1/3 of the originally proposed spending. It has enough support in the Senate to override a veto. What this is about is Bush's ego. He wants to do what his idea is because it's his and so no one will be able take the limelight away from him. He's willing to let children and their families suffer because he's the Decider Guy. It's not that Bush hates children - although he does - it's that he loves himself.

Update: Conservatives continue to stand with Bush and continue to be awful human beings.

Bush Hates Children

The Onion couldn't have done a better job than reality:

President Bush escalated his battle with Congress over children's health insurance, vetoing a bipartisan bill that would have dramatically expanded the program.

It's only the fourth veto of Mr. Bush's presidency, and one that some Republicans fear could carry steep risks for their party in next year's elections.

He has now given the Democrats another bludgeon with which to beat Republicans down until he leaves office.

So, your face or your kneecaps?

Congress to Approve SCHIP Expansion

I'd like to see Mr. 29% veto this:

The expansion would be funded by higher taxes on tobacco products -- a move the president opposes. Bush has also decried what he describes as a "step toward federalization of health care."

The House is expected to vote on the bill Tuesday, with the Senate considering the bill later in the week. Observers are watching to see if the chambers can reach the two-thirds majority of votes needed to override a veto.

Then again, it's not as if there's anywhere else he can go.

Pure Evil

Bush.

The Bush administration, after years of allowing states to cover more children from higher-income families through a popular state-federal health-insurance program, is putting the brakes on expansion.

The policy change will affect states that seek to or already cover children from families with income at 250% of the federal poverty level, or $51,625 for a family of four. (The federal poverty level is $20,650 for a family of four.) At least 16 states had received permission over the years to expand to or beyond that level.

The step will also put the administration on a collision course with Congress, which has approved legislation with tens of billions of dollars to expand the program to cover more children. The House and the Senate are expected to work out a compromise after the August recess.

Administration officials said President Bush will veto the final bill if tighter controls and spending limits aren't enacted. They argue that the program's expansion has gone beyond its original goal to cover low-income children at the 200% poverty level, or $41,300 for a family of four. The expansion, they say, has led some families to drop private health coverage in favor of the program, known as SCHIP, for State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Because children on public, as opposed to private, healthcare are morally decrepit. As for tighter spending? I cannot take someone seriously who spends over $200 million every day in Iraq.