After veto, Dems smell blood
By IR Staff - 10/04/07
It may have been unusual for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to dip into his own campaign funds to buy ads criticizing President Bush for vetoing a bill to expand government-funded health insurance for children, but Baucus is hardly alone in sensing the time is right to attack.
Smelling the tang of political poison in the air, Democrats and health-care advocates believe Bush’s politically risky veto of the popular, bipartisan measure to spend $35 billion over five years to add 4 million uninsured children to CHIP is, for them, a win-win affair. After all, even America’s Health Insurance Plans — the largest insurance lobbying group — has endorsed the CHIP expansion. It isn’t exactly surprising that liberals are circling like so many sharks.
In his television ads, Baucus features little Abigail Tuhy of Missoula, who is insured by CHIP. “We can cover 14,000 kids like Abigail for a year (in Montana) for what we spend in Iraq in a day,” Baucus says in the commercial.
Expect to see a lot of cute kiddies in the coming days. Families USA, an advocate for affordable health coverage for everyone, plans to broadcast ads showing children expressing their admiration for the president — then indicating what Bush has done to harm them.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee already has launched radio ads attacking eight Republican House members who voted against the bill, and according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, a coalition of liberal groups will stage 200 events on the issue throughout the nation today.
Meanwhile, Democratic congressional leaders say they plan to put off an attempt to override Bush’s veto for a couple of weeks to let the pressure build on Republican House members whose votes will be needed. It seems likely that Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., was wise to break with the president on this one. As for Baucus, it seems equally likely that his campaign dollars are being well spent indeed.
Smelling the tang of political poison in the air, Democrats and health-care advocates believe Bush’s politically risky veto of the popular, bipartisan measure to spend $35 billion over five years to add 4 million uninsured children to CHIP is, for them, a win-win affair. After all, even America’s Health Insurance Plans — the largest insurance lobbying group — has endorsed the CHIP expansion. It isn’t exactly surprising that liberals are circling like so many sharks.
In his television ads, Baucus features little Abigail Tuhy of Missoula, who is insured by CHIP. “We can cover 14,000 kids like Abigail for a year (in Montana) for what we spend in Iraq in a day,” Baucus says in the commercial.
Expect to see a lot of cute kiddies in the coming days. Families USA, an advocate for affordable health coverage for everyone, plans to broadcast ads showing children expressing their admiration for the president — then indicating what Bush has done to harm them.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee already has launched radio ads attacking eight Republican House members who voted against the bill, and according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, a coalition of liberal groups will stage 200 events on the issue throughout the nation today.
Meanwhile, Democratic congressional leaders say they plan to put off an attempt to override Bush’s veto for a couple of weeks to let the pressure build on Republican House members whose votes will be needed. It seems likely that Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., was wise to break with the president on this one. As for Baucus, it seems equally likely that his campaign dollars are being well spent indeed.
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Reader Comments:
consider_this wrote on Oct 9, 2007 11:07 AM:
" Well, i hope the posts on this article don't devolve into a debate on the abortion issue, but I will note that a few assertions about Planned Parenthood are incorrect. Yes, they provide abortions for women who have made that reproductive choice, but contrary to your representation, abortion is not "...the only course of action which Planned Parenthood advocates for young pregnant females...." They provide birth control pills to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place thereby reducing the demand for abortions, a commendable policy which I cannot understand why even abortion opponents would oppose. And, in contrast to religious right misrepresentations on the issue, abstinence has always been the primary goal of the proponents of comprehensive sex education--condom and birth control promotinos notwithstanding. "
purple wrote on Oct 7, 2007 8:05 AM:
" Sadly, the only course of action which Planned Parenthood advocates for young pregnant females is ABORTION. No where do they advocate abstinance, which is what they should do as evidence by the first word of their name "planned". Any physician who performs a late term abortion, except when the life of the mother is at stake, should be charged with murder - for they are the true "baby killers".
"
consider_this wrote on Oct 5, 2007 3:07 PM:
" It would be nice if the only time poor people got sick was on weekends. And I agree with the point that political groups with the word "Family" in their names should not exploit children to advance their political agendas by, for instance, parading them around in front of Planned Parenthood clinics saying, "Please mommy, don't kill me." "
angelwatching28 wrote on Oct 4, 2007 11:22 PM:
" It is my thought that the way to affordable health care is for all medical personal to donate their time on the weekends to those not able to afford health coverage. I am opposed to Families USA exploiting young children into the political arena, they should be able to make a coherent argument without brain washing children.
Miss.Angelwatching
"
purple wrote on Oct 4, 2007 7:08 PM:
" If it is a "self-inflicted" problem, why is it someone elses responsibility to pay to correct it? There are very few who refer to themselves as "compassionate conservatives". President Bush coined that phrase, something I, as a conservative, don't buy into. Conservatives don't tow the party line, as do the majority of democrats. I disagree vehemently with President Bush over immigration. I want the border with mexico locked down to prevent anyone from entering this country ILLEGALLY. I am very much opposed to the nonsense about "automatic" citizenship for children born in this country, as the mexicans have taken advantage of that rule. Pregnant mexican woman on the verge delivery purposely enter the U.S. illegally to give birth because they know they child will automatically become an American citizen.
"
consider_this wrote on Oct 4, 2007 1:22 PM:
" So much for the "compassionate" part of conservatism. I knew it was a lie all along. If you're not making $80,000/year, conservatives could care less about your "self-inflicted" problems. "
purple wrote on Oct 4, 2007 10:52 AM:
" Hello, President Bush is prevented from running for re-election, so how can it be a liability for him? Maybe that scent of blood the democrats are smelling is that time of the month for them.
"
LegAdv wrote on Oct 4, 2007 9:42 AM:
" It doesn't surprise me that the "liberals are circling like so many sharks". Politics is a jungle where the strong survive, and only the strong. But so far, we've only heard one side of the veto issue and the election is more than a year away, so time will tell whether anyone's attack ads will end up representing dollars "being well spent". "
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montanadude wrote on Oct 16, 2007 9:54 AM: