NOW ONLY ONE DEMOCRAT OPPOSES HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN

STOP! Is that sick baby an illegal or too rich?

Earlier we mentioned the House leadership was bringing up S-CHIP again. They did. And it passed again-- with 43 Republicans joining all but one Democrat. We'll get to that in a second. But first I want to share with you some of the responses from our GOP congressmember who refused to vote for children's health care. Please bear in mind that all of their families are covered by far more sumptuous healthcare (at taxpayer expense):

First from the scumbag whose concern for the welfare of children made him cover-up his colleague Mark Foley's serial molestation of underage male pages for years so as not to endanger a GOP-held seat in Florida: Tom Reynolds, one of the most vile and despicable creatures to crawl around the halls of the Capitol-- "The bill puts lipstick on a sow. Today is raw politics-- trotting out a vote just for the sake of a vote." If you'd like to help put an end to the disgrace of this pile of vomit's career, the name of his opponent is Jon Powers, someone who very much cares about children and, in fact, started an organization to care for war orphans after returning from the war in Iraq. Please consider helping him at his Blue America page.

Last year we mentioned that rubber stamp Republican Ginny Brown-Waite was certifiably insane after she demanded that the U.S. dig up all the bodies of American fighting men buried in France and return them home. Her embarrassed Republican colleagues just ignored her. Her consciously false reason for voting again children's health care today was because she said it will be a "magnet for illegal aliens." As she is-- assuming she is vaguely literate-- aware, the bill specifically excludes undocumented immigrants in order to address Republican xenophobic hysteria. But she voted no anyway-- and then lied about it to her constituents.

But no deception rises to the level of Michigan crook Mike Rogers. In a convoluted excuse for his anti-family vote he "said that rich children could still qualify for benefits because states, in determining eligibility, could ignore or disregard part of a family’s income." Mike Rogers, whose entire career has been one championing the prerogatives of the rich and powerful over ordinary Americans, whose entire career has been 100% dedicated to serving, slavishly, special interests-- basically his campaign contributors, is afraid states will bend the rules to cater to the children of the rich? Give me a break! Does anyone listen to this stuff with a straight face?

And of course Georgia's Tom Price (KKK) is still whining that it's a "massive tax increase" because it would increase the cost of cigarettes. Another blatant liar: Pete Sessions (R-TX) "said that under the new bill, as under the original, two million people would lose private health insurance coverage and enroll in the expanded government program." These people have no shame whatsoever. The bill will be vetoed by Bush again and his veto will be sustained again.

Reactionary Mississippi "Democrat" Gene Taylor, voted for the bill today. He had been one of the two to vote to sustain Bush's veto last week. So of the 5 Democratic reactionaries who voted against children's health care-- Taylor, Baron Hill (IN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Bob Etheridge (NC) and the execrable Jim Marshall (GA)-- only the execrable Jim Marshall is still standing with the Republicans. He's still on the DCCC Front Line page as well, so that Democrats contributing to that organization can fund a candidate who votes against all Democratic principals and values-- and for endless war in Iraq.