Waging a Clash of Generations... Inept Congressional Response
Not content with just a clash of civilizations, George W. Bush also wants a clash of generations. He asserted that his vetoing of SCHIP funding last week was in response to his administration's policy of "putting poor children first." 
You don't put poor children first by taking away the funding needed to pay for their health care.
One would have expected that the Congressional leadership would have jumped all over the absurdity of that claim. But... no... they walked straight into Bush's bait and allowed the Bush Administration and the neo-con talking bobble-heads to redefine the debate. I winced as I listened to Senator Chuck Schumer debunk the statistical claims conservatives were asserting that money meant to provide healthcare for poor children was being used, instead, for poor adults. He was very successful in debunking the claims. But the debate is now about poor children vs. poor adults and children of upper-middle-class families. Governor John Corzine of New Jersey walked into the same trap.
What is wrong with these people? And what is wrong with George W. Bush. Poor children are not hurting at the expense of poor adults. Nor will they be hurting at the expense of children of families with greater incomes. They are suffering at the expense of the Administration not being willing to do the right thing and properly fun SCHIP.
Nor is there a legitimate distinction between funding health care for children and funding it for adults. Both need health care and both are finding themselves unable to afford it. The very act of trying to get SCHIP properly funded was, contrary to the Administration's messaging, putting children first. But, by falling into this trap, our Congressional leaders allowed this President to set up in advance impediments to their own messaging if-and-when one of the Presidents proposing health care solutions get into office.
I don't often like to call people names on this site. But the only thing that comes to my mind, here, is, "Way to go, idiots!"
