Paul Krugman on Bush’s SCHIP veto.
By on Oct 6th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Paul Krugman on Bush’s SCHIP veto.
Krugman writes, “So, President Bush says that Democrats are endangering children’s health, by sending him an S-chip bill he won’t sign. Abraham Lincoln had something to say about such arguments in his Cooper Union address:”
That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, “Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!”
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Did Bush really say that?
In other news, choclate is the new vanilla, up is now down, and inside is now out…
October 6th, 2007 at 4:06 pmthat about sums it up, eh…?
And, yes, I DO take it personally
October 6th, 2007 at 4:12 pmabraham lincoln said, “that is cool” ???!
cool!
October 6th, 2007 at 4:15 pm.
The old, “Do my bidding, or you shall certainly slow down my ascent to power, which can only negatively impact the Country, therefore, your interference can be considered treason against the Country.” *cue TwilightZone theme*
The problem is, with the overabundance of ‘white matter’ (as opposed to grey matter, an excess of white matter indicates pathological fabrication,) can bush be held responsible if he really believes what he says? GITMO or mental hospital, just so he’s locked up and away from impressionable idiots…like the ones who voted for him….
October 6th, 2007 at 4:18 pmyep… surely the meaning has changed?
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm
cool!
October 6th, 2007 at 4:19 pmThis has gotten off the charts bizarre.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:21 pmIt’s funny how a guy that lives in a govt house (WH),get’s a Govt check,heads the Govt& above all get’s Govt healthcare can tell us that Govt healthcare can tell us that he don’t like socialize (Govt provided)medicine.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pmBush has been lying through his teeth about SCHIP. His claim that families making $83,000 is a lie. His claim that it federalizes health care is a lie. His claim that it is socialized medicine is a lie.
Bush lies with every breath he takes.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:23 pmIt’s funny how a guy that lives in a govt house (WH),get’s a Govt check,heads the Govt & above all get’s Govt healthcare, can tell us that he don’t like socialize (Govt provided)medicine.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:24 pmthat Govt healthcare can tell us that he don’t like socialize (Govt provided)medicine.
Comment by DutchHenry — October 6, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
Mebbe he’s right, Dutch… after all, the WH docs apparently haven’t noticed the Prez is a FLAMING WACKJOB for Hell…
… ‘n diagnosed it correctly, have they, Perfesser?
October 6th, 2007 at 4:26 pmHonest Abe: “that is cool†– - That’s why Abe beat Stephen Douglas in those debates. Abe would trot out sayings like this and Douglas could only counter with “What shall be done with the free negro?”
The crowd would look at him slackjawed and say, “Whaaaaa?”
October 6th, 2007 at 4:26 pmTRoS: That’s right. “BushSpeak is taken right out of George Orwell’s novel: 1984″.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:27 pmTRoS: Bush doesn’t like the government docs because they know a true sociopath when they see one. He fits all of the characteristics for one psychiatrically compromised. He’s probably scared $hitless that one of these docs will out him with the dx.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:29 pmHe’s probably scared $hitless that one of these docs will out him with the dx.
Comment by Veritas — October 6, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Everytime I see Bush talk in public, I’m surprised he’s fooling anyone anymore.
The weird body language, the speech patterns, gestures, tone of voice, disoriented look in his eyes… this man is gone, left the planet.
I find this so scary. A madman w/ his finger on the button.
Dr Strangelove, only for real.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pmIf Bush starts talking about the evils of flouridation…
October 6th, 2007 at 4:36 pmToo funny…for you Bush/baseball fans:
“I made my arguments and went down in flames. History will prove me right,” – Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush after voting against realignment and a new wild-card system during a Major League Baseball owners meeting in September 1993. Bush was the lone dissenter in a 27-1 vote.
This guy is never right about anything.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:42 pm#15: If Bush starts talking about the evils of flouridation… – – His arguments do seem to lack a purity of essence.
October 6th, 2007 at 4:44 pmWorse than Hitler: even the German Nazi party didn’t try to destroy the German social security system. Bush is the most vile worthless pugnacious insane creep to walk the face of the earth in the 21st century…
October 6th, 2007 at 4:45 pm#8 is right SCHIP applies to those up to twice poverty income which is $20,000 so only families earning up to $40,000 qualify not the numbers of $83,000 being tossed around.
If Repubs could only stick to the facts !
October 6th, 2007 at 4:53 pmIf Bush is so against “Socialized Medicine”, why doesn’t he veto funding for Medicare???
Political Suicide??? Ohh.
October 6th, 2007 at 5:04 pmnot the numbers of $83,000 being tossed around.
If Repubs could only stick to the facts !
Comment by texaslady — October 6, 2007 @ 4:53 pm
If I’m not mistaken, there are supposed to be exceptions for high-cost-of-living states, like NY, and yes, the GOOPers keep trying to twist that and misrepresent it as inclusive for all.
October 6th, 2007 at 5:07 pmYeah, he said that, & a lot more that is relevant to current circumstances:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm
October 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pmthanks, And Yet… see #5 :-)
October 6th, 2007 at 5:25 pm.
katy – Yup – he said that.
October 6th, 2007 at 5:37 pmWhoops! Didn’t see the other posts my apologies.
October 6th, 2007 at 5:40 pmthat’s funny…
any language experts out there?
October 6th, 2007 at 5:45 pmdid “cool” mean the same for lincoln as it does now?
but then, what else?
.
I see George is pulling a DARVO by reversing the roles. The congress is now the offender and poor George is the victim that wants to help the children but cant because the congress made him do it.
Could we please stop the insanity? People aren’t falling for this crap anymore.
October 6th, 2007 at 6:52 pm4 hundred and how many more days of sdrawkcaB hsuB do we have to go?
October 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pmHeh
October 6th, 2007 at 8:11 pmLincoln’s cool…
Heh
One of the Shrub’s arguments against the SCHIP plan, even the one now in effect, is that it is in some cases used to insure low income adults. Will for God,s sake someone in the media ask him, “And why is that a bad thing”?
October 6th, 2007 at 10:14 pm—-
Krugman writes, “So, President Bush says that Democrats are endangering children’s health, by sending him an S-chip bill he won’t sign.
—-
Nothing new here. Another example of petulant boy George not taking responsibility for his own behavior.
Now go sit in the corner George.
- Tom
October 6th, 2007 at 10:45 pmIsn’t this the same bizarre reasoning that men who beat up their wives and girlfriends use? “Why are you MAKING me hit you?”
October 7th, 2007 at 1:22 amWhat’s the big deal, about taxing smokers and giving the tax revenue to children? I find it hard to understand the reasons given too.
October 7th, 2007 at 1:32 amAs best as I can ascertain, Lincoln’s use of “cool” seems more along how we would use “cold”, as in “cold-hearted”, especially given the preceding sentences.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:03 amWhat Lincoln’s speech seemed to be about was a retort to the challenge that Southerners had made that if a Republican were elected as President, then the South would secede. Lincoln was making an effort to ease Southerners’ minds that a Republican President would not necessarily be any worse for the country (vis-a-vis the slavery issue) than had already been in force, and had, in fact, been established by the Founding Fathers. His “cool” statement simply suggested that secession seemed to be an unnecessarily harsh reaction and that voters should not be intimidated from voting for the Republicans simply because the South was making a threat.
To the best of my understanding of the S-CHIP deal, it’s Bush who’s acting as an intimidator in making the veto threat, only (with a bit of luck) this time he’ll fail in “cooling the heels” of the GOPers who actually SUPPORT the current bill.
What’s the big deal, about taxing smokers and giving the tax revenue to children? I find it hard to understand the reasons given too.
Comment by Derrick — October 7, 2007 @ 1:32 am
There is nothing inherently wrong with this, except that the well is running dry on cigarette taxes. Cigarettes have already been taxed up the wazoo, and while it’s a popular tax with the public (why should we pay for anything when we can get the “evil tobacco users” to foot the bill?), there’s only so much tax you can place on a product before negatives start outweighing positives.
43 states have increased their cigarette taxes more than 70 times since 2002 (source: http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0097.pdf). Several states already have taxes on cigarettes of $2.00 a pack or higher (and that doesn’t count local or federal taxes). Federal taxes on cigarettes will rise to $1.00 a pack (61 cents added to the existing 39 cents) with the SCHIP bill.
When the tax on a product exceeds the untaxed price of the product (as it now does in many places), a black market begins to emerge, creating a layer of crime nobody wants or needs. Further taxation only increases this.
Cigarette taxes are a disproportionate tax on the poor. Over 30% of adults below the poverty line are smokers, as compared with about 22% of adults above it (source: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5320a2.htm — scroll down to the table at the bottom). This means that the poor are funding this program more than the rest of us are. This is not fair.
The children who are being helped by SCHIP are not the smokers being taxes, for the most part. Therefore, this isn’t an exise tax, it’s a “sin” or a punishment tax. Smokers have been punished enough with taxes. If we are into punishing behaviors that contribute to shorter life spans, we need to start taxing alcohol and bacon cheeseburgers by similar amounts.
Yes, it is said that higher cigarette prices will cut down on young people taking up this filthy habit, and I agree that anything to cut down on teen smoking is basically a good thing. But we have already squeezed about as much blood from this turnip as we’re going to get.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:07 am…Lincoln’s use of “cool†seems more along how we would use “coldâ€, as in “cold-hearted†[...]
of course! now i feel kind of silly… that’s so simple, so obvious…
a not seeing the forest for the trees kinda thing…
[...] this time he’ll fail in “cooling the heels†of the GOPers who actually SUPPORT the current bill.
Comment by JosephW — October 7, 2007 @ 3:03 am
never say never…
October 7th, 2007 at 12:43 pmbut i am ever hopeful that “good” will prevail…
.
#19 It is three times, not twice, the poverty level.
#21 New York asked for an exception that would have allowed it to reach $83K, but was denied. The legislation vetoed by Bush was limited to $60K.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:08 pmApparently noone told Dubya that this particular bill passed with wide bi-partisan support — so to term it in words of “the democrats” sent him a bill he would vote is dishonest.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:17 am