Stark honesty

Peter Stark (D-CA) on the House floor:

First of all, I’m just amazed that they can’t figure out — the Republicans are worried that we can’t pay for insuring an additional ten million children. They sure don’t care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where are you gonna get that money? You gonna tell us lies, like you’re telling us today? Is that how you’re going to fund the war?
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This bill would provide health care for ten million children and, unlike the President’s own kids, these children can’t see a doctor or receive necessary care. Six million are insured through the Children’s Health Insurance Program and they’ll do better in school, and in life. In California, the President’s veto will cause the legislature to draw up emergency regulations to cut some 800,000 children off the rolls in California and create a waiting list.

I hope my California Republican colleagues will understand that if they don’t vote to override this veto, they are destroying health care for many of our children in California.
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They claim we can’t afford health care. They say the bill will socialize medicine. Tell that to Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley and Ted Stevens, those socialists on the other side of this capitol. The truth is: [The] CHIP program enables states to cover children primarily through private health care plans. But, President Bush’s statements about children’s health shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up… in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.

Wouldn't it be refreshing to hear such Stark honesty from other wet-noodle Democrats?

Meanwhile, a whopping 80% of Americans are in favor of expanding S-CHIP, or in other words completely opposite Bush's stance (what else is new?). In addition, "the poll finds that only about one in five Americans (22 percent) approve of the president’s handling of health care. That's lower even than his approval rating on Iraq (26 percent)."

Wow, first we heard worse than Nixon re Bush's popularity, now we have worse than Iraq (re healthcare) -- GW just keeps racking up the dubious honors on the new-low categories.

The bottom line is the Dems better use this S-CHIP issue and respective congressional voting record next year heading into November. If they don't, then they truly are patsies.