House Fails to Override Child Health Bill Veto - New York Times

Picked up 11 more votes, needed seven more Republicans to switch. Their hard core demonizing and misinformation propaganda against the Democratic plan worked. Depending on the wording, 80% of Americans want more children to have health insurance. Why did no Republicans switch? The iron law of institutions. They need to maintain the support of other conservatives over what the public wants.

This is why elections matter. I think the Democrats need to compromise very little. Remove the option for New York to expand the program to over three times poverty level, despite the GOP supposedly being for state control. Perhaps tighten up on the over 21 requirements a bit which in many cases will be wrong. No reason to give Bush 24% very much at all. The Moderate Voice:

Obscured by the uproar over Graeme Frost and his family was that several big health-care groups lobbied hard for the bill, including America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the American Medical Association (AMA). This put the lie to the view that the bill was a Trojan horse for government-run healthcare.

UPDATE: Democratic plans post veto - passing a nearly identical plan and also more popular choices Bush will want to veto - TIME.

Texas Republicans who hate kids.

Michelle Malkin plans - probably running over crippled kids in her SUV. It turns out she attacked a Republican and an Independent in her smears on a sick 2-year-old and her family.

Tags: SCHIP, Graeme Frost, GOP, healthcare