KID'S HEALTH CARE: Rep. Pete Stark Blasts GOP on SCHIP, Iraq

“I’m just amazed that the Republicans are worried that we can’t pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don’t care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal War in Iraq.

“”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 that Bush just likes to blow things up – in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.

After Rep. Pete Stark made his harsh statements against the Republicans and Bush over the SCHIP veto, the right wingers are trying to change the subject again by feigning outrage against him. Stark also didn’t fall for the MoveOn ad outrage also. Good for him. CNN ran a small clip of him all morning. Here’s CNN’s poll. 88% say he shouldn’t apologize. What say you?

In response to Republican attacks, Congressman Stark recently issued this follow-up statement:

“I have nothing but respect for our brave men and women in uniform and wish
them the very best,” said Stark. “But I respect neither the Commander-in-Chief
who keeps them in harms way nor the chickenhawks in Congress who vote to deny children health care.”

Related - Think Progress.org. McConnell: Gov’t-run health care for me, not you. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said he opposes SCHIP because it would impose “government-run health care for everyone.” But as the Kentucky Herald-Reader notes today, McConnell — like President Bush — is a recipient of government-run health care:

[A]s a U.S. senator, McConnell gets government-run, taxpayer-subsidized insurance through the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program, including free outpatient treatment by doctors at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. When McConnell needed triple bypass heart surgery in 2003, he checked into the Naval Medical Center and was treated by the hospital’s clinical chief of cardiothoracic surgery. […]

McConnell’s office did not return repeated calls seeking comment for this story. In a written statement, his spokesman Don Stewart denied that McConnell’s warnings about “government-run health care” are hypocritical because the senator and his aides receive government-run, taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.