The GOP Problem With SCHIP

So of what relevance is Rachel Maddow commenting of the SCHIP "George Bush discovering fiscal conservatism on this issue would be like you telling me Pat Buchanan discovered multiculturalism?" Because Pat Buchanan, appearing with Maddow on MSNBC's "Hardball," really was crediting George Bush with standing up to Democrats "doubling the size of an entitlement program."

Put aside for a moment the farcical notion that George W. Bush, who took the Clinton budget surplus and turned it into a record budget deficit, cares any more about the size of the deficit* than you and I do about, say, tomorrow's weather in Madagascar. And ignore Chris Matthews saying of Democrats- yes, Democrats- "once again, they're borrowing money saying they're going to some day pay for it." And disregard Pat Buchanan, asked by Maddow "who is paying right now for the 8,000,000 kids who don't have health insurance?" contending families are "paying for it themselves, or getting it free" (sort of like paying for a Persian Gulf War off-budget with a tax cut for the wealthy).

Buchanan inadvertently hinted at the real issue when he complained about "doubling the size of one entitlement program" and railed against the increasing cost of Medicare and Social Security. The problem is this: the State Children's Health Insurance Program works. And it is a government program. And the raison d'etre of the Repub Party is to convince the American people that they should distrust government and instead entrust the private sector government with its functions. So like Medicare and Social Security, the SCHIP program is successful and popular. And it cannot be expanded.


*Yes, he does care about the size of the deficit. He wants it larger, for reason(s) you may already understand.