When you find your medicine you take what you can get

There is no reason for anyone with a D after their name in congress to vote against the SCHIP program. DemFromCT over at DailyKos has a roundup, showing that even the Reddest of states are in favor of SCHIP:

Did you wonder how deep, and how broad opposition to Bush' SCHIP veto is? It's not just Berkeley and Boston, folks. From Kaisernetwork.org:

SCHIP Debate Illustrates Republicans' Challenges in Appealing to Independent Voters

From The News-Leader, Springfield, MO:

President's opposition to bill mind-boggling

It just doesn't make sense.

After not vetoing one spending bill for six years, President Bush found a moment to stand in the gap and prevent the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

From Tennessean.com:

War spending spree ignores kids' care

Wait a minute: We would be throwing nearly $1 trillion at it in 2008: $140 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan; $510 billion for other defense related spending; $263 billion for veterans care and interest on the national debt; $46.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security; and $48 billion for the intelligence budget.

Of course SCHIP is a good idea, That's not really the debate, except in Right-wing phony pro-life brains.

From an activist point of view, however, here's the real punchline:

It's the independents. Forget about how Republicans vote or what they say. Politically, They. Don't. Matter. GOP policy loses indies, and that's where your focus needs to be, not on GOP talking points.

And to that end, my good friend Jane Hamsher, along with blogger extraordinaire Matt Stoller re taking the SCHIP battle right to recalcitrant Dem's home streets:

Dear Steve

Despite overwhelming bipartisan support and a near veto-proof majority in the House, eight Democrats voted against the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

That list includes Bush Dog Democrat Jim Marshall of Georgia's Eighth Congressional District.

Today, we can pressure Marshall to switch his vote and move the party an absolutely critical step forward towards overriding the President's veto.

We've created an ad to run next Tuesday, right before the override vote, in The Macon Telegraph -- Congressman Marshall's hometown paper.

You can view and help fund the ad on the ActBlue page we've set up to help cover the cost of $10,185.

http://www.actblue.com/page/marshall

From the ad:

There’s no excuse for a Democrat to vote against health care for sick kids. We accept a lot of excuses from Democrats, but this is a bright line. Blue America and Blogpac are holding Jim Marshall in Georgia’s eighth accountable. We began with calls to his district (and four other districts of Bush Dog Democrats that voted against SCHIP), which has prompted two primary challenges so far against Marshall. And now we’re going to place this ad in a local paper, to ensure that his constituents understand just how unprincipled he has been.

This is the way politics work today. More from Howie Klein at Down With Tyranny:

We're still pretty excited around here about Baron Hill declaring that he would vote to override Bush's veto on S-CHIP. I mean what self-respecting Democrat wouldn't vote to override? Glad you asked. Now there are 4-- 4 reactionary Bush Dogs: 2 tobacco industry whores from North Carolina (Bob Etheridge and Mike McIntyre), Gene Taylor from Mississippi and... the dependably execrable Jim Marshall from Macon, Georgia.

DWT readers have come to know ole Rep. Marshall as the absolute worst Democrat in the entire House of Representatives, especially on Iraq, on which he's voted with Democrats exactly 15 times out of the 50 Iraq-related roll calls since he's been in Congress. Some in South Georgia may admire his generally reactionary stands on issues. But when it comes to health care for sick, needy children... probably not-- and certainly not Democrats. Gore won 47% of the vote in this district in 2000 and in 2004 Kerry took 10,000 more votes, although a slightly smaller percentage. The district is pretty Republican, but not prohibitively so. And now Marshall is getting what he's earned: a primary.

Anyone still think blogs don't matter?