Daily News Roundup, 11/1/07: Children's Healthcare "Really A Trick"

President Bush is still fighting for the noble cause of not giving kids health care. Apparently, he believes that supplying health care to children of families that can't afford it is "really a trick."

Bush's continued assault on children's health care is amplified by Republican attempts to solidify their congressional base against a likely second veto override attempt. And to some extent, those attempts are working. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is one of those who seem to be weakening on their stance in favor of SCHIP after Republican party pressure. She yesterday voted against consideration of the second attempt at an SCHIP bill. The bill still got the 60 votes necessary to prevent a filibuster, so her vote was ineffective, and she has pledged to vote in favor of the bill when it actually comes on the floor for passage. But if the vote is close, one wonders if she will again bow to the will of the Republican party. It's no secret that she's on some vice-presidential short lists, and she has already stated she won't run for a second term in a move that has most people convinced that she plans to run for governor, so a last-minute decision to pander to party politics wouldn't surprise me. I don't expect it — that would be too obvious a flip-flop, and too easily used against her when she does run — but it wouldn't surprise me.

I hope no one reading is a big economics wonk, because if so, today is not your day. Reports are out today that the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure between July and September have doubled from '06 to '07. And oil hit an all-time high of $96 per barrel yesterday, in response to a report of a dramatic drop in oil inventories in the U.S. by the U.S. Energy Information Association. And you know things are bad when folks are saying that the falling dollar isn't necessarily a bad thing, because a weak dollar increases exports — implying that that's about the only thing we have left to shore up our economy. Of course, the problem to me is that the logic in part counts on our being able to cut imports as well, which I'm not sure I see happening, weak dollar or not.

I also hope no one was getting too googly-eyed over ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's apparent bedside defense of due process, because there's bad news for you too. I'm not a fan of demonizing people, and it's probably good that he had something come to light that let the media paint him as a human being, but that doesn't make him a saint. If you need a reminder, the Washington Post has it for you. A sampling of internal memos from Secretary Rumsfeld to his staff from 2002 to 2006 has been released, which show him stating, for example, that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and that they need to "link Iran to Iraq" and "keep elevating the threat." So if you were wondering who was keepign Eurasia always at war with Eastasia, this is the article for you. I can't possibly cover all the choice nuggets of wisdom from the ex-Secretary here. It is, as Josh would say, a rich tapestry.

Finally today, Clinton and Edwards picked up two big labor endorsements. Clinton received the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and Edwards picked up the New Hampshire chapter of the Service Employee's International Union (the national chapter has declined to make endorsements). It will be interesting to see how effective each endorsement is, as they reflect to some degree that candidates' initial campaign strategies: Clinton has been running a largely national campaign for a good while now, and she received a big national endorsement, while Edwards has been using his resources to heavily front-load in early primary states, and he's received an endorsement which, though nationally less meaningful, may mean much more than Clinton's in the Granite State. No one can deny the sheer size and influence of the SEIU. And he has already previously received the endorsement of the SEIU Iowa chapter. It'll make for interesting observation for us elections wonks.