(h/t BillW)
As the Right Wing’s War on Children’s Health Care continues to blow up in their faces, the pressure on Congress to override President Bush’s veto on SCHIP becomes more intense. In this video we meet Bethany Wilkerson, who is alive today only because of the SCHIP program. After the brutal attacks on the Frost family, the Wilkersons are ready for what will likely be in store for them from the right-wing hate machine.
“We rent a house, we have one car that is a junker. Let them dig away,” Bo Wilkerson said. “I have $67 in my checking account. Does that answer your question?”
UPDATE: (Nicole) And as predictable as ever, here comes the smearers. At least unwilling to be so low and disgusting as to go after a sick child, Mark Hemingway at the NRO called Bethany’s parents “the real poster children — for irresponsible decisions.”
On the conference call, Dara admitted to me that she and Brian had been talking about having children since before they were married. She further admitted that after they were married she voluntarily left a job at a country club that had good health insurance, because the situation was “unmanageable.” From there she took a job at a restaurant with no health insurance, and the couple went on to have a baby anyway, presuming that others would pay for it and certainly long before they knew their daughter would have heart defect that probably cost the gross national product of Burkina Faso to fix. But not knowing about future health problems is the reason we have insurance in the first place.
Filed Under: GOP, George W. Bush, Government Policy, Health/Science, Universal Health Care
One Trackback To “New SCHIP Video: Bethany’s Story“
Oh god, she’s so cute!
If the right goes after this family they are most likely going to say the mom and dad need to get like twelve jobs each. Of course they aren’t going to mention the cost of child care etc.
How the hell can we not afford to help her and the many others? We must!
Good ad! I especially like the comparison between one week in Iraq and children’s health care.
Que rightwing attack in 3….2….1….And you know it will happen.
Oh I like this! So you have a problem with the bona-fides of a particular SCHIP recipient, well here’s another, and another, and another. Let us know when you’ve seen enough.
So what happens when one family after another stands up for their children and risks being attacked by the right wing? Will Malkin et al be able to keep up? Will Limbaugh be RUSHED to the hospital with an annurism? Will Bill LIE about his income to get health care?
A flood of people clammoring for justice will turn these nasty attack dogs into has beens.
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 3:
Then why let up?
I drove by their house, talked to their neighbors and called their doctor. Those parents still have 2 kidneys. Each! If they haven’t sold one yet, they shouldn’t be asking for a hand out!
Love and kisses,
Michelle
Blow up in the right wings’ faces? No, no how could that be? Why, I heard John Roberts on CNN saying the Democrats should have “vetted” the Frost story more.
(I sent a more explicit version of: If John Roberts would unplug his face from Mitch McConnell’s (R-Tobacco) anatomy he’d be in a better position to report the news.)
I can see it already: The Wilkersons’ trip to Washington from Florida proves that their story isn’t what it seems to be - they should stay put.
Again, in conservative-world - if you’re not completely destitute, you’re not deserving.
If someone could figure out how to end this fu*king war one week earlier than planned this program could be financed. Of course if this fu*king war had never been started by the insane in Washington, financing this program wouldn’t even have to be discussed.
The insanity of everything right now is just too much to comprehend.
The righties love giving another 92 million to Erik Prince but not a dime to kids with cancer or were in car accidents
This is what is needed to battle the reichwing smear machine: More courageous people who are willing to step forward and say to Malkin, Limbaugh, et al - “Bring it on, bitches!” They can’t smear everybody - though that doesn’t mean they won’t try.
good to see normal families are willing to stand up to the right wing and its attack dogs. Shame congress hasn’t shown the same spine.
You’d think they would try to be a little less obvious about how much they hate the poor and how much they hate using tax money for what it was intended for.
Do you get that the populace is financing an endless conservotard kegger yet? And no one else is invited.
“We rent a house, we have one car that is a junker. Let them dig away,” Bo Wilkerson said. “I have $67 in my checking account. Does that answer your question?”
Okay so the wingnuts will accuse them of alcoholism, drug addiction and all sorts of other nefarious deeds. Watch.
Dr. Squid @ 9:
And in a conservative world, if you ARE completely destitute, then you’re just lazy and not deserving of help either.
Why oh WHY does the right hate the born?!?!
Dr. Squid @ 9:
Correction -
In conservative world - If your not a multi-national corporation, you’re not deserving.
Dr. Squid @ 9:
And if you are completely destitute you deserve it!
It may “blow up” in their faces, but it still won’t override a veto….which is the point, remember?
Charles @ 2:
Just what I was thinking. Very effective.
Every time that adorable girl is seen on TV, another goopers political career goes up in flames.
If a veto override on this is successful, maybe Congress will grow a pair and start pressuring the ReThugs to help them override everything Bush is currently threatening to veto (i. e. the Federal Budget).
He’s going to pull a “Newt Gingrich” and shut down the government if he doesn’t get a spending bill from Congress that has everything he wants, including the kitchen sink.
I say let him. He will drive that ReThug wurlitzer over the cliff and take most of the ReThugs with him before 2008. It’s being reported here: http://www.firedoglake.com that Kay Bailey Hutchinson is not seeking re-election next year.
How many ReThugs in both Houses of Congress does that make - those choosing not to run for re-election next year, and bail out before they get slung under the juggernaut which is GeeShrubya?
He is virtually guaranteeing a Democrat gets the White House next year. Problem is, will it be a True Democrat, or a better one than what’s currently being offered?
I think the ad is effective. It also puts the argument in perspective. President Bush is willing to spend billions of dollars on an abstract and unpopular war thousands of miles from home. He’s willing to put American soldiers and our country at risk.
Yet he isn’t willing to help children. What could be more clear than that?
Every parent should be outraged.
xoites defends Constitution @ 6:
I’m not suggesting that we let up. I’m suggesting we get ready for it and hit them again and again until they are so outraged that their little pointed heads explode.
It was said in an earlier thread but bears constant repetition. Republicans are not pro life.
Pro war.
Pro punishment.
Pro torture.
Pro death.
But never pro life.
We need a family from each hometown of the Representatives and Senators that voted against the Schip and make a commercial. I’m sure once these commercials start showing there constituents will be letting them know who is boss.
Gee wiz…what a bunch of worthless, slackers, sucking up all the good blood from the hard working, god-fearing American righteous right! Don’t these darned socialists know that they need to sell everything they own, wander the streets naked, work 87.5 jobs/day before ever, ever asking for governmental assistance? I mean that (whore) Michelle Malkin would, right? As would Rush Limbaugh (except when he is trying to purchase the necessary drugs in order to get some wood, if you know what I mean…)
Heil Bush!
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 25:
I agree. I would love to see the headline:
PINHEAD EXPLOSION ROCKS US
Hey, you know what’d be funny…if the Wilkersons were attacked by the right for “irresponsibly putting their child in the public eye.”
Some group like moveon should buy an ad in the hometown paper of each senator who votes against schip. The ad should name the senator, show his or her photo and then show a photo of this little girl. It should read something like, Senator ____ doesn’t want Bethany to get the medical help she needs. He/she thinks the money would be better spent to pay for the war.
I can pretty much imagine these bastards’ reaction:
“do you want the terrorists to win?”, “do you want out country to lose”?, “do you want Toyota to take over the US”?………or do you want to help this kid?”
“whose side are you???!!!!!!!!!” (add maniac grin and foam coming from their mouths for enhanced dramatic effect)
So we have the right wing dancing on both sides of an issue. WOMEN who can’t afford to have children and get pregnant can’t get an abortion…but if they have that child and need help paying for their insurance then they are being irresponsible.
So again, which ever favors the view they are trying to spew out there, they agree with, at the time they are trying to spew a view. Golly gee moses me…just like the republicans don’t know what the hell they are doing. No wonder this country is in a mess.
If Congress pases SCHIP then the socilists and terorists win. An economically, educationally and emotionally impoverished populace is the only bulwark against terorists and there socilists friends.
a thousand people would love to tell their own stories publically. schip has helped lots of kids and parents.
my daughter has schip for her son…our boy:) he’s never been badly hurt or sick (knock wood, thank gods) but when he hurt his ankle and another time when he had a odd looking rash, she was able to take him to the doctor without calling me first to get the money for it….she only does that when she gets sick.
the big injuries happen to lots of people but there is the everyday owwie that needs treatment too–splinters, rashes, sprains and broken arms. when my siblings and i were kids, unless one of us was very very ill we were home treated. a credit to my poor mother but there is no need for kids and parents to struggle first with curing your baby then knowing that when the bills come in you won’t be able to get new tires for the car this winter, maybe have a really small christmas–never mind not going to the movies, shopping or a vacation. vacation? what is this vacation you speak of?
“We know SCHIP works…Why doesn’t George Bush?”
Oh, maybe because he’s a spoiled, meglomaniacal, half-witted sociopath.
Hmmm. YA THINK?
Gotugye @ 34:
Is this a spoof??? Cuz if it is…its a doozy. Love the dropped consonants and misspellings. Why you’d think an “educationally impoverished” idiot wrote it. Good work.
That girl successfully made it out of the womb and at this point is just a drag on the economy. Those liberal “child-nazis” never produce wealth, only look for a hand out. Also, she’s probably faking that disease.
Sincerly,
Rush Limbaugh
How fing pathetic and despicable. Reich-wingers are a perverse, disgusting, and vile crowd. They hate the fact that SCHIP works and it saves lives. Reich-wingers only care about war and clumps of in utero cells.
Johnny2Bad @ 37:
My sarcasm detector blew up when I processed the original post. You may need to upgrade your version.
Johnny2Bad @ 37:
redratio1 @ 20:
It’s only going to sink your reich-wing party further into the minority….which is the point, remember?
Does the right wing know they are inadvertently making an argument for abortion rights? The only good children are the ones planned for and wanted, right?
Reich-wingers only believe in the sanctity and protection of “life” from conception to birth. After that, you’re on your own suckers.
So do the Republicans think parents-to-be should be means tested? Mark Hemingway doesn’t say that, but it sure is implied.
Huh, I thought the Right Wing is pro life and Pro Family!?
Go Figure..
Shorter Mark Hemingway:
“Poor people should be sterilized.”
jr @ 11:
I have 92 million for Erik Prince. 92 MILLION FUCKING YEARS IN PRISON!
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout @ 42:
That would require thinking things through. Not a hallmark of right-wingers. They only live for the gotcha moments.
Why do all these kids think they deserve help? I want our tax dollar$ going to Iraq so I can afford to buy gasoline made from our oil that happens to be in Iraq. I want our tax dollar$ lining the pockets of big oil. I want our tax dollar$ going to pharmaceutical CEOs for bonuses. Where do these kids get off asking for medical help? Their lucky to be living in America.
I wonder if these drooling, goose-stepping poltroons can even remember the time they once possessed any humanity?