Sensitive New Age Guy

In previous SCHIP posts, I had attributed Mike Rogers' opposition to health care for children to politics.

This seemed like a reasonable assumption, given that Rogers has proven himself to be a reliably perky, fact-free Bush cheerleader on any given topic (Iran, SCHIP, budgets...).

The Democrats re-introduced the SCHIP bill, spelling out the "problematic" bits in language clear enough even for those Congresscritters who move their lips when they read.

All together, now:

*NO coverage for illegal aliens

*NO coverage for families over 300% of the poverty level
(this means you, hypothetical rich people).

*NO cuts to services for senior citizens, just cuts to the private insurance companies that are gouging the government through the Medicaid Advantage program

Yet Mr. Rogers and a majority of his GOP buds still said no. Why? Was this just another example of mindless partisan politics?

Oh no, my friends. It wasn't politics at all.

See, Mr. Rogers and his colleagues are a deeply sensitive bunch. Their feelings were bruised, their self-esteem dented and their confidence shaken when those mean ol' Dems brought back the SCHIP bill.

Here are the sad, sad details, stright from The Horse's Mouth:

The latest rationale: They voted against it because Democratic leaders were nasty to them.

That's what angry House GOPers have now told Dem leaders in a private meeting on the Hill:

In a closed-door meeting before the last vote on the children’s health care bill, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer appealed for the support of about 30 wavering Republican lawmakers. What he got instead was a tongue-lashing, participants said.

The GOP lawmakers, all of whom had expressed interest in a bipartisan deal on the SCHIP legislation, were furious that the Democratic leader from Maryland had not reached out to them in a more serious way early on. They also criticized him and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois for failing to stop his allies outside Congress from running attack ads in their districts, while they were discussing a bipartisan deal.

One GOPer who sniffled particularly loud about his maltreatment at the hands of House Dems was GOP Rep. Ric Keller of Florida, who complained:

"They spent $1.5 million through their various shill outreach groups attacking me and a handful of my colleagues. But they did not spend five minutes to approach me to ask for my vote."

Stop the hurt. Hug a Republican today.