Blogger Appreciation: Blue Girl, Red State

Blue Girl is a woman on a mission. She is out to change the world through blogging - relentlessly creating thoughtful, well-researched, fact-based posts on big topics. Her front page today is typical of her work - it ranges from Russian pipelines to a fantastic expose' on Sam Graves and Andy Blunt getting caught trying to sneak a seat on the ethanol gravy train. Posted at 12:34 this morning, the Graves/Blunt piece is a classic example of what Blue Girl brings to the table - thorough research, clear-eyed and honest appreciation for one honest member of the opposing party, and the perspective to place the controversy in the broader context of an upcoming Congressional election. It's easy to picture her burning the midnight oil working on completing this important story before she could sleep.

There are a lot of good blogs out there, but no local political blog impresses me more regularly with deep analysis. Nobody throws up posts with multiple and wide-ranging links like she does. Nobody jumps into the middle of national issues like she does. Nobody else seems as determined to make a difference.

Her determination and take-no-prisoners attitude comes across in her profile:

I'm an over-educated, pissed-off redhead with a broadband connection and a credit card; fiercely dedicated to the Constitution; here to remind y'all that America is founded on four boxes: 1.) The Soapbox. 2.) The Ballot Box. 3.) The Jury Box. 4.) The Ammo Box. They should be used in that order. This is my soapbox.

You kind of get the idea that we should be happy she's spending her time on the first box, don't you?

There's a reasonably good chance that Blue Girl is going to be doing her work from a Blue State by the end of the year. Sam Graves is a weak candidate getting weaker by the moment. Nixon is likely to take the Governor's mansion. Dr. Sam Page is likely to be Lieutenant Governor. Jeff Harris will be Attorney General. A host of smart and aggressive candidates are challenging Republicans like never before in Missouri House and Senate races.

I won't feel sorry for Blue Girl if her name becomes outdated. She'll be bearing a good measure of the blame.

Congressman Pete Stark on "Bad Sam" Graves

Here's what the Congressman from California's 13th District has to say about people like Sam Graves:

First of all, I'm just amazed they can't figure out, the Republicans are worried we can't pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where ya gonna get that money? You going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement. This bill would provide healthcare for 10 million children and unlike the President's own kids, these children can't see a doctor or receive necessary care. [...]

But President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up. In Iraq, in the United States and in Congress.

Believe it or not, Sam Graves still voted against insuring children. He needs to go. If you're outraged, go here to make a contribution to Kay Barnes.

Bad Sam, Good Sam, and Kids Hurt by Fear and Dogma

As written here back in July, SCHIP represents an instance where the Bush administration is going out of its way to harm children because of its dogmatic need to prevent government from offering solutions to people.

Now that he is actually wielding his pen as a sword to cut off access to health care for children, the right wing has been forced to try to reframe the debate into terms that are somehow less heartless. Sam Graves attempts to explain his blind support of all things Bush in this morning's paper, with a truly despicable attempt to blame his support of harming children on his (bogus) fear that some of the children helped might be "illegal immigrants". Mr. Graves, when your hysteria about brown people reaches the point that you cannot stomach the thought of their sick children getting necessary medical care, you've gone around the bend.

It takes a sick mind to deny millions of children health care because you don't want the brown ones to get it.

A less disturbing but more humorous argument being trotted out has the benefit of actually being Bush's true motivation. The REAL reason we can't allow SCHIP to work is that it works. If we help the children with a state-sponsored health care, people will see that "socialized medicine" is actually a sensible and workable approach.

Let's go back to Graves:

according to the Congressional Budget Office, the expansion of this government-run health-care initiative would likely mean that 2 million kids who already have private insurance would opt for their states’ government-run health-care program. In Missouri, that would involve a waiting period. That isn’t fixing a problem, it’s increasing government.

WHAT?!?! For years we've been told that single-payer health care is the worst thing in the world, but here's Sam Graves telling us that if we allow people who live in the shangri-la of medical insurance to cross over into the pit of despair that is government-sponsored health care, they will actually make that choice? It would appear that the medical establishment and their Republican hired hands have been lying to us all these years. Shocking!

(Hint to right-wing commenters about to poke a hole in my argument by pointing out that the state-sponsored health care is cheaper - here's a friendly caution to be careful with that argument - it could be a rhetorical trap . . .)

In the face of Sam Graves' embarrassingly weak defense of denying kids health care, it's good to know that Missourians have Sam Page, a genuine doctor with a thorough understanding of the health care system. Not surprisingly, he disagrees with Sam Graves, and sent me a press release that calls him on his heartlessness:

"It is shameful that our state's leaders are willing to sit silently while politicians in Washington deny access to health insurance for Missouri children," said Representative Sam Page.

Sam Page, physician and a Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, is urging Missouri's U.S. Representatives who voted against the SCHIP expansion to change their votes in order to override the president's veto, but warns the state should not be reliant on national policy.

In Missouri, our citizens and especially our children are already losing healthcare coverage at a rate three times the national average. The SCHIP expansion that received strong bi-partisan support in congress would bring nearly $1 billion in new healthcare funding to Missouri.

"We cannot continue to allow our children to suffer from illnesses that could be prevented if families had affordable access to doctors," said Page. "In the Missouri House I fought against the Medicaid cuts in 2005 and I have worked on Healthcare Committees to restore those cuts. As your Lt. Governor, I would not sit silently while politicians destroyed a child's opportunity to lead a healthy life."

Sam Page supports allowing children the opportunity to lead a healthy life. Sam Graves does not. No amount of spin, no amount of brown people fear-mongering can explain away the contrast.