Today's vote continues the GOP's shameless policy of loyalty above all else. Many of the 156 have clearly been willing to gamble (with the lives of Children, no less) that they won't be hurt by this come election day.
The Democrats can help their cause by using this as a vivid reminder of what the GOP has ushered in under Bush: all-out war on the middle-class.
The cost of healthcare, the cost of energy, of gasoline, rising interest rates, the inflating cost of college education, real wages down, avg. work hours up, ad infinitum--it has been an unrelenting stretch. All so the wealthiest Americans can enjoy what Garrison Keillor called "an unprecedented transfer of wealth..." upward.
The Democrats have done little to exploit this position. They should. It clarifies, it defines. It's a choice between the middle-class and President Bush. Or more accurately, Bush's ego. Simple as that. It's the statement that should be unrelentingly used to counter the weak (and troll-ish) line the Rethugs have floated about "let's help poor children first."
The very fact that 10 million working Americans can't insure their kids is testament to how far the definition of "middle-class" has fallen.
The Democrats must define and mobilize the middle-class as a constituency if they are to usher enough Bush-loyalists out the door come 2008.