Look at the big picture about the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

President Bush vetoed the SCHIP bill simply because it is bad legislation, for so many reasons: It doesn't make poor children a priority because it also covers adults; it undermines private insurance; it sets the nation on the path to socialized medicine; and it feeds yet further an already-bloated government.

Democrats are trying to make Republicans out to be cold-hearted kid haters when, in fact, the bill would extend medical aid for the working poor to families earning $80,000. Do families making $80,000 really need government health insurance?

That's worse than ridiculous; it's blatantly reckless to expand long-term government spending at a time when the federal budget already is headed for a disaster as boomers retire. And Democrats are hiding behind kids to see this SCHIP bill passed.

A better way to take care of future generations would be to stop robbing them now to pay for overinflated vote-buying programs.