BUSH SEEKS FOREIGN HELP IN PRESSURING SPEAKER PELOSI ON FREE TRADE WITH COLOMBIA

Now we have George Bush asking Felipe Calderon president of Mexico and Stephen Harper of Canada to come out and publicly ask Nancy Pelosi to reconsider not holding a vote on the Colombia free trade pact.

Stephen Lee Myers writes in today's The New York Times:

"President Bush pulled the leaders of Mexico and Canada into an unusually direct involvement in his domestic political efforts to expand free trade on Tuesday when his two North American allies joined him in a foray into both Congressional politics and the presidential campaign.
President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada lent their weight to what has been something of a lonely campaign by the president as he has traveled the country to make pro-trade speeches and angry statements about the “petty politics” that he sees threatening one of his administration’s major legacies. They joined Mr. Bush in sharply criticizing a decision by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to scuttle a vote on a free trade agreement with Colombia."

This shows how impotent has become the Boy King. Not able to admit defeat for his lack of meaningful negotiations with Congress on other pressing national needs, Bush appeals to outside authorities to petition Speaker Pelosi.

Consider what is being sought. A free trade with Colombia, a country that on this past March 1st, launched an illegal intrusion into neighboring Ecuador to shoot and kill some 25 "members" of the FARC as they slept in their beds. The dead included four visiting Mexican college students who happened to be the camp to judge for themselves what was happening with the insurgent Colombian group.

The same Colombia which has a history of killing farmers by right-wing militias and justifying it by saying that the campesinos were FARC members. Just yesterday, Mario Uribe, cousin of Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, was arrested by Colombian prosecutors and charged with complicity in the doings of the death squads. Mario immediately tried to seek refuge in the Costa Rican embassy, lending basis to the speculation that he did not want to answer questions about his cousin Alvaro.

So again, I say to Speaker Pelosi, don't be bullied by Bush to rush into this Colombian agreement. If George Bush is so desirous of the Colombian free trade pact, let him first agree to an expansion of the S-CHIP program granting health insurance to children. Let Bush first get serious about helping New Orleans, a project that he has forgotten about almost as soon as the flood waters receded.

SPEAKER PELOSI - DON'T APPROVE COLOMBIA TRADE PACT UNLESS BUSH AGREES TO COOPERATE WITH DEMOCRATS

Deb Reichmann writes in today's washingtonpost.com that George Bush is hectoring Nancy Pelosi and the Congress to approve the trade deal with Alvaro Uribe and Colombia. Pelosi and the Democratic majority in the House should stand firm and refuse to approve the pact unless Bush cooperates with Congress. As a sign of Bush's cooperation, Pelosi should require that Bush agree to sign an extended health insurance bill for children (S-CHIP) that he has vetoed at least twice in the last year.

In fact, if Bush wishes the Congress to go along and pass the Colombian trade pact, Bush needs to show his good will on other matters of importance as well. He needs to show cooperation on the matter of Congressional subpoenas given to Harriet Miers and Andrew Card. In other words, Bush needs to tell Miers and Card to show up and testify under oath. He also needs to do away with his flouting of the law by inserting signing statements that go against explicit provisions of laws that have been subject to bicameral approval and presentment. And most of all, Bush needs to confer with Speaker Pelosi about Iraq and admit it has been a disastrous foreign policy fiasco.

Until Bush cooperates with the Congress on the above matters, I urge Speaker Pelosi to stand resolute and not approve Bush's pact with Uribe or Colombia.

BUSH COMPARED TO GEORGE WASHINGTON BY SUCK-UP FRAN TOWNSEND

Fran Townsend resigns as Bush's Homeland Security Adviser today and presents a hoaky letter of resignation comparing Bush with George Washington. Townsend must be some suck-up because here's is her letter. (Thanks to ThinkProgress.org for pointing this out.)

Townsend writes:

"In 1937, the playwright Maxwell Anderson wrote of President George Washington: There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in their lifetime.

"Mr. President, you are such a man. . . ."

But Steve Clemons in his The Washington Note praises Townsend as level-headed and a counterweight to Cheney.

Writes Clemons:

"Fran Townsend, in my view, actually did a very good job and was one of the more reasoned advisers that Bush kept close to him. In my estimation, she was an important balance to Vice President Cheney's national security advisor John Hannah."

Frankly, I cannot understand Clemon's good feelings towards her. Townsend compares Bush to George Washington and include him among the giants who " . . . lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in their lifetime." About Fran Townsend I have serious reservations and doubts.

Remember Townsend is talking about Bush who:

• refuses to close Guantanamo
• refuses to stop waterboarding or other and worse forms of torture and "harsh interrogation"
• believes in extraordinary rendition (a/k/a kidnapping)
• vetoes the Children's Health Plan
• started the disastrous and foolhardy War in Iraq
• is responsible for the deaths of almost 4,000 U.S. forces
• is responsible for the deaths of over 650,000 Iraqis
• is against habeas corpus for prisoners caught in Iraq or Afghanistan
• believes in the death penalty
• and on and on

And Steve Clemons praises Townsend? Townsend's letter indicates that she thinks Bush is among those giants of men who uplift those with whom they come into contact. Townsend must be as bad as Bush if she really believes her own words. And Clemons must be on some mind-altering drug to praise her.

HOUSE FAILS ON OVERRIDE OF BUSH'S VETO OF CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE

The House failed to muster enough votes to override Bush's veto on S-CHIP. Aliza Marcus reports in Bloomberg:

"The 273-156 vote today fell 13 short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a veto. The measure would have added $35 billion over five years to the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program."

Think Progress reports on Steve King, R-IA. calling S-CHIP a program for illegal aliens and their kids - “Socialized Clinton-style Hillarycare for Illegals and their Parents . . .”

Think Progress adds:

"Earlier this week, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) told USA Today that he refers to SCHIP as “Socialized, Cuba-style Health care for Illegals and their Parents.”"

Think Progress correctly points out:

"For the record, SCHIP stands for the “State Children’s Health Insurance Program” and does not cover undocumented immigrants. Not surprisingly, King voted today to sustain Bush’s SCHIP veto."

So today is a day when children lose out on medical care and health insurance. Imagine if we had a leader in Washington instead of Bush. We could provide health coverage for all children and, at the same time, end the disastrous war in Iraq.