Spendthrift Bush Draws Line on Kids' Health

Responding to a question about the growing number of uninsured Americans, President George W. Bush observed: "No one goes without health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.''

This let-them-eat-cake attitude recalled Barbara Bush's observation when thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims lay sleeping with strangers on the floor of the Houston Astrodome. They're "underprivileged anyway,'' she said, "so this is working very well for them.''

The Bushes have had many more chances to inform themselves than did Marie Antoinette, so they must work harder to maintain their denial. For the president, denial seems to be a philosophy for governance. Why not have a mother whose child has a 102 degree fever wait, along with gunshot victims, in hard plastic chairs for hours to get a throat culture? They're underprivileged. That's what emergency rooms are for.

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