Cornyn Watch: The Texas Senator Is Either A Dupe Or A Liar (Or Perhaps Some Of Both: Maybe It's Not An Either/Or)

By Manifesto Joe

It's informative to get campaign-season e-mails from incumbents running for re-election, especially here in Texas. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Cow Pasture, seems to be trying to establish some new baseline for mendacity.

The junior senator sent something explaining his vote against the majority SCHIP bill, and why he will vote to sustain Il Doofus' veto of it. Here's part of what he had to say:

"Cover Texas Uninsured —- Don’t Raise Taxes on Working Poor/Middle Class. We must seek broader health care solutions to address the high rate of uninsured children in our state. The plan I support covers additional Texas children without raising taxes on lower and middle class families. The majority bill balloons SCHIP by more than 140 percent to potentially include families of four with $83,000 of annual income. It relies on an accounting trick that will guarantee higher taxes, both immediately and again in the future."

So the senator is talking to us about accounting tricks? And about sparing the lower and middle classes of our state from higher taxes? Let's hear, as it was said too many times by an annoying old fart, the other half of the story. Here's something from a site called stopcornyn.com:

Let’s talk about Cornyn’s priorities. At best, he is a hypocrite. At worst, he is a liar.

Cornyn voted against CHIP… twice! Now he is offering down a watered version that is only 1/3 of the funding the bipartisan bill President Bush vetoed.

According to Cornyn’s own website, his bill covers 200,000 Texas children. That sounds great, but the bill passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate would have given insurance to 440,000 children.

The Houston Chronicle has some serious points to consider:

Texas has more uninsured children than any other state; he’s up for re-election; and his Senate teammate, fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, bucked the White House to support the bipartisan package.

Then there’s the fact that the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature’s decision in 2003 to enact cuts that dropped 200,000 children from CHIP coverage still is rippling through the health care system and political landscape. Of the 9.4 million children in America who lack insurance coverage, 1.3 million live in Texas.

Eighteen Senate Republicans broke with the White House, leaving Cornyn among a minority in opposition to the bill, estimated to cover an added 440,000 Texas kids.
Clearly, Cornyn is all talk about making sure our children have the medical coverage they need.

In the same Houston Chronicle article, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, termed the criticism by Cornyn as “either totally wrong or intellectually dishonest.” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pointed out that 92 percent of the children covered under the bill live in families making less than 200 percent of federal poverty levels, or $41,300 for a family of four.

Stop lying to us Senator. ..."

And then, in general, Cornyn doesn't quite have a record of voting in favor of anything that creates a more equitable tax system. According to the rating of Citizens for Tax Justice, John Cornyn is a complete zero. Nada. Even Crazy Jack McCain rated 50%. And even Chuck Grassley was yet another of the many GOP, CTJ zeros. I don't think I even have to check on Orrin Hatch. Anyway, that's John Cornyn -- a zero minus.

It's pretty dicey talking about a real chance to knock this contemptible bozo off next year, in this "red" state. State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who happens to be a National Guard veteran of the Afghanistan campaign, is thought to have the best shot. Go, Rick.