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Bully Pulpit

The term "bully pulpit" stems from President Theodore Roosevelt's reference to the White House as a "bully pulpit," meaning a terrific platform from which to persuasively advocate an agenda. Roosevelt often used the word "bully" as an adjective meaning superb/wonderful. The Bully Pulpit features news, reasoned discourse, opinion and some humor.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Rush Limbaugh's Morning Update: Chilled!

Hey, something happened this week in Oregon -- one of America's most liberal states -- and I'll bet you haven't heard much about it unless you listen to my radio program.

Oregon voters had the chance to provide insurance to "the children" by implementing a new tax on Big Tobacco. Advocates rolled out TV ads; they sent mailers "telling stories of debt and heartbreak," as AP puts it. The tax would have added 85 cents to each pack of smokes, purportedly to fund about 100,000 kids. Half would have been children whose parents' income is twice the federal poverty limit. In other words, middle-class kids.

Does this sound familiar, folks? The Oregon measure basically mirrored the SCHIP program that Democrats recently pushed through Congress and President Bush vetoed, except SCHIP included upper-middle-class kids and adults in a program originally designed for poor kids.

Now, before the election, liberals were confidently predicting a big vote for the Oregon measure would provide "a shot in the arm" for Democrats in Washington for SCHIP. The governor of the state -- a Democrat -- even dipped into his own political-action-committee funds; forked over 200 grand to support the measure. He warned that if the measure were to be defeated in Oregon, it would "send a chilling message to the rest of the country."

Well, hey liberals! Listen up! And you Republicans, too, who were so worried about President Bush's veto -- you listen up, too. Voters in liberal Oregon defeated the measure big time. The tax on cigarettes to fund middle-class kids' health care? Down in flames! You've been chilled. Big time.


Read the Background Material on the Morning Update...

AP: Voters Reject Slew of Ballot Measures
AP: Oregon to Vote on Children's Health Care

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