From Families USA. He pulled the trigger on SCHIP yesterday, to the consternation of more than a few Republicans now facing a slew of ads next year accusing conservatives of hating children on top of everything else. It’s great to see him exercising fiscal responsibility and it’s understandable that he’d want to put up a roadblock on the path to universal health care, but this is the sort of thing you do when you’re 15 points ahead on the generic ballot, not 15 points down. The Democrats are going to grind his face in it, too, apparently:

Democrats, sensing a political advantage, said they were in no mood to compromise. Several officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing strategy, said Pelosi and Reid seemed set on sending Bush successor bills that are nearly identical with the one he just vetoed. The goal would be to force him—and his congressional allies—to repeatedly expose themselves to criticism that they were denying health care for kids.

The same piece says the GOP is going to try to present itself as supporting health care for kids but not for any program that might expand coverage to adults or illegal aliens. Good luck convincing people when you’re up against this: