A party that deserves to lose elections

I thought I'd be happy that the Republican Party would oppose the bloated SCHIP bill making its way through Congress. After all, something's wrong with a bill that thinks my children need government-subsidized health insurance.

But no, the Republicans are quite happy with yet another massive expansion of entitlements. No, they're up in a lather that the bill would allow benefits to legal immigrants. I repeat: legal immigrants. That's right: rather than oppose what's truly wrong with the bill, Republicans have decided to represent themselves as opponents of all those welfare cheats coming here from abroad. People like, say…my wife and son, who have been here fewer than 5 years, and certainly didn't come in order to live high on the US Welfare State—but, should something should happen to me, they will find themselves in dire straits, regardless of the taxes that I've been paying.

When the Republicans lose in 2010, they will have deserved it richly.