1115.org

It’s always hard to try and figure out what the heck might be going on in what we can, out of politeness to the president, agree to call his mind, but his veto of the Medicare bill is particularly hard to fathom.

Why would a lame duck second-term president decide to put himself in a position to get his ass handed to him by vetoing a bill that was certain to be overridden? A first-term president might have some incentive to posture for a certain section of voters, but what did George W. Bush have to gain by the veto?

Last week, the bill passed in the Senate 69-30 (67 votes are needed to override a veto), after passing in the house in June by an overwhelming 355-59. But Bush decided he was still going to veto the bill:

President Bush will stand by his longstanding threat to veto Medicare legislation passed by the Senate Wednesday, the White House confirmed.

The veto will set up override votes in the House and Senate, where the legislation passed with more than the two-thirds majority needed to overcome the president’s rejection.

Nevertheless, White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters Bush would veto the measure. “[D]oes the president still intend to veto this bill? … The answer is yes,” he said.

The answer may have been yes, but the question is still: “Why?”

Especially in view of what played out yesterday:

The House just voted to override President Bush’s veto of a bill to block cuts in payments to doctors under Medicare, and the caravan of Republicans moving away from the president on the issue turned into a stampede.

The chamber voted 383-41 to override the veto, with 153 Republicans joining all 230 Democrats present to vote “aye.” That’s an increase of 24 Republicans in favor since the bill’s original passage last month. The administration and GOP leaders did their best in both the House and Senate to prevent the measure from passing the first time around, urging their members to vote “no” so they could try to negotiate a better bill, but many rank-and-file Republicans didn’t listen. Even more ignored Bush’s wishes today.

Strangely enough, exactly the same thing happened in the Senate: more Republican Senators voted to override than voted to help pass the bill in the first place:

The Senate has now also voted to override the veto, 70-26. Four Republicans switched from voting against the measure previously to voting in favor of the override today: Kit Bond (Mo.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Roger Wicker (Miss.) and Richard Lugar (Ind.).

So now the hapless President of the United States is standing there with his ass in his hands, looking extremely foolish, and wondering what the eff to do with that ass.

Let’s not feel too sorry for him. Looking extremely foolish, and wondering what the eff to do next have been the twin hallmarks of his presidency. And every single time, it’s been ordinary Americans who’ve been getting effed.

So it’s pretty satisfying to see Congress — with the active connivance of normally goose-stepping Republicans — give Bush a resounding “Eff you, Mr. President!”