President Bush’s soundbite on why he opposes SCHIP expansion is strangely inept:

President Bush has threatened to veto what he sees as a huge expansion of the children’s health care program, which he describes as a step “down the path to government-run health care for every American.”

It’s funny to denounce your opponents for taking a step toward “health care for every American.” Not universal health care! Nooooo!

Of course, Bush is trying to scare people by using the phrase “government-run health care,” which implies (falsely) that Americans would be in a government-operated system. In fact, SCHIP is a program that offers health coverage through the states to children in relatively low-income families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. (See this CBPP analysis for more on the administration’s misleading claims.)

Still, this seems like a case where Bush’s sincere ideological opposition to expanding government coverage led him to blurt out the truth — he really doesn’t want health care for every American if it means the coverage is provided by the government.