Only 135 votes vs. S-CHIP

Wow, that's discouraging. It's "health care expansion funded with a massive tax hike on smokers," says Michelle Malkin, who seems to have temporarily forgotten basic economics. It won't be just smokers, because it can't be. 

Supply and demand: Higher taxes will reduce smoking, so that total federal tobacco tax revenue will fail to meet the "fixed-pie" calculus of the Central Economic Planners, who will in turn act to fund the plan through general revenue. Meanwhile, costs will far exceed projections because of massive over-utilization. (The free-beer principle: If it's an open bar, your estimate of the amount needed to supply a party of X number of people will almost always be too low, and you'll end up making a beer run before midnight.)

You -- yes, you, the wheat-germ and alfalfa-sprouts organic tofu gobblers -- will eventually be taxed to pay for this boondoggle.

In three words: It Won't Work.

UPDATE: New Obama slogan: Smoke up! It's for the children!