Bush spokesman Bartlett counters that his boss's stance was just part of the process of negotiation. "The bottom line is that Governor Bush and those lawmakers involved all knew going into session that there were a range of options on the table, and that we were all going to be putting forth different options.

"Everybody knew going into this that 150 percent was going to be our starting point," Bartlett says, "but the governor's office worked with the House and Senate to determine what impact different levels would have. And as Governor Bush worked with the Legislature, everybody came to the agreement that 200 percent was doable ... To take a snapshot in time of [Bush's stance during] the early part of the [legislative] session -- while you discount the bill-signing ceremony, and the fact that the governor signed the bill -- is taking it out of context."

Democratic state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos disagrees. "Oh, baloney," Barrientos says. "I just get so tired of that spin. We beat him. And this whole thing about 'It was a negotiating point'? Hey -- you don't negotiate with children's lives. Period."

As for Bush's heralding of the parallel program for qualified legal immigrant children, which was folded into CHIP during the legislative battle, Democratic state Rep. Garnett Coleman, who offered the bill, says that he can't recall Gov. Bush taking a stance one way or another while Republicans in the state House tried to have his measure killed. "If it makes it sound like he took leadership on the issue, that is just inaccurate," Coleman says. "If anything he was passive-aggressive in opposing it."

Naishtat insists that Bush simply had a philosophical objection to these programs, one that could be seen in other legislative battles. Because of welfare reform miscommunication -- again, a very common occurrence throughout the United States -- when mothers lose their welfare assistance because they didn't comply with state rules, often their children are automatically, though erroneously, removed from the Medicaid lists, though a vast majority of the children are still eligible.

To combat this, Naishtat introduced House bill 820, "which basically said that when a mom goes off welfare, the state must automatically review the eligibility of children for Medicaid to see if the kid's still eligible. If the child is, then the state's department of human services has to continue the enrollment of the kids in Medicaid."

Naishtat says that this bill, too, which merely attempted to keep the designation of already Medicaid-eligible children, met with Bush opposition. "The governor and his staff fought me and those of us pushing this legislation until the end of the session," he says. "Bush's legislative director, Terrell Smith, said they were concerned about the cost."

This was especially curious to Naishtat since Bush's first action in the 1999 legislative session was to declare a "legislative emergency" for the owners of oil and gas wells, bankrolling $45 million in severance tax relief for them -- a provision that met with overwhelming support in the Texas Legislature.

"In the end, we passed it [House bill 820] and he did sign it into law," Naishtat says. "But 'leave no child behind'? He did everything he could to leave these low income children behind."

For Barrientos, this is all part of a disturbing trend in Bush's presidential run, wherein the GOP nominee is stealing credit for bills he had nothing to do with -- literally nothing, no expression of support, no lobbying, no position -- until he signed them. During the Republican Convention, Barrientos was stunned when Gen. Colin Powell heralded Bush's support for Texas' "10 percent" bill, which opens college doors for the top 10 percent of students in every high school senior class.

"I was the Senate sponsor of the '10 percent' bill," Barrientos says. "I developed that plan with the help of some university professors. And I passed it through the Senate. He never called me, he never wrote about it, he never had any press conferences to testify about the bill. So for him to take credit for it like it was his idea, that's just not right. I'm not bashing Texas, I'm not bashing Bush. I'm just saying, 'Hey, folks -- here are the facts.'"

But the Texas healthcare battle that reveals most about Bush's leadership isn't necessarily the CHIP fight, where he now takes credit for the achievements of others. It's the patients protection act -- a muddled mess of politics, accomplishment, good intentions and confusing motives.

Salon News A Salon-eye view of the day's news, with investigative reports, analysis and interviews with newsmakers.