Oct 09 2007
Don’t Target Sick Or Hurt Children For Political Debate
New Major Update Below – proof the whole mess was unnecessary: Bush’s version of plan would not have changed a thing for the Frost family.
I have to say this is one of those days I am glad to be an unaffiliated voter. I lean GOP (heavily) but there are days when it is a blessing not be too closely associated with right. The entire S-CHIP mess is spinning madly out of control – again thanks to hot headed comments from the right and toned deafness to the plight of our fellow citizens. I am 100% opposed to S-CHIP, and I have a child who has costed us plenty in unique medical bills due to a health issue. But being against a policy doesn’t give people the right to hound, harrass or disparage a family going through a tough spot. Especially when it involves a seriously injured child. Here is where the left gets traction against the right – on issues of simple basic decency to others:
Democrats invited a 12-year-old boy, Graeme Frost, to deliver the party’s radio address. The point, obviously, was to humanize the policy debate — instead of just another politician reading talking points, here was a kid who was able to get the medical care he needed after a serious car accident caused severe brain trauma, paralyzed one of his vocal chords, and put him in a coma.
Over the weekend, several conservative activists and bloggers decided it was time to do what the right does best: smear anyone who gets in their way. The Conservative Attack Machine decided Graeme Frost and his family didn’t deserve benefits under S-CHIP and went after the Frosts with a vengeance.
More leftwing outrage here. The actions of the right side of the blogosphere have been abhorent. It includes hounding the family at their home – which should be a sanctuary from politics during trying times such as these. The attack on the Frosts was as boneheaded as it could be. Instead of attacking the socialist policy some people with self control issues went and attacked the greiving family. Sadly I have to use one of my favorite conservative sites as an example of the cold heartedness being displayed, even when the facts that fed the rightwing feeding frenzy were found to be completely wrong:
Left Wing (George Soros) website defends RICHY RICH Family with BASELESS Defense
“Here are the facts that the right-wing distorted in order to attack young Graeme:
1) Graeme has a scholarship to a private school. The school costs $15K a year, but the family only pays $500 a year.
2) His sister Gemma attends another private school to help her with the brain injuries that occurred due to her accident. The school costs $23,000 a year, but the state pays the entire cost.
3) They bought their “lavish house†sixteen years ago for $55,000 at a time when the neighborhood was less than safe.
4) Last year, the Frost’s made $45,000 combined. Over the past few years they have made no more than $50,000 combined.
5) The state of Maryland has found them eligible to participate in the CHIP program.
Desperate to defend Bush’s decision to cut off millions of children from health care, the right wing has stooped to launching baseless and uninformed attacks against a 12 year old child and his family.
Right wing bloggers have been harassing the Frosts, calling their home numerous times to get information about their private lives. Compassionate conservatism indeed.â€
Awwww,
Mac Ranger is a good man. But he is abysmally wrong on what he wrote. I sometime think of him as one of those Christian Soldier types given his military service and rough edges. He needs to tone down the soldier side and beef up the Christian side at the moment. The child is hurt and did nothing wrong by representing himself on a policy his family believes in. That is democracy and America – voicing your convictions. Mac doesn’t even challenge the facts, because he cannot. They are the facts. He can only be flippant and nonsensical.
I grew up outside DC in VA and understand the cost of living here. It is steep. My house value has nearly tripled since we bought it in the very early 1990’s. A $400K house within driving distance of DC is on the very low end of the housing scale. In McLean and Great Falls where I grew up – before they were tony enclaves of the ridiculously rich – houses now run a minimum of $1 million, and I would wager the average is around $ 3 million. Making a combined income of $40K puts this family very near the poverty level in this area. I am impressed at how much assistance they have garnered from the state of MD – but then MD is deep blew liberal. .
The point is the Frosts were a simple family of simple means facing a daunting medical situation with their son. They deserved the respect of all Americans for the simple constitutional act of voicing their opinions. They deserved our heartfelt support for their situation. A better answer to the Democrat vultures who used these people as PR props would have been compassion and support. I would have been better to show how community and Church can come to their aid without forcing government-only-solutions onto a society that works best without government nags involved.
But no. Some people had to go off half-cocked again and go into the politics of personal destruction – just as they did to George Bush (er, El Presidente Jorge Bush, zee traitor) on immigration. I have been fed up with the hotheaded, immature behavior on the right for some time now. But this is just too much to ignore. The last thing I wanted was the party of Reagan and Bush, two gentlemen of class and confidence, to morph a sea of Begala’s and Carvilles with their inept-induced approach to ugly politics. But it seems too many are ready to follow that sneer-lipped model.
A young man is seriously injured and needs are support. We don’t need to buy into the S-CHIP crap to give that support. And we sure has hell don’t need to disparage the boy and his family to win the debate on socialized medicine. At least MOST of us don’t need to stoop that low to win that debate. The far right has earned this black eye and I am not going to defend them. Their is no excuse. S-CHIP is bad policy, but that cannot be used to rationalize the tormenting of a hurting family. Therefore I must join with those who condem them for their actions on this issue. S-CHIP is bad policy, but what the right did to the Frosts is simply wrong.
Update: It is not often John Cole over at Balloon Juice and I agree, but today we do so mark it on your calendars:
they [the Frosts] own their own business, they pay their taxes, they are still in a committed relationship and are raising their kids, they eschewed public education and are doing what they have to do to get them into Private schools, they are part of the American dream of home ownership that Republicans have been pointing to in the past two administrations as proof of the health of the economy, and so on.
In short, they are a white, lower-middle-class, committed family, who is doing EVERYTHING the GOP Kultur Kops would have you believe people should be doing. They aren’t gay. They aren’t divorced. They didn’t abort their children. They aren’t drug addicts or welfare queens. They are property owners, entrepeneurs, taxpayers, and hard-working Americans.
But we have seen this pattern way too many times before. These people SHOULD be GOP stalwarts. Of course, after this experience they will be lifetime Democrats. I welcome John Cole to the ranks of the Independents – it is a far saner place to be than either of the parties right now.
Obsidian Wings has a great rebuttal to all the wild claims made by the right, showing how this family of simple means can actually exist. BTW, a lot of links to so called right wingers are just not panning out for the left. Many are just questioning the S-CHIPS program and how in MD it can be used by the not too needy. So those who simply note S-CHIP would collapse if it was universal (like all socialist medicine programs) are not slamming the Frosts. With that said, the Frosts were in a bind and did what they had to to get through it. They support the program – that is not a crime or evil intent or a lie. It is just a fact. I suggest the right mea culpa their way off this issue ASAP.
Update: One other note. We carry health insurance, some people don’t. That is the way of conservative approach. But the fact is health care in extreme conditions is incredibly expensive. Our twins being born premature cost a couple hundred grand when it was all said and done. That was 4 and 9 weeks in the NICU (intensive care for new borns). The bills the Frost family faced were going to wipe them out and then some. No selling cars or houses would get them out from under what must have been four or five times what we had to pay. We had no special surgeries, no rehabilitation, etc. But let’s be clear here – we all pay for this either through taxes or insurance premiums. Insurance is the better choice – but we all shouldered the Frosts whether they paid insurance or not. So just lay off the family folks. The mob has done its damage to itself. Stop digging.
Update: Another question for the pundits who are attacking the Frosts. First off, it is MD that provides coverage without a means test for income. But it seems to me the FROSTS, with their low take home pay, could have equally qualified under the S-CHIP program Bush envisioned when he vetoed the bill. Did ANYONE check to see if the Frosts would have been covered either way? If that is the case then all the personal attacks on the FROSTS for the use of this one time safety net could have been unnecessary – and avoided.
Major Update: I went and answered my own question. The fact is the bill Bush vetoed wanted to expand S-CHIP by $35 million, Bush was looking for a more reasonable $5 Million in growth:
The bipartisan bill Bush vetoed would have expanded funding by $35 billion over the next five years. Bush supported $5 billion in expanded funding to the program.
So the program was going to continue and grow. Which means the Frosts were not at risk of losing ANYTHING. So all the personal attacks were MEANINGLESS as well as self destructive and ugly. The right side of the spectrum made an complete ass of itself today. They unnecessarily attacked a kid and his family when all they had to do was note that under all the options being reviewed in Congress, NONE of them would have changed a thing for the Frosts or any other family currently in the same tragic situation they FROST were in three years ago.
Update: More proof the Frost Family would not be impacted. The Bush proposal caps Federal support to 300% (3 times) the poverty level in any state. In Texas that seems to be $62K a year. After that the state can pick up the tab if it wants. What a simple answer this is to the Dems PR stunt. Much better than badgering the family and kids.
Sorry, AJ, but I agree with Mark Steyn on this one (whom Mac quoted):
“Sorry, no sale. The Democrats chose to outsource their airtime to a Seventh Grader. If a political party is desperate enough to send a boy to do a man’s job, then the boy is fair game. As it is, the Dems do enough cynical and opportunist hiding behind biography and identity, and it’s incredibly tedious. And anytime I send my seven-year-old out to argue policy you’re welcome to clobber him, too. The alternative is a world in which genuine debate is ended and, as happened with Master Frost, politics dwindles down to professional staffers writing scripts to be mouthed by Equity moppets. ”
…
Steyn feels like picking on hurt kids, then he is not a man but a whimp without the intellect to frame an argument.
Sad to hear you too feel there is a need to pillory the family for speaking their views instead of just focusing on the problems and pitfalls of S-CHIP.
It is ugly and counterproductive. Just like the immigration debate, the Miers debate, the Dubai ports debate. And of course here I am using the term ‘debate’ loosely, given the low brow nature of the argument.
SCHIP Poster Family Not So Needy After All…
It appears that the advocates of SCHIP expansion did a poor job of choosing their poster family. The Frosts got a profile in the Baltimore Sun and one of their children, Graeme, was trundled up to Congress to pull on America’s heart strings. But …
AJ I agree with you on many things……but I feel uneasy about this one. I think that the Dems chose this family on purpose, just like the Michael J. Fox ad. Why, because with a child representing the S- CIPS program no one could criticize it with out looking bad. The child said amongst other things, that it was the Iraqi war that was causing children to suffer. Granted he was reading a script that the Dems wrote for him, but his parents should have supervised what he was reading, in my opinion they should not have let the child read in the first place. After all it is the parents job to make decisions about medical insurance for their family, the father should have read the script. Next, it was a blogger through google who discovered the facts about the family, not the news media.
The Dems always do the emotional thing to get policies in the public domain. By using PC, race, children, the sick, the old, they exclude rational debate as you want. It is a set up to get the emotional reaction that you had. Yes I feel very sorry for any body hurt in an accident, especially a child. Does anybody feel sorry for me that in 20 years I haven’t taken a vacation with my children, or a vacation at all, that we shopped at Target for cloths, that we bag our own groceries at the cheapest market so I could afford to put 3 good meals together, the answer is no. But I bought medical insurance for my family out of my own pocket. I don’t consider myself poor, I pay taxes, have raised 2 beautiful children and we have had a great life. But it does irritate me to think that I should pay more taxes to take care of middle class families who think it is not worth carrying medical insurance because it is the governments responsibility to do it for them. I want the government to teach people to take responsibility for their own lives. The Dems play the emotional card teaching Americans that it is the governments responsibility to take care of them.
The Dems want to get out of Iraq because they have big plans for the money it costs to fight this war. One of the plans is the S-CIPS program. They never want to fight a ground war again, if they can tie up the economy with entitlements we will look like Old Europe. No wars, plenty of people dependent on the government for their well being. I want freedom from government intervention in my life. Everytime the government comes up with a new program I have to figure out a new budget.
People who do not want public scrutiny should never interject their family into politics. They may get more then they asked for. By the way I agree with you on Immigration, the Dubia thing and most other issues.
AJ I agree with you on many things……but I feel uneasy about this one. I think that the Dems chose this family on purpose, just like the Michael J. Fox ad. Why, because with a child representing the S- CIPS program no one could criticize it with out looking bad. The child said amongst other things, that it was the Iraqi war that was causing children to suffer. Granted he was reading a script that the Dems wrote for him, but his parents should have supervised what he was reading, in my opinion they should not have let the child read in the first place. After all it is the parents job to make decisions about medical insurance for their family, the father should have read the script. Next, it was a blogger through google who discovered the facts about the family, not the news media.
The Dems always do the emotional thing to get policies in the public domain. By using PC, race, children, the sick, the old, they exclude rational debate as you want. It is a set up to get the emotional reaction that you had. Yes I feel very sorry for any body hurt in an accident, especially a child. Does anybody feel sorry for me that in 20 years I haven’t taken a vacation with my children, or a vacation at all, that we shopped at Target for cloths, that we bag our own groceries at the cheapest market so I could afford to put 3 good meals together, the answer is no. But I bought medical insurance for my family out of my own pocket. I don’t consider myself poor, I pay taxes, have raised 2 beautiful children and we have had a great life. But it does irritate me to think that I should pay more taxes to take care of middle class families who think it is not worth carrying medical insurance because it is the governments responsibility to do it for them. I want the government to teach people to take responsibility for their own lives. The Dems play the emotional card teaching Americans that it is the governments responsibility to take care of them.
The Dems want to get out of Iraq because they have big plans for the money it costs to fight this war. One of the plans is the S-CIPS program. They never want to fight a ground war again, if they can tie up the economy with entitlements we will look like Old Europe. No wars, plenty of people dependent on the government for their well being. I want freedom from government intervention in my life. Everytime the government comes up with a new program I have to figure out a new budget.
People who do not want public scrutiny should never interject their family into politics. They may get more then they asked for. By the way I agree with you on Immigration, the Dubia thing and most other issues.
Kathie,
Of course they chose the family on purpose. But this is akin to Bush recognizing someone who fought in Iraq and Dem bloggers claiming he was some kind of fake.
The excuse there are no bounds to what you can do when an American citizen stands up to make their voice heard runs two ways. If the GOP allows this to happen don’t come whining when Dems open up divorce records or start nitpicking Christians for not acting like Christians.
There is no excuse for attacking a family that HAS BEEN self sufficient and ONE TIME needed assistance. None.
Face it, your far right heroes screwed up big time on this one. Denial will not change the outcome. Only true penance will fix this now.
You are right AJ a reasoned, rational response to an emotional set up is the far better way to go. Kathie
Why THANK YOU Kathie!
Very much appreciated (when one is bucking the popular trends).
You made my day.
Too often the personal becomes political. I support Bush’s veto, because I do not like the tax increases necessary to support the bill. But it is too easy for both sides to demagogue an issue like this and they should both try to avoid it. But they won’t.
And while I like Steyn, sometimes he can be a little flippant with the facts.
AJ
This is not a case of big bad mean rightwingers attacking a poor defensless kid no matter how much you are buying into it.
Look at your original quote you have from the left doing damage control. In one side of their mouth they are claiming the big bad neocons are calling the house for personal details and in the next they are putting out the details themselves. Strange that. So their data came from contact with the family or a representative.
What attracted the right side was not the kid being used as a heart tugger, that was an expected given. What attracted the attention was the out of wack data in the original story release.
First off the kids were hurt in a single car SUV striking a tree. From the reports the boy hit the tree itself and the daughter hit a window. Seat belt usuage is brought into question here.
The windows were likely up since black ice was the cause of the accident, so how would the boy have struck the tree?
Second there is a commercial property owned by the family business purchase for near 200k cash, since there is no evidence of a mortage on the property.
The wife now works in a different place and even low balling her income at 15K per year that leaves only 30k for Dad.
If he has run this business from the time of their marriage and he hasn’t developed the business better than that something is very wrong.
They claim to have a 1200 a month mortage on a house they bought for 55k.
Now that means someone refinanced and took out over 120k of equity along the way and that could have purchased health insurance among other things.
Also with only 45K income how did they qualify for what must have been near a 200k loan with a 1200 month payment. What banker approved that loan ratio?
AJ
Just think of trying to maintain your lifestyle if your family income was suddenly altered to 45K a year.. something just didn’t jive from the details of the original stories and that is what prompted the look see.
Now everyone is just trying to blow smoke and point fingers and not really look at the base data behind the situation.
Detach from the emotion and look and you will see something does not balance here and there is more to this story.
Merlin,
You can easily get a 150K loan on 45K salary. Sorry, your just making up a lame defense for a senseless act.
And this is why the GOP is losing suppport.
Maybe where you live AJ, but in my neck of the woods you would be lucky to get 70K max financed.
Rule of thumb – 3x your income. been that way for decades.
This behaviour by the democrats is exactly what Ann Coulter pointed out re the 9/11 widows. Malkin’s crowd condemned Coulter back in March ( I never found Coulter interesting before she was purged ) so it’s bit ironic that they are now calling her tune.
But I doubt the GOP loses much support over this, Al.
If you read Coulter carefully, you will find she’s not nearly as bad as the left make out. She’s a lawyer and I’m sure she chooses her words deliberately so they will be misinterpreted and to provoke a reaction. This gives her an audience and provides a decent living (i guess). However, I don’t think anyone except the extreme left and right take her very seriously.
AJ
By my assumptions the lady of the house is probably making enough the cover the mortgage payments, but then he is on the hook for all the other household expense.
Food , clothing , utilities , house insurance (if they have any but necessary for the mortgage), cars and their mandatory insurance (assume two here if he has a work vehicle for business).
Just utility bills in that area are a bunch. Not to mention taxes on income by the state and property taxes.
No the numbers don’t work out , and what I have seen suggested is that he almost would have do be doing under the table work to make ends meet.
If his woodworker job is actually making custom cabinets like in his kitchen at going rates he should be clearing 3k or more profit per kitchen refit.
If he is only pulling in 30k after business expenses he would be much better of to rent the commercial building out and work in the construction industry.
Going rates for cabinet makers there for custom houses is high dollar.
Nope something still smells.
gh,
no one attacked the 9-11 widows and tried to impugn them. It would have been fairly stupid to do so. It is still stupid.
Fight the policy – leave the American Family alone. It’s just not that hard of a battle to resort to muck raking. I understand some are challenged – most are not and do not respect those who sink to the bottom like this.
Wow you would think these people would be smart enough to not fall into the trap set by the dems, the very reason they use a child to prove their point is that only an load of asses would attack a child. The dems have figured out that the first thing any wingnut does in an argument is attack the messenger, so they make the messenger un-attackable. it works for both sides as you see bushie hide behind the troops (can’t attack them they are our guardian angels) or snowflake babies(can’t attack them or it looks like you hate children)
And as far as dems using emotion to pass legislation, fear is the only reason bush is in office.
It is not just a trap set by the Democrats, for one thing the boy is already getting the help so it is obvious that attacking the family is a waste of time. The question is not whether or not the program will be extended but by how much.
The right is not only going after the family they are starting to worry about whether or not this will extend to illegals.
Ed Morrisey over at Captains Quarters said days ago that illegals would not be getting any benefits from the program. Ed does not support this much of an expansion and does support the veto by the way.
It seems that both sides are bound and determined to demagogue every issue that comes along. The right will say the family are frauds etc and that illegals will end up with the money. Meanwhile the the left will say Bushitler wants to let sick children die.
Neither side is being honest.
Barraso:
No, Bush is in office because he won the election. He won the election because Democrats keep running losers.
Speaking of fear, who was Zinni trying to scare back in 2000 when he said Saddam was our number one threat? Oh, I forget that kind of talk is only a lie when the guy saying it has a R behind his name. Democrats are special, they are never accountable for the things they say.
Like trying to scare people into believing they will die from a lack of medical care if the Republicans win.