Harass and Intimidate
Oct 8
The right-wing immediately condemned Democrats for daring to put a human face on the SCHIP program at a time when Bush was proposing a “diminishment of the number of children covered.” Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) — who has posed with children to advance his own political agenda — claimed Graeme was being used “as a human shield.”
Conservatives have more recently turned their targets on young Graeme Frost himself. A poster at the Free Republic propagated information alleging that Frost was actually a rich kid being pampered by the government. Among other bits of information, the post by the Freeper “icwhatudo” asserts that Graeme and his sister Gemma attend wealthy schools that cost “nearly $40,000 per year for tuition” and live in a well-off home.
The smear attack against Graeme has taken firm hold in the right-wing blogosphere. The National Review, Michelle Malkin, Wizbang, Powerline, and the Weekly Standard blog have all launched assaults on the Frost family. The story is slowly working its way into traditional media outlets as well.
It is all bullshit, of course:
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.
But they have no souls. All that matters to them is intimidating anyone who would oppose their warped priorities:
UPDATE: TP commenter Mr. Ed notes that Malkin visited the Frost’s home and business today. A coworker of Mr. Frost tells Malkin that the family is “struggling,” but she refuses to believe it.
This is what they do. They went after Michael J Fox, they went after the patriotism of Tom Daschle and John Kerry. Hell, they called Chelsea Clinton the family dog on national television. It is what they do. It is, for some of them, apparently, rather than reason, rather than argument, their prefered method of operation.
When I say God damn them, that is not profanity. That is a prayer.
Link via Digby.
#1 by jpe at October 8th, 2007
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I’ll note that it was evident to anyone with a brain that the kid had a scholarship. You can’t send someone to a ritzy school on 45k a year. Sane people think scholarship, the lunatic fringe right thinks fraud.
#2 by Kevin Hayden at October 9th, 2007
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They have damned themselves. Of course, for the extra traffic hits, they are well-rewarded for being outrageous. It worked for Rush, right?
It is such a conundrum. Ignore them and wish them obscurity. But ignore them and they multiply like cockroaches. So we fight them and they can sell more ads.
I think it is only when we go after the advertisers that we can succeed in reducing their hate to the fringe of the fringe.
#3 by Morris at October 10th, 2007
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“It worked for Rush, right?”
You’re just sore that the lying smear of Rush didn’t work. Of course, we know the left is as pure as driven snow when it comes to smears. Just ask Gen. Patraeous.
#4 by Morris at October 10th, 2007
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Aren’t the Frost children covered under the present SCHIP program?
I have four children, and I was able to provide health insurance for them even though most of the time I made less than the Frosts maKe. Of course, we had to do without some things we would have liked to have.