The nutroots are out in full force defending Democrats using a child to do a liberal's work. To listen to them, questioning the sob story of 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who was shilling for the Dems latest project: ballooning the SCHIP program to include upper middle class families.
Why would conservatives be so skeptical of Dems' newest poster child? Gee, I dunno. Maybe it's because liberals love using their kids to promote their causes, even if the kid would be against the parent's political position.
What is bizarre to me about this whole brouhaha is the faux outrage of the left that their tactics are being attacked. Let's make this clear: it's not really whether or not Frost's family could afford insurance. It's that Democrats can't make the case for raising the costs to cover families making $83,000 per year. They know that, which is why they bring in Frost to tell why SCHIP helped his family.
For the record, President Bush wanted to extend SCHIP, but didn't want the $35 billion price tag Democrats have attached to it. Democrats want universal health care, and insuring children is a backdoor approach to it. Besides, who can oppose insuring children?
Amusingly, moonbats are defending the life choices of the Frosts by saying they're "doing what Republicans espouse." Well, excuse me, but as Dan Riehl points out, that's a load of hooey.
Yes, the Frost children are victims, but not of conservatives. They look more like victims of a couple of mostly spoiled brats who became parents and never felt compelled to take responsibility for themselves when it came to the bottom line on that. There are poor people in America who need help, particularly as regards Health care. The point is, the family above shouldn't be and simply aren't among them. Call Dad next time you want some bucks FH. And kindly leave the rest of America's collective wallet the hell alone.
Or, hey, get a second job with benefits. I've done that more than once in my life when I needed the cash. And do it before you let Graeme tell the media how much you struggle to take care of him, because there are enough people in America who really do struggle with these issues. And when they take a look at your lot in life they are left far from impressed and unmoved to cough up one thin dime so you can enjoy afternoons playing with your lathe, or whatever the hell else it is you do in your factory.
I don't see someone who needs my help in F Halsey Frost. I see a simpleton and a loser who had more kids than he could afford and doesn't appear to have given up very much in life to deal with that situation. Who knows, maybe Dad figured it out, too and cut him off. What the hell, there's always welfare, right?
The problem with the liberal world view is that none of us should be required to live with the decisions we make. As Dan says, responsible parents figure out how to pay for their own children, and only after they've exhausted their own resources do they consider government assistance. Though my husband is uninsurable, my children and I do have insurance and it costs about $300 per month.
What's terrible is that the Frosts really do symbolize the Democrats' idea of the poor: people who volunteer to make less money than it takes to support their family, then expect the taxpayers to make up the difference. That's an insult to the families who really are poor. But I guess a really poor child wouldn't look as sympathetic to Dems as this family did.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has a great post that gives more details about what is wrong with the "they're attacking children" harangue from the left.
To start with, the Maryland program does not assets-test, meaning that people who own property but don't necessarily make a great deal are eligible for the taxpayer-supported program. That's how the Frosts managed not to provide for their children. The plan the Democrats in Congress are proposing is designed to expand what should be a program to help those who cannot afford health insurance to include those who don't want to afford their own insurance.
And more on Frost.
The Frosts own a home in Baltimore purchased for $55,000 sixteen years ago–and now worth an estimated $300,000. That’s a lot of equity. In addition, the children’s father, Halsey Frost, owns commercial real estate and his own small business, but chose not to buy health insurance for himself and his wife, whom he hired as an employee. She now apparently works freelance at a medical publishing firm, which also reportedly doesn’t offer insurance. Gemma and Graeme both attend expensive private schools; the Frosts have two other school-age children. Reid’s staff says Gemma and Graeme receive tuition breaks. But it’s not clear when those scholarships were instituted and/or whether the other two receive tuition aid as well. Moreover, Frost’s family comes from considerable means. The children’s maternal grandfather was an engineering executive. Their paternal grandparents hail from affluent Bronxville, New York, where the grandfather is a prominent facilities management consultant and chairman of the municipal planning board.
In other words: The public trough is not Halsey Frost’s last and only resort.
Having your children hurt in an accident is a tragedy. Exploiting that tragedy for political gain is despicable.
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