Sliming Graeme Frost

Krugman gets it:

All in all, the Graeme Frost case is a perfect illustration of the modern right-wing political machine at work, and in particular its routine reliance on character assassination in place of honest debate. If service members oppose a Republican war, they’re “phony soldiers”; if Michael J. Fox opposes Bush policy on stem cells, he’s faking his Parkinson’s symptoms; if an injured 12-year-old child makes the case for a government health insurance program, he’s a fraud.

Meanwhile, leading conservative politicians, far from trying to distance themselves from these smears, rush to embrace them. And some people in the news media are still willing to be used as patsies.

Politics aside, the Graeme Frost case demonstrates the true depth of the health care crisis: every other advanced country has universal health insurance, but in America, insurance is now out of reach for many hard-working families, even if they have incomes some might call middle-class.

And there’s one more point that should not be forgotten: ultimately, this isn’t about the Frost parents. It’s about Graeme Frost and his sister.

I don’t know about you, but I think American children who need medical care should get it, period. Even if you think adults have made bad choices — a baseless smear in the case of the Frosts, but put that on one side — only a truly vicious political movement would respond by punishing their injured children.

I had predicted that the Frosts had a second mortgage already when conservatives said that was what they needed instead of state provided health care. They do.

I predicted that cheaper insurance wasn't available due to prior medical conditions. It isn't.

The Frosts perfectly illustrate the people SCHIP is designed for, working people who can't afford health insurance for their kids. The slimes of the Frosts perfectly illustrate the shameless rotten behavior of modern day Republicans.

Joe Klein at Time agrees.

The Right Wing Noise Machine is starting to move on to smearing Al Gore and the Nobel Prize Committee. One fine specimen just aims a few at Krugman.

E. J. Dionne Jr.: Meanies And Hypocrites

Most conservatives favor government-supported vouchers that would help Graeme attend his private school, but here they turn around and criticize him for . . . attending a private school. Federal money for private schools but not for health insurance? What's the logic here?

They also claim to be pro-family and pro-small business and pro-home ownership but a number have said that it is all the Frosts fault for having too many children and for entrepreneurship instead of getting a corporate job with benefits and prominent conservative bloggers have even said they should not own a home and get government healthcare.

John Cole officially leaves the dark side behind now.

My previous post on this topic.

Tags: Graeme Frost, healthcare, SCHIP, Krugman, compassionate conservatives