The Frosts Speak

Last night on Countdown, the parents of Graeme Frost, that lucky-duckie good who's soaking up all of that glorious free health care after being fortunate enough to be maimed near the point of death in a car accident, spoke out against the attacks from the conservative nutjob machine they've suffered over the past couple weeks, including death threats. You can watch it on Crooks and Liars.

These kids would not have much of a chance if it weren't for the S-CHIP program. It's a staggeringly minor price to pay to ensure the safety and health of our kids. But because it doesn't fit with wingnut ideology, the story of Grame Frost becomes a signal to attack. And now there's a new target. Apparently the 12 year-old was too mature to be trifled with, so this time it's a two year-old with heart trouble that will bear the brunt of criticism.

Meanwhile, we have now the full story on how a top aide to the Senate Minority Leader cheerleaded for the Frost smear, until recognizing that it was based on almost nothing, then tried to retract the cheerlead by doing a reverse cheer at the last minute:

It has been reported already that an email from a McConnell aide went out to reporters telling them of the winger attack. But this appears to be the first time that McConnell's people are publicly acknowledging their role in trying to push mainstream reporters into joining the attack on young Graeme. Stewart acknowledged to the paper that he'd done this as "part of regular conversation with reporters."

What makes this story even better is that after McConnell's aide tried to get reporters to push the story, he quickly realized a few hours later that the whole thing was a big sham and tried to call reporters off.

This is significant, because it shows that McConnell's operation cheerfully urged mainstream reporters to pick up the winger attacks without even bothering to fact-check them first. When Michelle Malkin pointed her finger at the Frosts and started howling, McConnell's staff immediately joined in the fun -- that is, until they realized that they had a big dud on their hands.

Because the instinct is to attack, attack, attack, and the actual facts of the matter are secondary. This really is about as low as you can go, and Michelle Malkin, the poster child for slandering poster children, is not going to recover. I don't think anyone believes that she "quit" Bill O'Reilly's show. Even Fox News understands when to jump off the bus.