A Twelve Year-Old Kid? Sounds Ripe For A Political Smear Job

The right-wing's latest crusade is attacking 12 year-old Graeme Frost, a badly injured child who received medical care through S-CHIP in Maryland, and who delivered the Democratic radio address in support of the program a couple weeks ago. Apparently the wingnuts thought his family wasn't poor enough, and they relied on the faulty assumptions of a Freeper and willful ignorance of obvious facts to make their ideologically driven case. The best rebuttal I've seen of this comes from the great Thers at Whiskey Fire. Here's a sample, but do yourself a favor and go read the whole thing.

"His sister Gemma, also severely injured in the accident, attended the same school prior to the accident meaning the family was able to come up with nearly $40,000 per year for tuition for these 2 grade schoolers."

Wow, that sure sounds like a lot of money. Especially when we read down a bit and find out that the family's income is only $45,000. Presumably the Frosts are making the remaining $5,000 go a long way in meeting their remaining expenses.

Or not. The always eagle-eyed Don Surber speculates "they may be subsidized." Ya think? Hmmm, could be. After all, the freeper's iron-clad proof that they're paying 40K a year for private school tuition contains a link to the school's payment information page, which does indeed explain what tuition costs... and which also explains their financial assistance program:

Park enrolls students based on their talents and capabilities. Families who are unable to meet the full cost of tuition may apply for the Financial Assistance Program, which supplements tuition payments. Financial assistance does not need to be repaid.

In 2007, 18% of Park students in grades 1-12 received over $2 million in financial assistance that ranged from $1,000 per year to full tuition. Tuition remission for children of our faculty brings that total to 25% of the student body.

Because each family's situation is unique, it is impossible to predict the amount of funding awarded based solely on income. For example, the number of children attending tuition-charging institutions is an important factor. As a guide, families with incomes up to $160,000 received financial assistance during this past school year.

If the school is giving assistance to families making $160K, they are offering pretty substantial assistance to those making $45K. I'm just guessing here, but it sure does seem plausible!

It continues in this vein. The nutjobs claimed that the family owned a big home and a building for the father's woodworking business. Except they're clearly financed, meaning that there's even less money out of that $45K annual salary for healthcare (and the house was bought 16 years ago, for $55K, when that section of Baltimore was a bad neighborhood). They crow that the family home was remodeled, conveniently forgetting that the father is a WOODWORKER and undoubtedly did the job himself. One idiot used a "quote engine" to find cheaper insurance, failing to account for the whole "pre-existing condition" thing that typically denies insurance for anyone with catastrophic injuries.

But it continues. Not only have numerous wingers been calling the Frosts and harrassing them by asking for personal information, Michelle Malkin took it a step further by stalking them, visiting their house.

Talked to one of the tenants, Mike Reilly, who is a talented welder. He said he had known the Frosts for 10 years. Business is good, he told me, though he characterized Frost as “struggling.”

That didn't appear to matter to her.

Here's what's going on. The right wing wants to deny a popular program that helps treat sick children on the grounds that it would lead us down the road to socialized medicine (oooh...). So when faced with a case study, they have to smear and harrass the family, to intentionally blind themselves to the reality; this program helps kids, which most people would agree ought to be a priority of any nation. The cognitive dissonance here, where "questioning" crosses the line into baseless slander, is astounding.