Posted on 10/11/2007 6:04:41 AM PDT by kristinn
Since then, Frost and his family have been introduced first-hand to something else that most kids his age haven't: the reality of how brutal partisan politics can be in the Internet age. It started over the weekend, when a blogger calling himself Icwhatudo put up a post on the conservative website Freerepublic.com noting what he had found by scavenging around the internet: that Graeme attends a private school, lives in a remodeled house near one that had sold for $485,000 in March and is the child of parents whose wedding was announced in the New York Times. The post also noted that his father purchased a $160,000 commercial space in 1999.
SNIP
And while they are still uninsured, they claim it is most certainly not by choice. Bonnie Frost says the last time she priced health coverage, she learned it would cost them $1,200 a month.
In short, just as the radio spot claimed, the Frosts are precisely the kind of people that the SCHIP program was intended to help.
SNIP
While the family continues to support the vetoed bill that would expand the program to 4 million more children, they are hoping to remove themselves from the middle of the storm. After giving a few interviews, Halsey and Bonnie Frost now say they don't want to say anything more, though network camera crews have planted themselves in front of their house.
SNIP
Politics has never been a gentle game. As far back as 1895, satirist Finley Peter Dunne's fictional saloonkeeper Martin Dooley observed that women, children and prohibitionists would do well to stay out of it, because "politics ain't beanbag." But surely, even Mr. Dooley could never have imagined a day would come when a mere seventh grader could be swift-boated.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
"My son Graeme has helped put on a human face, that of a young boy, representing the needs of children and families across this nation. We are a hard working family that has stepped forward to support SCHIP. Mudslinging from the fringe has now been directed at the messenger. To be smeared all over the Internet and receive nasty e-mail — my family does not deserve this retribution. It is both shameful and pathetic.
"Driven by a most dubious agenda, shortsighted cut-and-paste bloggers, lacking all the facts, have made a feeble attempt at being crack reporters. This is an aberrant attempt to distract the American people from what the real issues are. Hard working American families need affordable health insurance.
"I find it morally reprehensible, and the act of a true coward, to publicly (world wide) smear a man and his family and not sign one's own real name to what they have written. I sign my name to what I write. -Halsey Frost"
I see that “swift-boating” is now an officially accepted word meaning “Stating the truth about things the media is trying to hide from the public”.
If the latest manifestation of Hillarycare were the law of the land, this guy'd be a tax evader and could be imprisoned for life, or until he disgorged the cash.
If the latest manifestation of Hillarycare were the law of the land, this guy'd be a tax evader and could be imprisoned for life, or until he disgorged the cash.
Was this program intended to bail out middle class families that don’t want to spend money on health care?
It's not about the boy, it's about the parents spending on themselves what they claim to need for their children........
How admirable. Maybe instead of pimping your son out to socialists, you could sign your name to a check to cover his needs in life.
Oh, wait... you'd prefer I do that for you.
Politics is a messy & vile business. Maybe he should have thought of that before he put his family out there for public consumption.
But the question remains. Why should I or icwhatudo or anyone else pay for Graeme’s health insurance?
I would call it "investigative reporting". Ever heard of such a thing, Karen?
I’ve expressed concerns here about the assumptions stated as fact in icwhatudo’s early posts — they can damage our credibility and potentially get icwhatudo in legal trouble. However, I’ve got no sympathy for Mr. Frost — he brought this on his child and himself, by choosing to allow his child to be used for political purposes — and he’s now responding with inaccuracies of his own, particularly the claim that “Mudslinging from the fringe has now been directed at the messenger”. I have not seen a single criticism directed at the boy — only at his parents and the politicians who are responsible for using the helpless kid this way.
And notwithstanding specific inaccuracies in icwhatudo’s original expose and subsequent chatter on various conservative websites, this is most certainly NOT the type of family most voters had in mind when they expressed support for SCHIP to their congressional representatives, nor that most representatives had in mind when they voted for it. TIME is playing fast and loose with the facts too, and thus has no business pointing the finger at icwhatudo and other conservative bloogers for inaccuracies.
I guess you can put a price on your kids health. Just what kind of policy cost $1200 a month? What did they do, go to “Mike’s Insurance” and get a quote?
Fascinating.
I guess it's understandable, though. Some people like fantasy literature, and I guess that's what Time is.
when one lends one’s self to one side of a partisan issue as a pawn, shouldn’t one expect some response from the other side?
I do not beleive that ANY federal oprogram should help those who CAN, but chose not to, insure their children.
If their kids are so important and dear, why do they expect total strangers to pay for their needs?
Mr Frost should have been listening to Rush yesterday talking about the New Yorkers who have their child diagnosed with a convenient disability to gain access to a private school funded by taxpayers. These are rich people. Although Mr Frost’s income seemingly doesn’t rival those folks he could certainly afford to provide insurance for his family. That would entail making financial sacrifices though and he would rather the taxpayer make that sacrifice for him. In spite of his bleatings I find his self pity in this letter disgusting.
Mr. Frost. Stand on your own feet like a man and stop whining.
Hey Doc - Over here...
Hey Doc - Over here...
I am also noticing an increase in the use of the word "polarizing" in an attempt to equate conservatives with the Marxist Left as "extremists", so get ready. It's going to get ugly.
Now that was a good one.
So now the partisan bickering is the fault of people criticizing the Frosts? Not one word from the “mainstream” media is said about the vicious lies about how Bush hates kids, wants kids to be sick, wants to spend money on war instead of helping sick kids, etc etc.
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