Does This Truly Represent the State of Politics in America?
If so, I'm almost ready to abandon ship.
I stayed out of the Betrayus Mess.
I stayed out of the Phony Soldier Mess.
But I can no longer ignore the sleaze that is passing for political discussion in this country.
What sent me over the edge? The Republican-tinged blogosphere attack on a Baltimore, MD family (mom, dad, 12-year-old son, 9-year-old daughter and two other children). A family that had the chutzpah to step into the public spotlight to talk about their experiences with a subsidized insurance program (funds are part federal, part state, part family).
And this is the kind of tripe heaped on them. Anonymously, of course:
If federal funds were required [they] could die for all I care. Let the parents get second jobs, let their state foot the bill or let them seek help from private charities. ... I would hire a team of PIs and find out exactly how much their parents made and where they spent every nickel. Then I'd do everything possible to destroy their lives with that info.
No wonder average Americans are fed up with politics.
The program at the center of this tempest is the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Congress passed and President Bush vetoed (only his fourth) a measure to extend and expand coverage. Republican support in the Senate was sufficient to override the expected veto; Republican support in the House was only about two dozen votes short of an override. In other words, this is extremely broad bi-partisan support.
But rather than argue the (de)merits of the legislation, the right-leaning blogosphere (and National Review and Limbaugh) took aim at a 12-year-old boy. And they didn't even have the decency to take aim with accuracy -- it was fire, ready, aim.
From the Baltimore Sun:
The onslaught began over the weekend, a week after 12-year-old Graeme Frost delivered the Democrats' weekly radio address with a plea to Bush to sign the bill. A contributor to the conservative Web site Free Republic noted Graeme's enrollment in the private Park School and the sale of a smaller rowhouse on the Frosts' block for $485,000 this year and questioned whether the family should be taking advantage of the state program.
That post was picked up by the National Review Online and other Web sites. By Monday, Rush Limbaugh was discussing the family's earnings and assets on the air, and the blogger Michelle Malkin was writing about her visit to Halsey Frost's East Baltimore warehouse and her drive past the family's Butchers Hill rowhouse. Liberal bloggers, meanwhile, were complaining that the Frosts were being "swift-boated."
Facts R Not Us
I hate what passes for political discourse today. As much as I applaud the democratization of voices made possible by the social web, I hate today's result. A step-by-step rebuttal:
- The family is "rich."
According to USA Today, the family of six makes about $45,000 a year. This is "well below the $55,220 limit for a family of six set under the original SCHIP program" in Maryland. (emphasis added) - The family could afford insurance (related to: the family is rich).
In 2004, two children were severely injured in a car accident, one permanently disabled. The folks who say these children are "insurable" must have been asleep during the briefing on how pre-existing conditions either aren't insurable or cost an arm-and-a-leg. (Been there, done that with a knee injury.) - The family lives in a high-rent neighborhood and so could afford ... what? (related to: the family is rich).
Bloggers said the house was worth more than $400,000. It is in a "modest" Baltimore neighborhood (Butchers Hill) and according to public records is valued at about $260,000. The family bought the home for $55,000 in 1991 or 1990 (conflicting news reports) when "'there were drug dealers and prostitutes on our street,' Bonnie Frost said. Halsey Frost, a woodworker, did most of the renovations, which are 'still not done,' Bonnie said." - The kids attend a private school with annual tuition of $40,000 (related to: the family is rich).
They do attend private school. The boy is on a scholarship; the girl's tuition is paid by the state because she needs special ed due to her disabilities.
Added: for the record, I don't consider $45,000 annual income "rich" even if it's one person living solo. I think it's great that this family had the financial where-with-all to buy a home 17 (or so) years ago, and I'm pretty sure their mortgage (even after tapping the equity to remodel the home after the children were injured) is a heck of a lot cheaper than rent would be.
I roll my eyes when politicos trot out "poster children" for a cause (they're not always under 18) but I totally understand the need to turn dry facts and data into a story. We've been doing that since before the written word, judging by those caves in France. Why this child and this story got the right-wingers Hanes knotted up I leave to the imagination of the reader.
What Others Are Saying
Here is the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Why did President Bush decide to convert to old-fashioned fiscal conservatism now, at the expense of health care for children? After he has waged an unnecessary war that will cost trillions, endorsed multibillion-dollar prescription coverage for the elderly and cut taxes for the wealthy, why has he suddenly become concerned about budgetary red ink?
[...]
(In Georgia, families of four earning up to $48,527 are eligible. They pay premiums of up to $70 a month.)
Moderate blogger Joe Gandleman:
[The Democrats] picked a kid to deliver the counter address. We wrote THIS POST that noted how effective it would be and the kind of media coverage it would get — putting a human face on a problem that Mr. Bush and his most loyal followers are trying to frame as a matter of ideology (we don’t want people turning to government insurance) or numbers debates.
No matter. When I wrote that post I had a snarky paragraph in it — which I cut out.
The cut-out paragraph noted that now that this kid has come forward in 21st century America he was certain to be demonized — with every facet of his family history investigated, talk show hosts latching onto the slightest thing possible to discredit him... it would come out and be PROOF that what he said on radio had no merit.
But I felt it was too cheap a shot, too snarky, too uncharitable to the way politics works these days — and too unbelievable ... So I sighed and I cut it.
But now I see it isn’t far from the truth.
And finally, from Republican-turned-Independent Balloon Juice:
[T]hey don’t have any advice other than “SUCKS TO BE YOU” or “SELL YOUR HOUSE” or “GET ANOTHER JOB.” Because, as we all know, the hallmark of responsibility is making your children homeless so they can maybe get healthcare. Nobody even pointed to the numerous charities that we conservatives are supposed to expect to fill the gap so the government doesn’t have to pay for things. Instead, it was taunts, catcalls, contempt, and jealousy (because these folks are in SUCH an enviable situation).
I simply can not believe this is what the Republican party has become. I just can’t. It just makes me sick to think all those years of supporting this party, and this is what it has become. Even if you don’t like the S-Chip expansion, it is hard to deny what Republicans are- a bunch of bitter, nasty, petty, snarling, sneering, vicious thugs, peering through people’s windows so they can make fun of their misfortune.
I’m registering Independent tomorrow.
Like Digby, I say this is sick.
What do you think?
Update 1
Shaun Mullen at The Moderate Voice has a chilling quote about ritual and pack mentality from Liberal blogger Ezra Klein. In 2005, Klein reported that a 9 year old boy from Texas was traveling the country to promote President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" bill. He wondered if it violated any child labor laws -- but said not one negative word about the boy or his parents.The Commonwealth Fund has a good backgrounder on SCHP, for those of us (like me) who had not heard of this program until now.
Update 2
See who voted how on HR 976: Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007