The Right Smears The Frost Family

I just wanted to express my disgust for the manner in which right-wing pundits like Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh and right wing bloggers have smeared the family of 12 year old Graeme Frost because Graeme presented the Democratic Party's rebuttal to President Bush's weekly radio address recently and he questioned the President's veto of the bill to expand SCHIP, a program that helps to insure children who need insurance. Ordinarily, these are lower middle class children as the poor are covered by Medicaid.

Malkin and Limbaugh both told lies about the family, suggesting that they have considerable assets and do not really need SCHIP. Right wing blog posters have made wild hatemongering statements, including one that called for the family to be hung.

The facts show that this family is exactly the type of low income family SCHIP was designed to help. The parents have a combined income of about $45,000, not much with four kids in an urban neighborhood. They have a home worth about $263,000 and commercial property valued at about $160,000 but are paying mortgages on both. Two kids attend private schools, but are on scholarships. The father once owned his own small business but had to give that up in 1999, in large part because of the cost of health insurance.

I understand that there might be some legitimate arguments against expanding SCHIP. But the attacks against this family from the right are inexcusable.