Sink to the Depths

I was more than ready to forget about the nonsense over the latest jihad launched by the Citizen Stalkerists of the Right Slimeosphere. But then Rox tipped me off to this bit of joy from Dan Riehl, who is not merely swine, but also a total asshole. Luckily, I saw that Jillian & Dr. Rocket have this one covered, so I'll defer, and I am goddamn ecstatic to do so, because, you know, Dan Riehl's happy asshole shtick is inexpressibly wearisome. 

Still, I can't quite give this a rest quite yet. I see that, joy of joys, this very wingnutty, very stupid smear campaign has sufficiently slithered its way far upwards enough to attract the rheumy gaze of the New York Times, which it was of course always meant to do. You know -- once again, crap was supposed to trickle upwards from freeperdom to CNN, and then we'd have three weeks' worth of horseshit pundit gasbaggery with the Frosts publicly exposed as frauds, and, I dunno, Dan Rather hired back and then fired again. Which is why this garbage matters, to the extent that it does matter (not that I don't have sympathy for those who ask why on earth it should). It matters for two reasons: one, to minimize the damage wingnuts can and will do to those people they choose to target, and two, in order to discredit the system by which slime bubbles up from the wingnut cesspits and ends up as Conventional Media Wisdom. Given that stories with such origins never make very much sense, you'd think discrediting them would be pointless. Gosh, who'd ever take these things seriously when they're absurd on their face!

Journalists. Lamentably.

Anyway, let's see how the NYTimes does in fielding their latest gibberish.

when Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29, Republican opponents quickly accused them of exploiting the boy to score political points.

Then, they wasted little time in going after him to score their own.

In recent days, Graeme and his family have been attacked by conservative bloggers and other critics of the Democrats’ plan to expand the insurance program, known as S-chip. They scrutinized the family’s income and assets — even alleged the counters in their kitchen to be granite — and declared that the Frosts did not seem needy enough for government benefits.

OK. So they accused the kid's family of fraud, essentially. How does the NYTimes do in fact-checking the asses of the right blogosphere?

The critics accused Graeme’s father, Halsey, a self-employed woodworker, of choosing not to provide insurance for his family of six, even though he owned his own business. They pointed out that Graeme attends an expensive private school. And they asserted that the family’s home had undergone extensive remodeling, and that its market value could exceed $400,000.

One critic, in an e-mail message to Graeme’s mother, Bonnie, warned: “Lie down with dogs, and expect to get fleas.” As it turns out, the Frosts say, Graeme attends the private school on scholarship. The business that the critics said Mr. Frost owned was dissolved in 1999. The family’s home, in the modest Butchers Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, was bought for $55,000 in 1990 and is now worth about $260,000, according to public records. And, for the record, the Frosts say, their kitchen counters are concrete.

Certainly the Frosts are not destitute. They also own a commercial property, valued at about $160,000, that provides rental income. Mr. Frost works intermittently in woodworking and as a welder, while Mrs. Frost has a part-time job at a firm that provides services to publishers of medical journals. Her job does not provide health coverage.

Under the Maryland child health program, a family of six must earn less than $55,220 a year for children to qualify. The program does not require applicants to list their assets, which do not affect eligibility.

In a telephone interview, the Frosts said they had recently been rejected by three private insurance companies because of pre-existing medical conditions. “We stood up in the first place because S-chip really helped our family and we wanted to help other families,” Mrs. Frost said.

That's a pretty thorough refutation of every single accusation the wingnuts could come up with against the family. So, good. I myself would add that there never really was any reason to take their frenzied posts seriously in the first place: the crap about the private school, and their real estate assets supposedly affecting how much they could pay for health insurance, were obviously absurd from the start. There never was any need to "investigate" these claims: common sense should have said, "irrelevant."

In other words, if, as the NYT has it,

But what on the surface appears to be yet another partisan feud, all the nastier because a child is at the center of it, actually cuts to the most substantive debate around S-chip. Democrats say it is crucially needed to help the working poor — Medicaid already helps the impoverished — but many Republicans say it now helps too many people with the means to help themselves.

... It's pretty clear that  yes, the Frosts are a good example of the kind of people the program would help, and it's also pretty clear that the reason the wingnuts went after them and their kitchen counters (!) was that their example is in fact a very persuasive one.

Most Americans know perfectly damn well just how messed up our heathcare system is, and they want relief from the constant stress this mess imposes upon them, and they'd really think it is kind of neat that you might not have to lose your home because your kids get in a serious car wreck. What are their "arguments," anyway? That it's too costly? When money is shamelessly being flushed away by this administration on all sorts of harebrained schemes, most notably the wildly unpopular Iraq debacle, how's that one going to fly? That it could lead to eeek socialism booga booga? When people might think to themselves, "is this constant worry over healthcare, which causes me to make constant sacrifices and affects even so basic a question as what do I want to do with my life and what kind of a family do I want to have, actually what American liberty is supposed to be all about? Constant fear?"

You can see why they decided to fling slime on the Frosts' kitchen counters instead.

Reading the article, this all seems to me pretty clear, though naturally I'd like it spelled out more firmly.

But the real news in the article is this:

Republicans on Capitol Hill, who were gearing up to use Graeme as evidence that Democrats have overexpanded the health program to include families wealthy enough to afford private insurance, have backed off.

An aide to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, expressed relief that his office had not issued a press release criticizing the Frosts.

And that is good news. If the GOP party leaders are backing off, then the media very likely won't feel the need to plaster the Frosts all over the damn place over essentially nothing. And that is a Good Thing.

We can also hope that the media will start getting much more skeptical about "stories" that come from this source. (It's too much to ask that the GOP leadership does; they're not really a separate entity from Greater Online Wingnuttia, as Digby points out.) I'm not holding my breath -- nor my fire, the next time the freepermalkins pull a stunt like this, which I'm guessing will be, oh, five minutes from now.

Some further points I'm too tired right now to wrap up properly: the NYT reporter does interview Malkin by email, where she makes the ridiculous argument that the family has "considerable assets" and that this means something somehow, as if you can really use a house to buy health insurance. And then she blares:

If Republicans don’t have the guts to hold the line, they deserve to lose their seats.

I cannot recommend strongly enough that the Republican Party follow this wisdom.

But as always the best fun with Malkin is at her site, where she is venomous not least to the unnamed McConnell staffer:   

Oh, swell. So he feels “relief” because he doesn’t have to ask the hard questions about the continued entitlement creep approved by both big government parties? Well, wipe your brow and pat yourself on the back! Crikey.

Again, I cannot be more clear: every single Malkin fan, flood McConnell's office with offended emails! Phone calls! Letters! Dead animals! Tell him that he must do your bidding and demand that he send out factually inaccurate press releases and spread your meanspirited and comically easily debunked slander all over the MSM and even from the Senate floor! Go! Go now! Crikey! What are you waiting for! That's a clear winner for you!

And this is just riotously funny:

Dan Riehl has some questions the NYTimes didn’t get around to asking.

No shit.

Malkin then has some further blather about how she wasn't stalking the Frosts, she was reporting, omigod! But we've been over that before, and there really is nothing else to say but "wow, what an astounding asshole."

Comments

[Mudge]

I think astounding is too good a word to be used with asshole. Astounding is one of those words with dignity, aside from the fact that such behavior from her is unsurprising. There are many less dignifed choices just as descriptive. Perhaps incorrigible or flaming would work.

[K. Ron Silkwood]

I saw this furor as just another example of wingnuts attacking anyone who dares to question Glorious Leader. That they were going after a twelve-year-old boy allowed them to be very courageous and ferocious. It's the nature of chickenshits.

[Molly Ivors]

She said "Crikey"?

Jesus tits, I guess hunting the Frosts made her Crocodile Fucking Dundee.

[merlallen]

my Fil was going on and on about his tax money going to welfare a few years ago. so i asked him for his views on corporate welfare and war profiteering.
i expect to get his answer right after I get his answer to "What has george bush done for the average American"?
Meaning, never. I asked the second question 5 years ago.

[spinoza]

Someone should send her her ping pong balls.

[mrstrailerco]

I know we're not supposed to turn the tables on laMalkin, but . . . Couldn't we ask her some hard questions about HER situation? She's a blogger, where does her insurance come from? How much does she pay? What are her personal assets, could she afford to pay more? Is she getting any special deal? If the rest of the world has to live their lives as an open book, so should she.

[mrstrailerco]

Just for the record, I've lived my entire adult life without insurance. I'm halfway through raising 3 kids with no insurance. My situation is not that much different than the Frosts, except I never signed up for the state program. This has been a very long tightrope I've been walking, and I am very tired. It literally wears me out dealing with this subject. I know I am just one medical emergency away from losing everything. I hate this system.

[shrimplate]

Why don't middle-class wingnuts see that this whole stinking pile of bullshit really is just another example of the neocon war against them?

What? You work hard and make a few bucks and then because of a tragic accident you're supposed to sell your house and live in a cardboard box?

YES, according to the 30-percenters.

The American dream is their nightmare. Fuckheads.

[Fishbone McGonigle]

Bad spinoza.

[lambert strether]

I'm imagining what William Burroughs would say about all this distinctly uncivil rhetoric.

And I think he'd say something like "Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk?"

Of course, Burroughs is strong stuff. He makes Fear and Loathing seem like weak tea. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

[Lilybart]

Malkin claims that "bloggers" found health insurance for the Frost's available at $450 a month, so what is wrong with them?

We would like to know where to get this mythical insurance since we pay $19,000 a year for a family of 3.

[pbg]

$160,000? 260,000? There's a very good chance the ftrost's medical bills could be more than those combined.
The one blank in this coverage--as there always is, is the size of the medical bills.
A friend of mine was hit badly by a car, thrown over the top of it. Lots of broken vones, but no organ or brain damsge. The medical bills amounted to $500,000.
No the Frosts are not poor--but agter the healthcare industry had done woth them, they would be penniless and homeless.

[SteveB]

What's remarkable about this is how it enabled the wingnuts to not only stalk a twelve year old boy, but to aleinate both small business owners and homeowners.

In other words, they hit the trifecta.

And: "With universal health care, you can finally quit your sucky corporate job and pursue your dreams of owning your own business" is absolute political gold. If the Dems don't make use of that, they deserve to lose.

[thomas]

well they had to attack a 12 year old. when lush limpdick attacked a real soldier he was called out, not that he responded. most likely beause calling a real soldier a phoney to his face usually gets your face rearranged.

[Mirele]

$160,000 building? I purchased my townhome for $155K several months ago. $160K is NOT a lot of money, and as pbg says, selling it outright wouldn't even begin to pay for catastrophic medical insurance or for more than a few years of the daughter going to the special school.

I really hate this wingnut "reasoning." It's all just a thin veneer on GREED.

[dan mcenroe]

Most Americans know perfectly damn well just how messed up our heathcare system is, and they want relief from the constant stress this mess imposes upon them,

It is starting to get truly bizarre, the disconnect between what all of us know is reality and the fantasy world where "certain questions might require scrutiny" inhabited by the MSM. It's the same thing with the war in Iraq - it has virtually zero popular support at street level but according to the media it just might be "time for a discussion."

I realize at this point they're being deliberately obtuse, but it's still strange to watch.

[rea]

What? You work hard and make a few bucks and then because of a tragic accident you're supposed to sell your house and live in a cardboard box?

The Malkinites are demanding nothing so benign. No, what they wanted this family to have done was to sell their house before the accident to buy health insurance. Middle class americans ought not to be accumulating assets, these people think.

[Mirele]

Just read the Baltmore Sun article and came on this enligtening paragraph:

"Halsey and Bonnie Frost say they still have no health insurance. Bonnie Frost said she priced coverage recently at $1,200 a month."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.frosts10oct10,0,4459992.story?page=2&coll=bal_tab01_layout

The PARENTS have no health insurance. ONLY THE KIDS. These asshats are attacking CHILDREN.

may they ROT.

[dan mcenroe]

And: "With universal health care, you can finally quit your sucky corporate job and pursue your dreams of owning your own business" is absolute political gold.

Actually, in Sweden (where I have family) the universal health care program has become an obstacle to starting your own business: the tax burden on small businesses is pretty ornery. You bascially need a ton of start-up money. I'm not saying your argument wouldn't work, but whoever makes that argument should be prepared for their opponent to use the tax burden counter-argument.

[limbaugh's pilonidal cyst]

I'm imagining what William Burroughs would say about all this distinctly uncivil rhetoric.

And I think he'd say something like "Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk?"

Rush Limbaugh explained! So "EIB" really stands for "Excrement In Broadcasting".

[Nancy Willing]

Every single uppery middle class shlub's mother and father are milking federal tits for medicare entitlements.

But if millionaire elderly mommies and daddies had to pony up assests to pay for more of their publicly subsidized healthcare, it would cut into their kids' inheritables.

[kent]

From Riehl's piece:
I don't believe I have seen one conservative blogger attack 12 yr-old Graeme, as the NY Times asserts.

Irony was last seen in a pillowcase, chained to a cinder-block, resting on the bottom of the Potomac.

Apparently the pillowcase rotted, irony's corpse was freed and became a zombie.
.

[Rmj, Face of Bo]

Well, as I've mentioned before (hem-hem; there's a link up there somewhere), a house is not an asset, it'a a necessity. One of the basics, along with food, clothing, and health.

Malkin was quite plain in that e-mail (Thers left out the best bit, IMHO):

“The bottom line here is that this family has considerable assets,” Ms. Malkin wrote in an e-mail message. “Maryland’s S-chip program does not means-test. The refusal to do assets tests on federal health insurance programs is why federal entitlements are exploding and government keeps expanding.

Yeah, the American Dream is to force families to choose between the family home, and the family's health. That's a platform that will sweep the GOP into office next year.

I'm with Thers; I say they listen to Michelle.

[Peter Principle]

If the GOP party leaders are backing off, then the media very likely won't feel the need to plaster the Frosts all over the damn place over essentially nothing.

I don't think we've really tested that proposition yet. Let's wait and see if Fox News decides to give the "story" its Lie-of-the-Day treatment, or if Howie Kurtz writes another of his patented "sucking the shit diretly from Michelle Malkin's rectum" columns.

Triggering a mindless media stampede takes time. To me, the fact that the smearosphere has already persuaded the New York Times to nibble at the "story" isn't a very good sign.

[deus_ex_machina]

Assholes at least manage to serve a useful function.

[tb]

"wow, what an astounding asshole."

Precisely.

[PaleoPat]

The cute part is how I was attacked... I said it on my blog and I'll say it here. I wasn't defending SCHIP, not at all, I was defending that families right to privacy. That's why I put malkin's real address, Phone number and Arial picture of her house on my blog. I removed it after a reporter for the Baltimore Sun asked me to kill it, because they were doing a story on Malkin.

If Malkin wants to try painting me as moonbat, fine. I'll just paint her as the right wing fascist that she is.

[Roxanne]

Next thing you know, they'll examine the sewer lines to see if they all had corn for dinner last night, then take a sample to a lab to see if it's expensive organic corn or discounted, chemically-treated corn.

[Hesiod]

I think the local Teamsters Union should send a dozen toughs over to the Frost house and "protect" it from wackjobs.

If you catch my drift.

[Thers]

Triggering a mindless media stampede takes time. To me, the fact that the smearosphere has already persuaded the New York Times to nibble at the "story" isn't a very good sign.

No offense, but I hope you're wrong. I do think that an actual GOP push is mostly necessary to make something like this stick. The GOP (specifically McConnell's office) was hoping it would, but it didn't make it out of the blogosphere without being shredded.

Of course we're all just guessing, but there is at least some reason to be hopeful.