- Graeme Frost
Graeme Frost (born 1995) is a
Baltimore seventh-grade student (as of 2007 ) who gave theUnited States Democratic Party weekly radio address onSeptember 28 ,2007 promoting theState Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) as a living example of someone helped by the program. [cite web
url=http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/09/twelve-year-old.php
title=12-Year-Old Asks Bush To Sign Children's Health Bill
month=September | year=2007
publisher=Democratic Party
accessdate=2007-10-11] [cite news
url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.democrats29sep29,0,1093633.story
title=Boy to give radio address: Baltimore native to speak today for Democrats
date=September 29 ,2007
publisher=Baltimore Sun
accessdate=2007-10-11] [ [http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/29/dem.radio.address.cnn?iref=videosearch CNN-Video with Graeme Frost's Radio Speech] , September 29, 2007] [ [http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/chip/index.html Texas HHSC website] ]Radio address
Graeme suffered a
brain stem injury and his sister Gemma suffered a cranial fracture from ancar accident . Graeme and Gemma received treatment for their injuries under the SCHIP program.cite news
url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.frosts10oct10,0,2541063.story?page=1&coll=bal_tab01_layout
title=Frost family draws ire of conservatives
author=Matthew Hay Brown
date=October 10 2007
publisher=Baltimore Sun
accessdate=2007-10-11] In the radio address, Graeme spoke on the importance of the SCHIP program. President Bush vetoed the expansion of SCHIP on October 3, 2007. In the radio address Graeme said "...if it weren't for CHIP, I might not be here today...We got the help we needed because we had health insurance for us through the CHIP program. But there are millions of kids out there who don't have CHIP, and they wouldn't get the care that my sister and I did if they got hurt. ... I just hope the President will listen to my story and help other kids to be as lucky as me." [ [http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/09/twelve-year-old.php Democrats.org] ]Criticism and Support
Following his radio address, the Frost family became a target for criticism from the right, including from media personalities such as
Michelle Malkin andRush Limbaugh , the magazines "National Review " and "Weekly Standard ", and Republican House Minority LeaderJohn Boehner . [cite news
url=http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/08/attacking-graeme-frost/
title=Right Wing Launches Baseless Smear Campaign Against 12 Year Old Recipient of SCHIP
publisher=ThinkProgress
accessdate=2007-10-11] "Time" magazine wrote that Graeme Frost had been swiftboatedcite news
url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1670210,00.html
title=The Swift-Boating of Graeme Frost
first=Karen
last=Tumulty
publisher=Time Magazine
date=2007-10-10] and that theblog ger "Icwhatudo" began the criticism in a post on the websiteFree Republic :One has to wonder that if time and money can be found to remodel a home, send kids to exclusive private schools, purchase commercial property and run your own business... maybe money can be found for other things," the blogger wrote. "Maybe Dad should drop his woodworking hobby and get a real job that offers health insurance rather than making people like me (also with 4 kids in a 600sf smaller house and tuition $16,000 less per kid and no commercial property ownership) pay for it in my taxes.
Journalist
E. J. Dionne defended the Frost family citing precise current values of their home and commercial property and commenting that criticism of a 12-year-old should be beyond political discourse. [E. J. Dionne , " [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101101601.html Washington Post] ", October 11, 2007.] ColumnistPaul Krugman wrote that "the Graeme Frost case is a perfect illustration of the modern right-wing political machine at work, and in particular its routine reliance on character assassination in place of honest debate." [Krugman, Paul. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/opinion/12krugman.html?ex=1349841600&en=e11eb7dfda52717d&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink "Sliming Graeme Frost"] New York TimesOctober 12 ,2007 .] Conservative writerMark Steyn responded that "a two-property three-car family does not demonstrate the need for entitlement expansion." [Mark Steyn , " [http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjJhYjdlMGI5MWNkMWQwMTEwZjVhNmI0MmFiY2ZlZjg= National Review blog] ", October 12, 2007.] He reported that Frosts "have a 3,000-square-foot home plus a second commercial property with a combined value of over $400,000, and three vehicles – a newChevy Suburban , a Volvo SUV, and a Ford F-250 pickup." [Mark Steyn, " [http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/children-war-care-1899214-health-government The real war on children] ", OC Register, October 20, 2007.]Family response
The Frost family said the criticisms were misleading, that the total family income is $45,000-$50,000(US) per year, that the children depend on financial aid for schooling, the business has no employees and cannot afford health insurance, and that the family home was purchased in 1990 for $55,000. The Baltimore Sun asked the family to verify their claimed income but they declined. [ [http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2007/10/10/baltimore-sun-smears-conservative-bloggers-over-schip-scrutiny Baltimore Sun Smears Conservative Bloggers Over SCHIP Scrutiny] , October 10, 2007]
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