A couple of weeks ago, Graeme Frost and his family joined congressional supporters of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) to endorse the bipartisan expansion of the policy. As has been well documented, some far-right activists went after the Frost family, using bogus information to argue that Graeme doesn’t deserve coverage from the state of Maryland. He does.
But now we have another real-life example to demonstrate the importance of the program. Meet Bethany Wilkerson.
Now, there’s obviously some provocative content in the ad — all of which is accurate, by the way — but there’s a bottom line to this. S-CHIP almost certainly saved this young girl’s life.
And what of the chances that Malkin, Limbaugh, the National Review, and others might decide to smear the Wilkersons? The family doesn’t seem particularly concerned.
For the record, the Bo and Dara Wilkerson say they make $34,000 in combined income from restaurant jobs in St. Petersburg, Fla. They rent their house and the couple owns one car, which Bo calls “a junker.” […]
The Wilkersons said they are fully aware of the possibility that their finances and personal lives may be investigated by opponents of the SCHIP bill.
“We rent a house, we have one car that is a junker. Let them dig away,” Bo Wilkerson said. “I have $67 in my checking account. Does that answer your question?”
He doesn’t sound intimidated.
As for the Frost family, Graeme’s parents, Halsey and Bonnie Frost, spoke with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann last night. C&L has the video, but here’s some of the transcript:
OLBERMANN: Mrs. Frost, let me start with what matters. How are you and the kids doing through all this?
BONNIE FROST, MOTHER OF GRAEME FROST: We’re doing well. Gemma and Graeme are doing well. They’re in school. But they have a lot of healing left. They have a lot of work to go. So we’re hanging in there.
OLBERMANN: Mr. Frost, just deconstruct this fictional picture of your family that’s been put together by the fringe, the lunatic fringe. You’re a business owner? You work out of a commercial property you own. You live on a street full of half million dollar homes. You pay 20 grand a year for your kids to go to private school.
HALSEY FROST, FATHER OF GRAEME FROST: It would seem to me it would be common sense if you do all the math on that, that we’d be doing really, really well. And that’s far from the case. You know, that’s quite a rosy picture they painted. But the fact is I did have a business. Of course, they did not report properly that I ran from like — Frost Works from 1990 and folded up around ’98, ’99, went as far as incorporating that, actually carrying health insurance. And actually that was probably one of the nails in the coffin in that business. It became cost too much to bear for that.
And half a million dollar homes. This is a house that we bought as a just near about shell and did all the work ourselves. So I would hope that we’re not punished for the sweat equity into that. But I have the ability and the unique skills to be able to do everything that’s required to turn this property around. And this is our home. This is not an investment thing. This is the Frost house.
OLBERMANN: And the kids are in private schools on scholarships mostly.
H. FROST: Yes. It’s like, you know, we do get help from that, from the schools. It’s a must. Without that, we really would be limited — have our options limited.
OLBERMANN: Mrs. Frost, your address posted online, these lies accepted as facts, death threats. Did you know beforehand that people like this existed in America?
B. FROST: I knew people like this existed in America. But I am shocked that it came to this, that they seem to use this as a distraction technique to take away the issue at hand. And that is that millions of children in America are without health insurance and could benefit greatly from the S-CHIP bill, just like my family has. And my main goal was to get that message across, that we just want to help other families like we have been helped. And just thinking that it was turned around in such a nasty, negative way is unbelievable to me.
H. FROST: Yes, definitely an agenda that they seem to need to be filling. Because I guess when you have to attack in such a manner, you’re — obviously it’s a distraction because the facts are very clear. This helps hard working American families. This country needs this now. And I am sorely disappointed in our president for not having his finger on the pulse of what’s going on right now.
Olbermann concluded, “[S]ince the Rush Limbaughs of this world aren’t going to be man enough to apologize to you, and Graeme, we’ll do so on their behalf. We’re sorry the media has gotten this bad.”