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Neocon Nuttery
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Title: The Genesis of the Smears (JOHN COLE ASKS ABOUT FREEPER ICUWHATUDO)
Source: John Cole's Balloon Juice
URL Source: http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=8849
Published: Oct 11, 2007
Author: John Cole
Post Date: 2007-10-11 14:47:37 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 2173
Comments: 176

The Genesis of the Smears

By: John Cole October 11, 2007 at 12:53 pm

Appears to have been an aide to Mitch McConnell, according to the Communists at ThinkProgress:

ThinkProgress has obtained an email that congressional sources tell us was sent to reporters by Sen. McConnell’s communications director Don Stewart.

On Monday morning, Don Stewart sent an email with the following text to reporters:

Seen the latest blogswarm? Apparently, there’s more to the story on the kid (Graeme Frost) that did the Dems’ radio response on SCHIP. Bloggers have done a little digging and turned up that the Dad owns his own business (and the building it’s in), seems to have some commercial rental income and Graeme and a sister go to a private school that, according to its website, costs about $20k a year ‹for each kid‹ despite the news profiles reporting a family income of only $45k for the Frosts. Could the Dems really have done that bad of a job vetting this family?

In the email, Stewart attacks Democrats for allegedly doing a bad job “vetting this family.” That effort to blame Democrats for the smear campaign seems to have swayed some reporters, as CNN this morning claimed that the real story is that “the Democrats didn’t do as much of a vetting as they could have done.”

What is so surprising about all of this is not that all of the stuff in the leaked email has turned out to be completely false- that is just amusing. What is surprising is THE SPEED with which the “citizen journalists” ran with this, and echoed everything the leaked email did- just like good little soldiers. It was viral in no time.

I would not be surprised if Malkin, Limbaugh, and some folks at the NRO were not in the coterie of ‘reporters’ this was emailed to, nor would I be surprised if they got it from a friend of a friend (despite pretending to be different from the beltway crowd, all of the above are insiders to the Washington game, despite their protests otherwise). I’d like to know a little more about the freeper who ran with this in the first place, giving Michelle and others their “in” to run with the story without having to be the ones to take the blame for doing it. Who is icuwhatudo? What is her/his real identity? How is this person connected to the McConnell aide or the reporters who received this list. Or was it just a coincidence? If I prided myself in being a citizen journalist, those are the questions I would be asking.

And does anyone have any pictures of his living room?

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from USAToday

Bloggers said the house was worth more than $400,000. It turns out it was bought for $55,000 in 1991 in a Baltimore neighborhood where "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.

Bloggers said Graeme and Gemma go to private Park School, where tuition costs about $20,000. Graeme gets a scholarship, while Gemma's brain injuries were so severe that the city pays to educate her at a school for children with disabilities, the couple say.

From Daily Kos: They web published the home address of SCHIP family - what you can do

robin  posted on  2007-10-11   14:59:17 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

So let me get this straight:

a. Are the Frosts not owners of a greatly appreciated home ( let's set aside Bonnie's desire to have more renovations done and the fact that she has concrete counters that are as expensive as granite) on which they could have taken out a second mortgage for $20,0000 to fund a tax deductible Health Savings Account and to buy a high deductible health insurance policy for the past 4 years?

b. Are the Frosts not owners of commercial property worth $160,000 which brings in rental income, which also has enough cash equity in it to allow the Frosts to sell and make a profit to supplement their "meager" middle class life style?

c. If the Frosts had lived in a state that has a means test for folks that qualify for tapping SCHIP funds, do you believe the Frosts would have passed?

d. If you were running a private school in Baltimore with its well documented poverty and crime and visible minority children living in dire circumstances, would you give the Frosts' not 1 but 2 children access to the small number of free ride scholarships at your school? Are the Frosts' children living in "special challenging" circumstances that they are needy for a "leg up?"

e. Did Mr. and Mrs. Frost decide to thrust themselves and theiir family into the public stage or did the big bad reich wing evil bloggers seek the anonymous Frosts family and drag them out to front and center stage?

scrapper2  posted on  2007-10-11   15:18:29 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

a. Are the Frosts not owners of a greatly appreciated home ( let's set aside Bonnie's desire to have more renovations done and the fact that she has concrete counters that are as expensive as granite) on which they could have taken out a second mortgage for $20,0000 to fund a tax deductible Health Savings Account and to buy a high deductible health insurance policy for the past 4 years?

b. Are the Frosts not owners of commercial property worth $160,000 which brings in rental income, which also has enough cash equity in it to allow the Frosts to sell and make a profit to supplement their "meager" middle class life style?

c. If the Frosts had lived in a state that has a means test for folks that qualify for tapping SCHIP funds, do you believe the Frosts would have passed?

d. If you were running a private school in Baltimore with its well documented poverty and crime and visible minority children living in dire circumstances, would you give the Frosts' not 1 but 2 children access to the small number of free ride scholarships at your school? Are the Frosts' children living in "special challenging" circumstances that they are needy for a "leg up?"

e. Did Mr. and Mrs. Frost decide to thrust themselves and theiir family into the public stage or did the big bad reich wing evil bloggers seek the anonymous Frosts family and drag them out to front and center stage?

A. I guess they could sell it and live on the street. How do you know they could take out a second mortgage, and is that fiscally wise if you have variable income? How do you know the cost of the countertops? In any case, wouldn't that be a wise investment for selling the house in the future? Would an insurance company accept two children with brain damage and expensive, long-term medical needs?

B. And you know they own it how? And you know they get rental income from it how?

C. Yes, they would have passed. In fact, they did.

D. Let's see, the kid was undeserving, eh? It would have cost his parents half their gross income to send him to that school. The other kid is not on scholarship; her tuition is paid by the state. Why should the kid NOT get a scholarship? He's qualified. Or is this some liberal conspiracy?

E. It's suddenly a crime to tell your story and support a program that helped you so that it can help others? Because you're in a rather lousy situation, you should have no voice in how our country is run? You're as despicable as Malkin is.

Mekons4  posted on  2007-10-11   16:20:28 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

It's suddenly a crime to tell your story and support a program that helped you so that it can help others? Because you're in a rather lousy situation, you should have no voice in how our country is run? You're as despicable as Malkin is.

a. I've read reports in the NYTin addition to other MSM reports about what properties the Frosts own. They own a greatly appreciated residential property and they own a commercial property valued at $160,00 from which they receive rental income.

b. The state of Maryland does not have a means test for getting SCHIP funds. So no the Frosts did not pass a means test and yes they would have failed a means test with the assets they own. You are ill-informed or self-deluded - I'm not sure which - so don't try to pass along untruths to others just because you want to believe in the Frosts.

c. You try to conflate pre-accident and post-accident events to confuse readers because you can't provide evidence to support your emotional need to vindicate the Frosts' continued irresponsible behavior - irresponsible for not providing proper medical insurance for their dependents though they had the means to do so; irresponsible for taking advantage of a lax state system in Maryland that neither uses means testing or takes into consideration a family's fungable financial assets before dispensing SCHIP funds; irresponsible for taking funds from a tax supported program whose intent was that the $ should be used for children of families living below the poverty line: irresponsible for allowing a minor child to be used as a pawn by Dem Party officials to promote a party agenda; irresponsible for exposing their family as whole to public scrutiny and ridicule with no thought given to possible negative consequences that those family members might suffer.

Your continued personal attacks on me and steady stream of insults the past few days are inexcusable and frankly intolerable. I have given you a pass because I realize you have health problems yourself and you may have mis-interpreted the exposure of the Frosts' questionable actions as an attack on your dream of having Universal Health Care implemented in America.

But you are no longer getting a pass from me. You are rude and coarse and you have conducted yourself like an ignorant bully.

I'm one of the few posters here who has had the courage to stand up to the faux Pollyanna version image that political partisans like yourself and aristeides and robin and Fred Mertz want everyone to believe regarding the Frosts. To even question irregularities in their story has caused me suffer irrational attacks from all of you which is ridiculous.

And because I refuse to get on your emotionally unstrung attack on eeevil reich wingers being the cause of this public spectacle that back fired on the Dems, you accuse me of "going over to to the Dark Side" and of "being one of them" - ooooooh, scary stuff - "they" have taken over my body.

Wrap your minds around this earth shattering fact - the Frosts do not have a lock on sympathy or forgiveness for the stupid things they have done. The Frosts have chosen to be willing victims to the investigations that the "other side" would most certainly bring to bear the minute the Frosts decided to bring their holier than thou grand standing selves out of the shadows to the front of media microphones. Ma and Pa Frost chose to make their family fair game. And if the shoe were reversed and the Frosts represented a middle class family who took the stage on behalf of the GOP to talk about how they used their assets to protect their family from the effects of a catastrophic accident, you and your statist compadres would be after them like dirty shirts - examining their assets where they lived what schools the kids attended whether or not the parents had large inheritances squirreled away in Swiss banks accounts. Don't give me that crap about how evil reich wingers operate. Evil dem partisans operate the same way. No difference - both groups have closed minds and feel that their camp represents perfection, truth, and beauty, and light.

In the case of the Frost Family, evil reich wingers did not scam SCHIP funds in Maryland. Evil reich wingers did not chose to leave their dependents unprotected from catastrophic accidents/health events. Evil reich wingers did not choose to allow a minor to be used as a political pawn. Evil reich wingers did not rush into center stage and expose family memebers to public scrutiny and ridicule. The Frosts are arrogant smug risk takers and unfortunately they don't learn from previous negative risk taking experiences.

I hold no admiration or affection for Michele Malkin or for freakers or for George Bush. But in this particular case, I am not going to let myself be blind to the obvious irregularities in the way the Frosts have conducted themselves. The Frosts have acted irresponsibly in a variety of ways and they have brought on all this bad press and public scrutiny by their own selfish and not too bright choices.

You are way out of line in what you've said to me the past few days and what you have just done now. You of all people labelling me as "dispicable" is nothing short of irony.

scrapper2  posted on  2007-10-11   18:08:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

b. The state of Maryland does not have a means test for getting SCHIP funds. So no the Frosts did not pass a means test and yes they would have failed a means test with the assets they own. You are ill-informed or self-deluded - I'm not sure which - so don't try to pass along untruths to others just because you want to believe in the Frosts.

They would have failed a means test that doesn't exist? Interesting.

You might also check what I have actually said to and about you. You're quoting someone else in most of your tirade.

Mekons4  posted on  2007-10-11   18:40:20 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

You're quoting someone else in most of your tirade.

I often had the impression with BAC's long tirades that they were ready-made by some other person(s) and/or group for standard topics.

aristeides  posted on  2007-10-11   18:50:43 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

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