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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: 5984
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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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 19.

#2. To: All (#0)

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  

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?

The maximum contribution to a HSA per year for a family is $5,650.

HSA information

Additionally, health insurance, especially high deductable health insurance, doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, at least not for the first year.

FormerLurker  posted on  2007-10-11   19:12:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

The maximum contribution to a HSA per year for a family is $5,650. Additionally, health insurance, especially high deductable health insurance, doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, at least not for the first year.

There was no pre-existing condition for the Frost Family in 2003 before the auto accident that I've read of.

And having $5,000 in an HSA would have taken care of health maintenance issues like physicals vaccinations ear infections that a high deductible plan would not cover. But having a high deductible catastrophic health insurance plan in place would have provided the necessary health care that came about due to the auto accident. And once enrolled in such a plan the insurer can't kick you out just because you cost them money. The pre-existing brain damage as a result of the auto accident would be a moot point. Furthermore, a high deductible insurance plan would have been significantly less costly in monthly premiums than what Mrs. Frost quoted to the media - I think she threw out a figure of $1200 per month of plans she looked into. I would suggest that she made superficial enquiries at best. Anyone who has car insurance, home insurance, health insurance knows that the first obvious cost saving measure you can do as a consumer is to have a high deductible in place. It isn't rocket science.

What's your point exactly?

scrapper2  posted on  2007-10-11   19:48:34 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#35. To: scrapper2 (#19)

There was no pre-existing condition for the Frost Family in 2003 before the auto accident that I've read of.

{...}

Furthermore, a high deductible insurance plan would have been significantly less costly in monthly premiums than what Mrs. Frost quoted to the media - I think she threw out a figure of $1200 per month of plans she looked into.

{...}

What's your point exactly?

The bill authorizing HSA's was first ENACTED in 2003, thus most people wouldn't had been ready to sign up for one until 2004. The accident occured in 2004, thus it would have occured right about the time the Frosts had their first real opportunity to open an HSA. Even so, there would not have been any money in their HSA, and the high deductable insurance that is required usually requires the entire HSA contribution for that year as a deductable. For lower deductable HSA qualified insurance policies, the premium could well be $1200 or so a month.

In other words, MAYBE they could have done what you suggest, but they would have struggled to come up with the money at minimum, and there is a distinct possibility that the accident occured BEFORE their first window of opportunity to purchase high deductable insurance and open a HSA.

Hell, they could have just sold everything and gone on welfare if they wanted to soak money from the system, as you imply. I'd rather see a working family get the help they need during a difficult period than see a bunch of leaches live off the system on a permanent basis. I'd also rather see American families in need get help from the government than to see that money stuffed into the pockets of Mexican officials, or squandered in a war of adventure to the tune of 100's of billions of dollars per year.

FormerLurker  posted on  2007-10-12 12:48:27 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

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