I happened to notice a few referrals from His Vorpal Sword the other day. HVS is a lefty blog, which -- truth be told -- is a relatively popular site. HVS is fairly well done, albeit suffering from the predictable bouts of BDS (Bush as Alfred E. Neuman? Why, that's rip-roaringly funny and original!).
I like the heart! It's all about love at HVS.
In scanning the blog, I noticed a curt comparison of Graeme Frost -- the young accident victim who was tagged by Democrats to pitch expansion of SCHIP -- with General David Petraeus. HVS asked the question:
I wonder why it is that so many who sputtered with righteous indignation about their perception of a slight to General Petraeus’ character in the MoveOn ad… are the same people attacking a 12-year-old child over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and saying that he’s “fair game”? |
Aside from the obvious flaws in the analogy (e.g., the conservative and centrist blogs I read questioned the choices made by Mommy and Daddy Frost), I saw literally no attacks, that's none on the child. HVS would be hard-pressed to find an example of character assassination on Graeme Frost.
Wondering about the bizarre analogy, I posted the following question:
Is it fair to question why the Frosts have a $50,000 vehicle, a $40,000 vehicle, and a $30,000 vehicle? As an aside, I believe Graeme Frost has been treated by all with sympathy. It’s the parents’ odd choices — combined with their ownership of multiple properties and expensive vehicles — that most have questioned. The Frosts are an odd family indeed to hold up as the examplar for SCHIP. |
The respondent -- a Mr. Williams -- offered an incisive, reasoned response that demonstrates a commanding grasp of debate combined with an awesome historical perspective. Think Doris Kearns Goodwin or Will and Ariel Durant:
Whoa! Did I just wander into happy hour at a Tourettes convention?
Perhaps someone could interpret this response for me, but has Mr. Williams mistaken me for a "weepy conservative" who comments on blogs to which he cross-posts? No idea, but -- for the record -- my original post on SCHIP is still available un-edited. Its single reference to Graeme Frost is, "Frost was badly injured an an auto accident and, thanks to SCHIP, was able to recuperate."
Quite an attack. In truth, my post concentrates on two aspects of SCHIP: (a) why the Frost family was chosen for the Democratic address, despite their formidable personal assets and seeming ability to game the system; and (b) why the funding mechanism for expanding SCHIP is levied upon smokers, who are generally more poverty-stricken than non-smokers.
The point being: if the program can't prevent fraud and waste by treating the truly needy, why on Earth would any taxpayer advocate its expansion?
I await your thought-provoking response, Mr. Williams. Ironically, one of Mr. Williams' posts is entitled Lost in a sea of hate. Indeed, my friend. Indeed.
I recommend yoga, Mr. Williams, or breathing exercises. As for inserting a boot into my nether places, well, consider me a poster-boy for Bushitler-Halliburton-Likkud-Neocon-Blackwater, Inc., -- with all that the phrase entails.
p.s., as an aside, my real Al Gore posts include The UN's IPCC Global Warming Bunko Scam, Al Gore's 2nd Annual Carbon Offset Going-out-of-Business Sale, and Is Al Gore's Inconvenient Fiction a $250 Billion Scam?. Read the first or third one if you want the real background on Al Gore, the IPCC, and the carbon offset trading business. Read the second one if you want a snicker.
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