Real Senators Don't Hide Behind Small Children

Enough already. The Courier-Journal's -- and now the Lexington-Herald's-- relentless attempts to accuse Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell of "sliming" a 12-year must be addressed. (As for why the Kentucky media have been so persistent, see the related story, below).

It's well known that the Democrats used 12-year old Graeme Frost to rebut President Bush's weekly radio address regarding the S-Chip insurance program for children, while Democratic Senate Leader Dingy Harry rode shot-gun.

The chronology is telling. On September 29, 2007, Little Graeme Frost reprises Tiny Tim as he tells the country about his car accident and how Maryland's use of federal S-Chip funds helped him to recover because his parents had no health insurance.

One week later, on October 6, the story breaks. A blog called Free Republic reports on some of the Frost family assets. It seems that Little Grame and his siblings attend a $20,000 year school and that his parents own their remodeled home in a historic Baltimore neighborhood (and, as it turns out, three nice cars).

The next day (October 7), the story goes viral. People all over the blogosphere were talking about it.

A press aide to Senator McConnell mentioned this phenomona in an email to reporters on October 8. The same press aide later that day tells reporters that the Frosts are "legit" and that there is no story. Well, maybe not in terms of the Frost's qualifying for S-Chip by income. The story of their assets, however -- which Maryland neglected to count when it gave them insurance -- has not been challenged, and poses real questions about the S-Chip progam.

The press aide updates Senator McConnell on October 11 about his emails to reporters.

The next day, October 12, WHAS reporter Mark Hebert asks Senator McConnell about his staff's involvement in this alleged campaign to smear Little Graeme. And Senator McConnell correctly stated that his staff had no involvement. Senator McConnell's statement was completely truthful, because his staff-member had nothing to do with the story's genesis and only discussed it with reporters after it was a hot topic on the blog.

The only mystery is why the staffer, Don Stewart, backed down so quickly when the mainstream media went after him. And therein lies a lesson: Democrats will obfuscate the facts by hiding behind small children, and then vilifying anyone who dares to raise a question, any question.

No one wanted to "slime" Little Graeme. But the tyke didn't just appear on Harry Reid's doorstep. His parents -- having chosen to not provide him with health insurance from their family-owned business -- then pimped him on national television. Or as the Supreme Court might say, they "injected him into the public vortex." To not have inquired about the Frost family would have been akin to ignoring FDR's wheelchair, or JFK's affairs. But then again, Democrats are used to getting a pass on media scrutiny.