Teaching Moment: How Not to Be a Human Being


Paul Krugman is pissed. And so am I. If ever we needed a case in point to illustrate the bully culture cultivated by the wrong-wing of the GOP, this is it. Twelve-year-old Graeme Frost gave the Democratic response (to President Bush's weekly radio address) two weeks ago. He probably never imagined that in this great country, doing such a Constitutionally protected thing is now "grounds" for the Neanderthals and --yes, I'll say it--the fascists of FOX to bully him into silence. There is no place for this despicable behavior on the part of supposed grown-ups who should know better. But where they sit, nothing is out of bounds, even destroying a child.

Here's what Krugman had to say:

Two weeks ago, the Democratic response to President Bush’s weekly radio address was delivered by a 12-year-old, Graeme Frost. Graeme, who along with his sister received severe brain injuries in a 2004 car crash and continues to need physical therapy, is a beneficiary of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Mr. Bush has vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded that program to cover millions of children who would otherwise have been uninsured. What followed should serve as a teaching moment.

Indeed. Read his full commentary here.

The GOPHER attack patrol would have you believe that a law abiding family was misusing the system. Yet this family was fully qualified for the state's program. Graeme and his sister go to private school on scholarship. Both children suffered serious head injuries in a car crash but the Malkin's of this world don't want them treated, never mind that the parents don't have full-time jobs, but have pieced together a life for their children.

If I have learned anything in the last few years, it is that the radical arm of the GOP will stoop to anything (and everything) to destroy people. For forty years, the hard right has vilified, tarred, and tried to destroy people for the soul reason that they are Democrats, or (God forbid) liberals). We've all witnessed their proclivity to do it to politicians.

But it's much worse than that. Ann Coulter had a book tour a couple of years ago for a book entitled "How to Talk to a Liberal, If You Must." Her answer to that question was "with baseball bats." The bully culture, fostered by such destructos, aims at one thing: silence the majority, silence anyone not agreeing with them, create a culture of fear, and underpin an authoritarian society.

Over and over again, the triumvirate of FOX "News" slime have sought to harass ordinary people. They target citizens they disagree with with harrassment, threats, attempts to destroy careers, "inspire" zealots to do harm to citizens of this country.

And now we have Michele Malkin sliming her way into the lives of a 12 year old boy, showing up in the child's father's place of work, trying to destroy a family. They are trying to accomplish one thing: assure that no one will speak out in support of Democrats, whether moderate or liberal. From where they sit, they are the sole arbiter of what is politically correct, yet they try to spin otherwise.

The unAmerican bullies defy morality, patriotism, and decency. But, hey, it's all for the greater glory of their radical agenda. The "end justifies the means." But it doesn't. Means matter.