Sliming 101

As most of you know, the Democrats last week used a child named Graeme Frost to demonstrate the need for the SCHIP health insurance program for middle class children. Immediately, right wing pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin as well as Sen. Mitch McConnell jumped all over the Frost family trying to prove they were frauds and welfare cheats. By the time the truth came out (the Frost's are not rich, their children attend school on scholarship, they only paid $50k for their house, and live at less than 200% of the poverty level) some damage had been done. As Paul Krugman points out, this is all part of pattern:

All in all, the Graeme Frost case is a perfect illustration of the modern right-wing political machine at work, and in particular its routine reliance on character assassination in place of honest debate. If service members oppose a Republican war, they’re “phony soldiers”; if Michael J. Fox opposes Bush policy on stem cells, he’s faking his Parkinson’s symptoms; if an injured 12-year-old child makes the case for a government health insurance program, he’s a fraud.

Of course the GOP is smart. They know most people focus on particulars and not abstract concepts. They know most people like gossipy little details rather than the big picture. They are more interested in the size of Al Gore's house than whether he is right about global warming. And they know that once a little dirt is thrown out there, most folks will lose interset in the issue and focus on the details of someone's alleged wrongdoing. In short, they realize most people have a prediliction for the low road.