Wilkersons on Countdown

Updating this post, the Wilkersons speak for themselves.

NRO: Let the baby die [Updated]

Dara and Bo Wilkerson had a baby, Bethany, in 2005. At three months she was diagnosed with a heart defect. The Wilkersons both work in a restaurant, have no medical insurance, and used the SCHIP program to pay for Bethany's treatment - and save her life. They appear in a new ad for the program, hoping, like the Frosts, that other children will benefit from it too. The Wilkersons say they expect attacks similar to those the Frosts endured, but don't fear them.

The NRO's Mark Hemingway begins the attacks today:

While USAction and a labyrinthine maze of leftist activist groups prepare to rally around images of Tampa Bay’s Most Photogenic Baby holding up a crayon sign that says “Don’t Veto Me,” Dara and Brian Wilkerson are real poster children — for irresponsible decisions.

On the conference call, Dara admitted to me that she and Brian had been talking about having children since before they were married. She further admitted that after they were married she voluntarily left a job at a country club that had good health insurance, because the situation was “unmanageable.” From there she took a job at a restaurant with no health insurance, and the couple went on to have a baby anyway, presuming that others would pay for it and certainly long before they knew their daughter would have heart defect that probably cost the gross national product of Burkina Faso to fix. But not knowing about future health problems is the reason we have insurance in the first place.

Mark Hemingway is here to tell you how and when and why and under what circumstances you will have a child.

Mark Hemingway is here to tell you what you will talk about with your partner before marriage. It will not be about babies.

Mark Hemingway will tell you where you will work. You "voluntarily left a job ... that had good health insurance, because the situation was 'unmanageable'"? Too bad. You can't have a baby. If you have had one, you are guilty of making an "irresponsible decision," and you do not deserve public assistance if that baby becomes sick. You were irresponsible. The baby must die. Also: you will be publicly derided for your irresponsible decisions. And you will be investigated. We will look in your garbage cans. We will find out how much your underwear is worth.

We will compare you to Mark Hemingway.

Mark Hemingway will say this:

We know that Dara is at least capable of getting a job with insurance — so why does she not have one now?

This is not about whether or not your child needed public assistance to continue living. This is about you answering Mark Hemingway's questions. You must answer his questions about your moral character and your worthiness as a human being.

Even if it is difficult insure her child’s pre-existing condition, what about her and her husband’s health? Perhaps it’s rude to ask that question, but I think it’s rude to accept huge amounts of public assistance and then express gratitude by asking taxpayers to extend a Children’s health program to cover college-age kids who come from households making more than $80,000 a year.

Mark Hemingway will not always make sense. He will lose his way. He will become nonsensical, childish, and pouty. This is no matter. You must respond.

1) "What about you and your husband's health?" (Mark Hemingway cares about you. Let the baby die.)

2) "Did you call me rude? [No.] Well I think YOU'RE rude. You get SCHIP assistance and your baby doesn't die and you're like - 'Woo hoo! Go SCHIP assistance!' That is so rude!"

3) "What about XXX? Huh? Huh? That is REALLY rude." (XXX refers to Mark Hemingway at this point, in accordance with the NRO template, dropping in unsourced, distorting, and already well-circulated talking points regarding his argument. The talking points in this case: "...asking taxpayers to extend a Children’s health program to cover college-age kids who come from households making more than $80,000 a year." See comments here on that.)

The big finish:

Which brings us to another salient point — Bethany Wilkerson is healthy. She is covered by existing programs and has already received the much [sic] of the medical care she needs. The current debate centers on expanding the program, not kicking the Frosts and the Wilkersons to the curb.

Again: Mark Hemingway will not always make sense. He will run back over his own argument like a drunk on a bulldozer, again and again contradicting himself. This is also no matter. Mark Hemingway was not talking about the current baby that Mark Hemingway was talking about before. He was also not talking about current parents he talked about before. He is talking about other parents. Their babies must die.

So I hope Bethany grows up strong — I’m worried about her. Not because I’m worried that the state won’t take care of her, but I’m afraid that her parents will continue to set a bad example. In which case, she’ll need all the help she can get.

Mark Hemingway, was, on the other hand, talking about current baby. And current parents. Current loser parents. With loser baby.

UPDATE: Dara Wilkerson regarding the "irresponsible decision" to change jobs:

We have seen the statement about my previous employment and here is what we have to say: I left my previous place of employment years before Bethany became part of our lives. I am a hard working woman. I have worked at Snappers Sea Grill for over 6 years. It is a good work environment and I am a loyal employee. My husband and I were blessed with Bethany two years ago and we are even more blessed to still have her with us today.

More from Bill Scher at the Huffington Post and at the Campaign for America's Future.

Malkin the Reporter: Email From "Neighbor"

Malkin goes deeper into the toilet regarding the Frost family:

This question is for grown-ups only: Who deserves government-subsidized health insurance? What if I told you I drove these three cars (photos are showroom models):

A Volvo SUV…

A GMC Suburban…

And a nice, big Ford F250 Pickup work truck…

Those are the cars owned by the Frost family, Malkin assures us, and she posts photos of three spanking-new models of these cars to drive her brilliant "grown up" point home. And on what evidence does she "report" the auto-owning information? From an "unsolicited email" from someone who claims to be a neighbor. The person is obviously not a friend, and is also obviously a Right Winger of the Malkin kind:

I received an unsolicited e-mail this week from a neighbor of the Frost family, the family held up by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the entitlement expansionist Democrats. He wrote:

They’re good people. Terribly misguided, pathetically leftist buffoons, but still good people. It was a terrible accident and Bonnie is quite beat up with guilt over the events. Lots of neighbors pitched in to cook meals and help out… Bonnie works half time doing freelance editorial work and Halsey, an incredibly disorganized lovable goofball, just can’t seem to hold down a proper job or, when he’s tried, to run a proper company. He’s a millwork carpenter and does great work installing custom interior and exterior trimwork and cabinetry. He should be making great money but can’t get out of his way…

…Still, we make choices, right? They have three vehicles - a nice new volvo SUV, a Suburban, and his F250 Ford Pickup work truck, a nice house, and all four kids go to private school. Not sure where the money comes from, but they don’t make all that much. Should they be the poster child for S-CHIP? Heck no….

I wonder if somebody bought them a car. Or two. And I wonder in what kind of shape the cars are in, and if they're all being used. And if the "neighbor" is a neighbor, quite honestly. Am I supposed to take Malkin's word for it?

And I wonder too if the intermittent and part-time work has something to do with the fact that two of their children are brain-damaged.







Mark Hemingway Linked by Malkin - Updated

The National Review Online's Mark Hemingway gets an approving link from Michelle Malkin for his essay, "WHY DO YOU HATE CHILDREN SO MUCH?!"

Malkin linked to it because it suits her perfectly: the premise of the piece is not just steeped in denial and laughably hypocritical, it's embarrassingly easy to be shown as such. (I could go on all day. Really.)

And Mark, I've got to ask you, after you label Graeme Frost a victim of "Manipulated Child Syndrome," why do you hate that 12-year-old boy so much?

Congratulations on the Malkin link.

UPDATE: I really should have highlighted this:

As per one of the major policy critiques of SCHIP, several people have raised questions about the Frost family’s relative need for taxpayer funded insurance, but for Democrats the only important SCHIP question is WHY DO YOU HATE CHILDREN SO MUCH?!

Uh, Mark. The "several people" who "raised questions" WERE ALL WRONG. All of them. You know that, this is sure, but you pretend not to? Ouch, that is so obvious.

And why DO you hate children so much?

Malkin Challenged to Debate SCHIP

Ezra Klein calls Malkin out on her goon-squad-leading tactics against Graeme Frost and family.

It’s militant leftist bloggers," writes Malkin, "who wouldn’t know a good-faith argument if it bit them in the lip." Let's have a good faith argument. I will debate Michelle Malkin anytime, anywhere, in any forum (save HotAir TV, which she controls), on the particulars of S-CHIP. We can set the debate at a think tank, on BloggingHeads, over IM. Hell, we can set up the podiums in the shrubbery outside my house, since that seems to be the sort of venue she naturally seeks out. And then if Malkin wants an argument, she can have one. We'll talk S-CHIP and nothing but -- nothing of the Frosts, or Congress, or her blog.

My sense has been that Malkin doesn't want an argument. Rather, she wants to feed her readers the steady stream of outrage that keeps her traffic numbers up. But I realized tonight that I could be wrong, and I shouldn't assume Malkin doesn't want a real argument unless I actually ask her.

So c'mon Michelle: Let's debate health care. Prove to the world that you really want "a good-faith argument." We can talk crowd-out, and cross-subsidization, and whether lower-middle class entrepreneurs are able to procure health care on the individual market. If this is a policy argument you care so deeply about as to travel to the Frost family's house to see if they really deserved S-CHIP benefits, surely you'll want to set up a web cam and talk through the issue.




They Should Be Registered as a Hate Group

The frothing continues, and continues to be noticed (this time in the NYTimes).

And it gets even uglier:

Mounting evidence suggests that the right-wing smear campaign may have been orchestrated by a staffer in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) office.

An aide to a senator, or a senator himself, may have helped initiate the attacks. Beautiful.