Boehner: Using Children For Political Messaging Is ‘Beyond The Pale,’ Unless I Do It

ThinkProgess.org: This week’s Democratic Radio Address will be delivered by a 12-year-old boy named Graeme Frost. Graeme was in a severe car accident three years ago, and received care under the SCHIP program.

In his address, Graeme will tell the story of how he “was in a coma for a week and couldn’t eat or stand up or even talk at first.” But, using coverage provided under SCHIP, Graeme received treatment that allowed him to return to school and begin to lead a normal life again.

A spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) sharply criticized Graeme’s appearance:

To use an innocent young child as a human shield and misrepresent the position of the president of the United States is, frankly, beyond the pale.

If there’s one thing Boehner just won’t tolerate, it’s politicians employing children for political purposes…

The SCHIP bill sent to Bush for authorization would provide essential medical care for four million children like Graeme Frost. Yet John Boehner seems more interested in playing partisan games than in supporting expansion of a program that is “widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest social policy successes.”

Reader Comments:

• Candyce: Yes, that makes sense. A program for children should not be associated with children who benefit from it. Or something. ... Guess it was ok for Bush to pepper the stage with “snowflake babies” when he vetoed the stem cell research bill. ... Well, now that I’ve reread the quote from Boehner’s people, I’m pissed. Using the term “human shield,” which has a specific meaning related to terrorism, war, something despots do with their civilian populations to deter attack. I guess Boehner is comparing Reid to Saddam now.
• Lora: I guess the always tanned – not to mention, hypocritical – Boehner knows best about being “beyond the pale.”
• Gregor: This, of course, is no surprise. Republicans have got us all used to amazing “moral values” such as: it is wrong to cheat on your wife, unless you are a Republican; it is wrong to be gay, unless you are a Republican; it is wrong to smear a political opponent, unless you are a Republican; [and] it is wrong to be fiscally irresponsible, unless you are a Republican. No contradiction or show of hypocrisy coming out of the Republican camp surprises me anymore.
• Starve-A-Bush_Feed-A-Beaver: So once again a Republican fails to address the substance of the message he’s trying to refute and chooses instead to address the image of the messenger. I guess he would prefer an adult describing the facts Graeme Frost describes, even though those facts happened to Graeme Frost and Boner cannot dispute them. Again a Republican grasps at any straw but fails to address reality.