The Democratic Party hit a new low this week, recruiting Graeme Frost, a 12-year old boy from Baltimore who suffered serious trauma from a car accident, to deliver the party's weekly radio address.

The topic? Government-takeover of health care for kids.  The Dems are using every trick in the book to manipulate enough Republican congressmen to their side and override the President's veto of their irresponsible legislation to expand SCHIP (state children's health insurance progam).  Michelle Malkin launched a counter-attack of sorts, leading a number of conservative bloggers who claimed that the Frost family was affluent enough to take responsibility for buying their own health insurance.

The left is so desperate that the New York Times devoted two columns this morning to the Democrats' bidding.  First, Paul Krugman (a previous target of this blog) made the predictable wail that conservatives were "sliming" the poor kid.  But if what Prof. Krugman writes is true, he should be celebrating Bush's veto of SCHIP, plus the Administration's August letter to state Medicaid directors requiring them to better target their SCHIP funds to the needy.

Prof. Krugman claims that the Frost family actually earns less than 200% of the FPL (federal poverty level).  OK, then he should know that both the August rule that states must enroll 95% of kids below that income level before enrolling higher income kids, and the recent veto, will ensure that taxpayers' resources are better targetted at those in need, and not just a tool for greedy governors to raid the U.S. Treasury.  How many Graeme Frosts are state Medicaid programs abandoning in a rush to enrol middle-income kids and pull more federal taxpayers' dollars under their control?

On the other side of the page, today's editorial lines 5 Republican Congressmen from New York and New Jersey up against the wall for voting against the reckless SCHIP bill.  As the (previous) "newspaper of record" notes: these two states suffer the most expensive health care in the nation.  No kidding! But that's not because there's not enough government intrusion into health care: it's because there's too much.  In the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, New Jersey ranks 48th and New York 50th out of 50 - dead last.

The Congressmen in question are Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, and Jim Saxton of New Jersey, and Randy Kuhl and Thomas Reynolds of New York.  I'll be contacting their offices to make sure they have this analytical ammunition to support their votes.  If you're a constituent, please let them know you value their efforts to protect our kids from government-run health care.