For me the real question about the original case isn’t about the 12 year old kid. As you said, he was a pawn. But the actual facts in this case actually do cause grief for Graeme Frost, his family and the Democrats. You see, the program in question was used to help Graeme in the first place. The radio response, which was obviously written for him, implied that he did not have the benefit of that help and he didn’t want other children to suffer as he had.

I think it is deplorable when either side uses kids to make their points. It is always done to ward off rebuttal. The thinking is, “who will attack a kid?” But it isn’t the kid being attacked. It is the points that were put in the kid’s mouth that have been attack. Those have been rightly attacked as simply false.

Any time someone takes a public position on an issue, regardless of their status, they make fair game of themselves. I’d hate to think that Graeme’s parents weren’t smart enough to understand that. They’ve certainly been smart enough to game the system into serious real estate holdings and an expensive private school.

And that was the whole point. These people would have been a great example of why the program should be kept except that Republicans are responsible for the program, not Democrats. And no one was calling for the elimination of the program. Indeed, Bush wants to expand it, just not as broad an expansion as the Democrats want.

Certainly politicians from both sides have used abhorrent tactics from time to time but it seems that the Democrats are doing so with increasing frequency. So I again say that they should be ashamed of themselves for using this poor kid and I would hope that their constituents would hold them accountable. I’d want the same thing if Republicans has pulled this low stunt.

I agree with your assessment that anonymity causes people to ssay some really stupid things online, particularly bloggers. I decided early on not to be anonymous. I figured that if I want to express my opinions I ought to have the courage to stand behind them. Interestingly only liberals have called me to task for it. I understand that there are good reasons to hide your identity online and I don’t necessarily fault others for doing so. I just believe it is too easy to hide behind anonymity and say anything foolish thing that comes to mind when you don’t have to worry about what anyone might think of you.