For months now, National Review Online has been arguing against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). It’s bad policy for a myriad of reasons — it doesn’t prioritize truly poor children; “children’s insurance” actually covers adults; you can make $80,000 dollars a year in some cases and still qualify for it; it will incentivize people to get off of employer insurance rolls and have taxpayers foot the bill; it’s funding mechanism — a cigarette tax — is effectively a tax on the poor; the way the proposed program’s “funding cliff” is set up will encourage expansion of the program in five years time; it’s a step in the direction of socialized medicine; President Bush’s proposal to provide tax credits for people that purchase their own insurance will encourage market competition and is a better proposal… and so on.

		Steyn: The Superbower Blase: A Medicaid Buy-Off Sanders: Blanche Lincoln’s Balancing Act Costa: Saturday Night Fever Miller: The Man Who Would Kill Lincoln Hibbs: Just Bite Her Already Goldberg: We Need Your Help Spruiell: Welcome to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Editors: End It, Don’t Amend It Goldberg: Palinophobes Hate First, Ask Questions Later Murdock: Medicare: A Glimpse of the Future? Krauthammer: Travesty in New York Charen: Holder’s True Motive Lowry: Barack Obama’s Chump Diplomacy Spakovsky: Criminalizing Health-Care Freedom Anderson: Roadmap to Victory

However, the Graeme Frost affair has pushed all of these arguments off the table. In the face of sensible policy arguments, the Democratic response was much gnashing of teeth and wailing about how opponents of SCHIP don’t care about some kid name Graeme Frost who might possibly benefit from the program’s expansion. 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?!

We here at NRO are in fact deeply concerned about the world our children will live in. But of all the arguments we have presented against SCHIP, we’re most deeply troubled by the fact SCHIP does nothing to protect kids, who like Graeme Frost, suffer from MCS — Manipulated Child Syndrome. Perhaps the gravest public threat endangering our youth, MCS occurs whenever insubstantial claims of child endangerment are substituted for real political argument.

Though MCS has gone largely untreated, the signs are readily visible. Every time you turn on the TV do you see sullen children, half-lit against austere backdrops, opining about the dangers of global warming, despite the fact they’re barely potty trained, let alone able to grasp the intricate dynamics of climate science?

We know — you’re probably asking yourself why you didn’t recognize the signs sooner. Each of these children pictured above are suffering the ravages of MCS. Somewhere right now, one out of every 10,000 children is auditioning for a public service announcement. This can be a harrowing experience. One former casting agent who wished to remain anonymous told NRO of the horrors. “I saw a parent standing off-camera threatening to tear the stuffing out of Mr. Jangles if their little moppet didn’t start crying and telling the camera about an obviously childish and manufactured fear of ‘not being able to see, like, a blue sky or green grass,’” the casting agent said. “It was clearly sickening to the child. I know it made me ill just watching it.”


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