Wow. ThinkProgress breaks the story that Don Stewart, communications director for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, contacted traditional media reporters and encouraged them to write stories criticizing the Frost family.
He oh-so-innocently wrote: "Seen the latest blogswarm? Apparently, there’s more to the story on the kid (Graeme Frost) that did the Dems’ radio response on SCHIP ... Could the Dems really have done that bad of a job vetting this family?"
Of course, he's the one that didn't do the vetting.
After additional reporting confirmed that the Frosts are a struggling working class family of six, the New York Times reported yesterday:
Republicans on Capitol Hill, who were gearing up to use Graeme as evidence that Democrats have overexpanded the health program to include families wealthy enough to afford private insurance, have backed off.
An aide to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, expressed relief that his office had not issued a press release criticizing the Frosts.
McConnell's team was unable to unite Senate Republicans to oppose children's health insurance, and now expansion of SCHIP has a veto-proof majority in the Senate.
Having failed to persuade the Republican Senate caucus on the merits, a top McConnell aide resorts to smears in hopes of sustaining Bush's veto in the House.
What did McConnell know and when did he know it?
