Graeme Frost

Graeme Frost (b. 1995) is a Baltimore seventh-grade student who became famous for giving the United States Democratic Party weekly radio address on September 28, 2007. [1][2] Graeme was injured with a brain stem injury and his sister Gemma was injured with a cranial fracture during an automobile accident. Graeme and Gemma received treatment for their injuries under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) program. [3] In the radio address, Graeme spoke on the importance of the SCHIP program. President Bush vetoed the expansion of SCHIP October 3, 2007.

Following his radio address, the Frost family became a target for criticism and harassment by conservative bloggers like Michelle Malkin, conservative talk radio hosts including Rush Limbaugh, conservative magazines like National Review and the Weekly Standard, conservative legislators like John Boehner, conservative pundits, and conservative law professors [4] [5]. A posting on right-wing forum Free Republic alleges that his family is affluent due to Graeme's attendance of a private school and the value of Frost family home. Also alleged is that Graeme's father, Halsey, owns his own business as a woodworker and declined to purchase insurance for his family. [6]

The Baltimore Sun noted that the Frost family says the criticisms are misleading, that the total family income is $45,000-$50,000(US) per year, that the children depend on financial aid for schooling, the business has no employees and cannot afford health insurance, and that the family home was purchased in 1990 for $55,000. [7]

ABC News reported that Jim Manley, a spokesman for Harry Reid, charged "that GOP aides were complicit in spreading disparaging information about Frosts." [8] ThinkProgress, the blog from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, reported they were in possession of an email "sent to reporters by Sen. Mitch McConnell’s communications director Don Stewart.

On Monday morning, Don Stewart sent an email with the following text to reporters: Seen the latest blogswarm? Apparently, there’s more to the story on the kid (Graeme Frost) that did the Dems’ radio response on SCHIP. Bloggers have done a little digging and turned up that the Dad owns his own business (and the building it’s in), seems to have some commercial rental income and Graeme and a sister go to a private school that, according to its website, costs about $20k a year ‹for each kid‹ despite the news profiles reporting a family income of only $45k for the Frosts. Could the Dems really have done that bad of a job vetting this family?"

[9]