The radical right-wing has been known to engage in some pretty sketchy behavior, but the recent character assassination attempt aimed at a 12-year-old sick Maryland boy and his family has gone leaps and bounds over the line.

Much as with the swift boat slam of John Kerry in 2004, the right wing conservative machine has been able to divide and conquer once again. By diverting attention away from the issue of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the machine has sent the helpful program down a road of no return.

The pure and simple fact of the matter is that there are ten million kids in this country that should’ve gotten health insurance. There are kids in this country that only go to the doctor when an emergency room visit is necessary.

There are parents in this country whose biggest fear is a sick kid. They know a major illness will bankrupt the family.

This smear campaign of a little boy and his family, on behalf of the über-rich insurance companies, makes me quite sick. Sick enough to go to the doctor, but not sick enough to go in without insurance.

SCHIP was the baby of the Democratic Party, but had bipartisan support. It was an initiative they thought would be easily passed.

Who in their right minds could argue with giving sick kids the ability to get better? Apparently President Bush and other neo-cons. Who would’ve guessed?

The Democrats in Congress fought to revive the bill and changed their tactics by putting a face to the health insurance debate. This face was that of Graeme Frost, a 12-year-old boy from Maryland, who suffered brain injuries in a car wreck that he still requires treatment for.

The Democrats brought Frost to Washington to do their weekly radio address, the official response to President Bush’s.

Frost told of his plight, his need for doctor’s care, and the gift his family received from being able to get insurance from the state of Maryland.

The response from the right wing was immediate and fierce. Instead on attacking the system where sick kids can’t get help, the right-wingers attacked the credibility of the family.

Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger and possible nutcase, did nothing short of calling the boy and his family frauds. A weeklong rampage of pointless information ensued.

She cited a marriage announcement of Frost’s parents in the New York Times as a sign of affluence. She also claimed, she and she alone, that she was able to find cheap health insurance in the area where the Frosts live.

Republicans in the House and Senate were quick to jump on this bandwagon claiming that the family was indeed, rich and could easily afford health insurance but wanted to rip off the state.

All of the rumors surrounding the affluence of the family were debunked, and politicians, but not right-wing bloggers, then backed off. But the damage was done.

It’s a shame that ten million really sick kids don’t have the right, or as some are saying, the luxury, to go to the doctor when they’re sick or to get surgery when they need it. Their ticket to health is being locked up in a bureaucratic closet somewhere in the Capitol.