When all else fails, go after the orphan

Check out the following video:



What is Michelle Malkin's take on this?  The boy in the video, Marcelas Owens, is being used by Harry Reid as a "kiddie human shield":

Harry Reid put Marcelas Owens in front of the cameras to help deflect tough health care policy and political questions. . . . The usual hyperventilating from the Left — horrible conservatives “targeting” poor, innocent kid! conservatives “assault” poor, innocent kid! — just proves my point. Despite President Obama’s repeated admonition that health care reform is a “complex issue that can’t be reduced to snippets,” it’s exactly what Reid, Murray, Schumer, and his Owens’ grandmother propped up young Marcelas to do. Anyone who questions the narrative and absolute moral authority of the kiddie human shield is a heartless, right-wing stalker who should be vilified, if not arrested.

You said it, Michelle. I didn't.

Malkin also goes after Marcelas, his mother, and anyone who believes their story.  According to Malkin, The New York Times "swallows the Owens’ family story whole without asking a single question of any independent state agency or outside source for verification."  Malkin writes:

The Times fails to mention that Owens’ grandmother and family have been longtime activists for the left-wing, single-payer advocates of the Washington Community Action Network or that the boy and his grandmother traveled to Washington with sponsorship from the Astroturf lobbyists of the Health Care for America Now outfit, which characterized Marcelas as an “insurance abuse survivor.”

Never mind that there is not a shred of evidence that any health insurer ever “abused” Marcelas. Never mind that the family has made no claim that Marcelas himself has survived without insurance (in Washington state, low-income children have been covered either through Medicaid, SCHIP, or the SCHIP expansion program Apple Health for Kids).

(It's ironic that Malkin attempts to make stones of our hearts here by informing us that Marcelas may have been covered by a government-run health care plan.)

Here are a few questions for Malkin:

• What reason do we have to doubt the truth of Marcelas's story?  Why not suppose that they are working with Democrats to sell health care reform because their story is true? 
• Suppose that Owens' family have been left-wing activists.  What reason does that give us to ignore what they have to say?  What if they are left-wing activists because they are victims of the private health insurance industry? 
• Aren't you embarrassed by the fact that you have to resort to ad hominem arguments to make your point? 

The Democrats are not using human beings as shields.  They are reminding us all about the human cost of Republican ideology and obstructionism. 

Why does Malkin lash out at the Democrats for this video?  Because she does not like to be reminded of the human cost of her self-interested proliferation of propaganda for fear that she might actually be tormented by faint pangs of compassion and guilt.  That's my guess, and I'm trying to be perhaps unjustifiably charitable to Malkin. Maybe she's just a sociopath. 

The result?  A disgusting display of contempt for fellow Americans and human beings.  Sure, Malkin does say that "It’s a heart-wrenching story," but she immediately backpedals when she says that "the tale raises more questions than it answers."  That's wishful thinking, Malkin.  If you can't handle the real-world consequences of your ideology, that's no one's problem but your own.