Still waiting for someone to recognize the middle ground between Malkin calling this kid–11 years old, an orphan, forced to go on TV and jaw about his mom, whose death he’s probably still dealing with–“a new, dubious poster boy for Demcare”; and this:
Bringing everyday folks into contentious political debates can be perilous…But [Marcelas Owens] seemed up for the challenge. He said that he intended to be an advocate for expanded health care coverage, as was his mother.
1.) The kid is now a target for anti-health care criticism; both the vitriol and the more reasoned arguments that he probably can’t refute. Ergo, he’s not up for the challenge, because unless he’s also a genius, the intellectual and policy challenges of health care exceed any 11-year-old’s capacity for reasoning.
2.) As such, ‘Advocate’ seems exploitative. Has anyone asked if the kid has been to therapy or counseling? And are we really setting the bar this low for messaging? I’m trying to imagine the reaction from voters, media, and other politicians if the Bush administration had used a 9/11 orphan to sell the Iraq War. My imagination is failing me right now, but I’m pretty sure expletives would be involved.