Jimmy Kimmel, Please Don’t Use Your Child to Ballyhoo ObamaCare
The late-night TV host used the emotional story of his own child to make a crass political play against the GOP.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why America hates Hollywood.
Late-night TV comedian Jimmy Kimmel teared up on air Monday while relating the traumatizing events surrounding the birth of his newborn son, who suffered from a congenital heart defect that required emergency open-heart surgery shortly after delivery. It was a harrowing story that struck a chord with millions of American parents. But rather than praising the marvelous efforts of the surgeons and nurses who rushed to his child’s aid, or remarking on the fragility of life and the beautiful vulnerability of the human family, Kimmel chose to use his child’s brush with death as a political sledgehammer to hit home the message that American children would be dying in droves if not for the saving graces of ObamaCare.
“Well said, Jimmy,” Barack Obama rhapsodized in a follow-up statement. Hillary Clinton and millions of slavering liberals followed suit.
There’s just one problem with this narrative: Kimmel doesn’t use ObamaCare. He is a millionaire who could have afforded his son’s emergency surgery with or without insurance. The rest of us peasants must endure skyrocketing premiums while leftists wail that the heartless Republicans want poor, sick little children to die in the streets.
The Left has little use for children unless they can be exploited for political purposes. Kimmel’s lachrymose propaganda shows that the Left is still capitalizing on fear-mongering of the highest caliber. They claim that Republicans, by wanting to reform our health care system even as it shivers into its final death spiral, have declared war on the American Dream of having a healthy family and a better world for our children. The morning after Kimmel’s philippic, The Huffington Post headline sobbed, “Jimmy Kimmel’s Humanity Underscores Heartlessness Of GOP’s Approach To The Poor.”
This leftist scare tactic is nothing new; in 1995, Democrats and Republicans were fighting the same battle over budget issues. “Why do the Republicans want to take apples and milk away from six-year-olds?” blubbered Thomas Barrett. “It’s cruel to kids,” wailed George Stephanopoulos. “Stop declaring war on our children,” Dick Durbin whined. And now Kimmel: “More than 40% of the people who would have been affected by those cuts to the National Institutes of Health are children. … Let’s stop this nonsense. This isn’t football; there are no teams. We are the team — it’s the United States. Don’t let their partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants.”
That’s right, folks: Kimmel’s newborn son was rescued from the brink of death and he wants you to know that if you are not enthused about corrupt government bureaucracy, staggering taxes, and mountains of debt piled onto your grandchildren, you are not a “decent person.”
It’s tragic that Kimmel’s son was born with a heart problem. It’s tragic that his son had to suffer open-heart surgery almost immediately after birth — a three-hour ordeal that Kimmel deemed “terrifying.” But that’s where he wields the dearest weapon of the Left — emotion, which is rivaled only by deception. Where in America have newborn children not received the health care they need? Which American hospitals have chucked a newborn child born with a heart defect to the curb while declaring “No health care for you?” Well, besides your local Planned Parenthood clinic.
The truth Kimmel ignored is that Americans have always received emergency care regardless of their insurance (or lack thereof), and most Americans with pre-existing conditions also receive insurance after a specified waiting period. ObamaCare sounds nice in theory, but eight long years have shown it to be devastating to the budgets of average Americans. It’s all well and good to talk down your nose when you have a million dollar salary and private insurance. Perhaps Kimmel could try to live off what the average American is earning so the rest of his paycheck could go toward taxes to pay for the health care nirvana he seeks.
We all hoped in vain, Mr. Kimmel, that the miracle of your newborn child meant more to you than an opportunity to worship Barry O. and his failed policies. Please, stick to comedy.
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