I hate to give Brian Rooney more attention than he deserves because the only thing that would be worse than Tim Walberg regaining his seat in MI-07 would be if Brian Rooney were to succeed in defeating Mark Schauer. But his latest “press release” screams to be addressed.
It is a nauseating example of exploiting one’s children, in this case a child with a serious medical condition, for personal political advancement.
First of all, it’s not a press release at all. It’s a reprint of an essay he penned for the Catholic Advocate magazine (which I won’t link here.) In it, he discusses the real tragedy that befell his family:
[O]ur son, Blaise, had a congenital heart defect before he was born. At the time, we understood that we were going to be able to take Blaise home after he was born for some time before he was to undergo the surgery to repair his heart. […]Blaise was born premature at 34 weeks on February 6, 2009. The doctors found unexpected complications, which required immediate surgery. Our lives, as we had known them, were over. We spent the first three months of Blaise’s life at his hospital bedside praying for the best.
In all, there were two open-heart surgeries, two brain surgeries (numerous brain procedures), uncontrollable seizures, a cardiac arrest and a stomach surgery.
Now this is truly heartbreaking stuff. Any parent who has had a child with a serious illness knows how this rocks your world to its foundations. Any parent would assume the illness on behalf of their child if only to ease their pain and suffering. It’s shattering.
But Rooney doesn’t stop there. No, he crassly uses this heart-rending story to bash Representative Mark Schauer and health insurance reform:
Families all over the world come to Michigan to save their children’s lives. Congressman Mark Schauer kept talking about refocusing on preventative care. There is no preventative care for congenital heart defects other than termination. One in a hundred children are born with a congenital heart defect. I knew this man was ignorant to the potential disaster he and his colleagues were about to cause by their all encompassing reform.
“I knew his man was ignorant to the potential disaster he and his colleagues were about to cause by their all encompassing reform.”
What a truly reprehensible and uninformed comment.
Yeah, it was great that the Rooney family with their immense wealth and economic good fortune were able to pick and choose their state, their doctor, and their hospital. What Democrats like Mark Schauer are trying to do is to make sure that all families, including those without the tremendous wealth of the Rooneys, have access to quality, affordable health care. No parent should have to go through what the Rooneys went through. But, even more importantly, no family should have to go through that with the sword of bankruptcy and financial ruin dangling over their heads at the same time. Or having to choose between keeping a home and getting medical treatment for your sick child.
The ignorant party in this scenario is Brian Rooney, a man with no apparent handle on the reality that literally tens of millions of Americans face every single day. The majority of them have jobs and none of them have health insurance.
And shame on Brian Rooney for exploiting his child’s medical problems for personal political gain. I find it nauseating.
I’m just sayin’…
