OPINION:
Jimmy Kimmel, who’d been missing in action from work for a week, made a triumphant return to the late-night stage with his little 7-month-old son Billy, who’d just finished with a long heart surgery ordeal.
That’d be fine — touching even — if Kimmel hadn’t then took a slight turn down Propaganda Lane and started preaching the pros of taxpayer-funded health care and cons of the conservatives who still resist it.
First the good: “Billy is doing great, by the way. He has one more surgery — this is amazing — he had an operation a week ago. They say he’ll probably be on track to win at least a bronze medal at the Olympics in 2036,” Kimmel said, ABC News reported.
Good for Billy. Everybody’s rooting for Billy — even the millions upon millions of other mothers and fathers in the United States who’ve had, or are currently having, similarly scary health issues with their own babies.
It would’ve been a feel-good moment — could’ve been a feel-good moment — but it turned quickly into an uh-oh moment.
Kimmel thanked the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles for treating Billy, as well as “children from every income level whose health is especially threatened right now.”
Wait for it, wait for it. Here comes the leftist slam.
He brought up the fact that Congress hasn’t yet fully funded the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP, and called it a travesty to the 9 million children who receive and rely upon the subsidy.
“Now CHIP — [it] has become a bargaining chip,” Kimmel said. “It’s on the back burner while they work out the new tax plans. Parents of children with cancer, diabetes and heart problems are about to get letters saying their coverage could be cut off next month. Merry Christmas, right?”
Right. Boo, bad conservatives.
He then called CHIP “literally a life and death program for American kids,” pressed his audience to demand Congress fully fund CHIP, gave out the House and Senate phone lines, and added: “I don’t know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cut that mostly goes to the rich ahead of the lives of children.”
I do. How about mischaracterizing the Republican-led congressional discussions of tax reform? That’s pretty disgusting on the overall scale of disgust, yes?
Oh wait. There’s something even worse. It’s called using your little baby boy for a political prop. After all, if Kimmel truly wanted to express his heartfelt gratitude for his son’s successful surgery, rather than use him to bash conservatives in Congress, he could reach into his own well-padded pockets and make a sizable donation to the good doctors and nurses who treated Billy at Children’s Hospital — the same facility he so sadly suggested was facing financial struggle for treating even those who couldn’t pay.
After all, this is capitalistic America, not socialist Venezuela. And if Kimmel wants to distribute the funds to help those with need, he ought to start with his own bank account first.
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