Posted on 08/13/2009 12:49:55 AM PDT by boxerblues
CLEVELAND -- Usually a meeting called by your local congressperson only draws a few loyal constituents, but on Wednesday, Rep. Marcia Fudge became the latest Democrat to face friends and foes over President Barack Obama's health care reform plan.
Hoping there would be strength in numbers, Democrats packed the Ford Auditorium at Case Western Reserve University to show their support for Fudge and the president's plan.
But opponents made their presence known during a meeting that was billed as a state of the district address.
"We have been trying to fix health care for more than 60 years. And we are going to fix it," Fudge said.
With that, Fudge dropped all pretenses that this was a state of the district meeting and took on the topic of health care reform.
She also made it clear right off the bat that disruptions would not be allowed.
Anyone who attempted to engage Fudge before the question-and-answer period was quickly shown the door.
Case Western Reserve University police said two opponents of reform were ejected for being disorderly.
Fudge made sure critics knew where she stood.
"This is still my meeting," she said.
Opening the floor for questions, Fudge heard from both sides of the hottest topic in America right now. There were personal pleas from supporters of health care reforms, and opponents followed the national playbook of asking specific questions about the plan.
"Are you going to vote to include all Americans or all, anybody that's in here in the country right now?" one opponent asked.
Fudge responded, "Well, I don't know how many people who are not Americans that are in that number. I don't know that answer."
One question echoing around the country also reverberated in Cleveland: What's the rush?
"Because we haven't moved in the past doesn't mean we shouldn't move now," said Fudge
videos at link
http://www.newsnet5.com/video/20378750/index.html
http://www.newsnet5.com/video/20378082/index.html
"Dems packed Fudge". Sorry, I just thought it funny.
Is she from Chocolate City? Sheesh. You CANT MAKE this stuff up! ;-)
No Cleveland Ohio took over Stephanie Tubbs Jones seat..one liberal hack for another
What's all the crybaby whining about anyways?
She apparantly has no concept of American History and the very floor of her own United States Congress. Things were a lot more civil in her district, than THIS!
These people need to read history, understand context. Also realize the American people are being pushed way too far on some of this Socialist cr*p.
Chocolate moose anyone?
Oh, Fudge!
We have the example in these videos of the police ejecting citizens from an open town meeting conducted on public property. It is not clear to me whether the ejection was done at the instance of the congresswoman or on the policeman's own initiative.
My question is, will she get to control free speech in such a forum? Are these not citizens exercising a constitutional right to free speech, and right of assembly, and petition of their government and redress of grievances? Of course they were. They were doing so in a public building. Police appeared not to be municipal police but university police. I presume the university police are operating under some mandate from the state legislature and have some degree of police powers, more or less than the police powers normally to be exercised by ordinary municipal police force. Are they constitutionally or legislatively mandated police or they merely university rent-a-cops? Have they been properly trained?
The citizens were ejected for making statements before the question and answer period. Why would the police eject a person for such conduct? Were they operating under instructions from the congresswoman? From the University? From their own sense of decorum? What are the rules?
It seems to me that we are by default permitting the Arlen Specters of this world to define our free speech when they can order the police to enforce their own notions of decorum. If it is the police alone who are making these judgments, should they not exercise a bias in favor of citizens rights? Or is decoram more important?
If anyone has any case law or precedent I would be happy to be educated.
Sounds like a rather vague “disorderly conduct” situation.
What happened to the Democrat National Committee “Listening Tour”?
When did if become the Democrat You-Shut-Up-And-Listen-To-Me Tour?
Or at least nosed a little. I’d expect she’d clam up and decline the question.
Best as I can tell it never was anything else...
Thank you for a new tagline that I can steal.
Check this out:
Under what authority do these people limit free speech?
Yet another DemoNazi fascist bitch. I wonder what they’ll going to do, when her constituents, (the ones that actually vote) realise, *thay* are among those who are near the top of the list of people this DemoGoon DeathCare Act, will deny treatments to?
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