Posted on 04/04/2010 6:55:32 PM PDT by Mount Athos
If the experience of this states two Democratic House members is any indication, the raw emotion and mistrust emanating from last summers congressional town halls never really went away.
Instead, the unrest simmered over the ensuing months only to return to a boil when Rep. Carol Shea-Porter and Rep. Paul Hodes, who is running for U.S. Senate, returned home to meet with their constituents here during the first week of the Easter recess.
Their public events provided a bracing reminder to Democrats that the political pivot from health care to economic and financial issues is going to be much more arduous than they expected.
At a senior center in Manchester Wednesday, one woman turned away when Hodes offered his outstretched hand for an introduction.
"I don't want to shake your hand. You voted for health care, so just go," snapped Carmen Guimond, as she refocused on her lunch of roast beef and mashed potatoes and waved him on.
When Hodes decided to stay at the table and launch a defense of what's considered to be one of the more popular provisions of the law closing the "donut hole," a gap in prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients she challenged whether he had read the entire bill and dismissed his explanation.
"Two hundred and forty dollars in the first year. That's all it is," she said, referring to the initial subsidy. "That's not much."
"And over time, by 2020, it closes the donut hole," Hodes explained.
"We'll all be dead by then," she deadpanned.
While the new landmark health care reform law is driving much of the hostility, in a handful of events here in the week after passage, voters expressed profound cynicism and suspicion not just about the legislation, but about Washington, government and virtually everything that came out of their legislators mouths.
A man who did not want to be identified said he pulled Hodes aside at the Manchester event to ask him why he wasnt wearing a wedding ring. The congressman told him hes allergic to gold. His constituent remained skeptical.
Its a satisfactory answer, but I dont know if its true, the man said afterward, citing all the improprieties out there as the reason he inquired.
For her part, at back-to-back town hall meetings in Bedford and Merrimack, Shea-Porter faced consistent boos, heckles and catcalls after almost every point she rattled off in defense of her vote.
Despite an effort to accommodate questions from the raucous crowds with a ticketed lottery system and a two-minute time limit for speakers, the congresswoman got little credit from the audience. If anything, it gave her opponents fresh ammunition.
"Why can't we ask a question?" yelled one man, objecting to a format that randomly selected numbers out of a tub of tickets to choose questioners.
"Are you a princess or a representative?" chastised another woman.
Yet another man was miffed that he received a form letter from her office in response to six specific questions he sent to her by mail.
"I expect a reply. I heard a position statement that did not answer any of my questions," complained Ben Niles of Merrimack.
Shea-Porter had her defenders too, and they were uncowed. When one heckler mentions polling against health care reform, he was greeted with, Thats Sarah Palins death panel lies!
Another supporter of the congresswoman responded to a comment with, "What, are you employed by some insurance company? Shut up!"
The raw emotion expressed at the public eventson both sidesleft both Shea-Porter and Hodes seemingly resigned to the fact that that act of defending, or heralding, their health care vote will continue to occupy much of their time for the near future.
Hodes said hes happy to answer the questions and is convinced that the majority of voters dont have their heels dug in against the bill.
"If two out of twelve people have their minds fixed, that's about the ratio that I would expect. I think now that we have a bill and we're able to talk about what's in it and we're able to give people some very clear information about what's in it, Hodes told POLITICO.
"Over these next few months, you're going to see growing acceptance of the legislation, growing appreciation for what the legislation does and an open mindedness to the benefits that the legislation will bring," he added.
Kathy Sullivan, a former state Democratic Party chair, said a groundswell of cynicism is to be expected when most of the attention and media coverage thus far has focused on a convoluted process and the colorful opposition.
All we knew was that this behemoth was coming and that it was going to cost a fortune, and there were a lot of people upset about it. It wasnt until the bill passed that you started seeing stories about what the bill actually did, she said. Cover kids on their parents plans until 26? Excellent! Takes away the companies power to deny pre-existing conditions? Great. Where is the communist stuff, and where is the stuff about the death panels now? It doesnt exist.
One question, though, is whether the unseemly horse-trading that to many voters seemed to characterize the process has tainted the final productand voters trust of Congress.
When Shea-Porter referred the health care legislation at one event as a bipartisan effort and noted 200 amendments by Republicans, several in the audience jeered, "What a joke! You have got to be kidding me!"
When she said there was growing support for the legislation, even within her congressional district, a heckler taunted her, yelling, "How are your polls doing, Carol?" Another shouted, "That's a lie! That's a Pelosi line!"
Her statement that "the bill is paid for" led to a hearty round of laughs that made it seem like she had delivered a joke.
Of the 12 questioners who got a chance to speak inside the Bedford High School cafeteria, nine made it clear they flatly opposed the new law. Shea-Porter acknowledged there was strong opposition.
"We are in a swing district. It's split down the middle. This district really is a divided district on this issue," she said at Merrimack Middle School, adding that her support for health care expansion shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone who followed her 2006 campaign.
When she told the crowd the obvious -- that they had the chance to oust her in seven months -- the notion prompted claps and a promise from one man who thundered, "And we will."
Or else.....
What planet are these politicians living...all their mail, all the people who they talk to are against the health bill and they still have the nerve to say it’s equally divided. They are either delusional or outright liars.
So it's the press weasels fault?
Thanks for posting this...great article. I’m glad to see the reps getting the cold shoulder and the hot ear. The only ones they can rely on are the SEIU plants in their audiences.
Man, would I love the chance to refuse to shake my rep’s hand and then tell him what I think of him...
Unfortunately, “Che”-Porter is my moonbat Congresscritter. Ask her a question any tougher than the color of the sky and she looks at you like you’re an alien and gives the standard, “Let me have someone on my staff look into that,” response. I’d call her dumber than a bag of hammers, but bags and hammers have actual uses.
Sarah Palin local impact PING!
If us Tea Partiers have our way they are going to have to defend it FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.
OK, here's a scenario: a lot of people are married by the age of 26. So, they're living on their own, away from their parents, having their own kids, buying homes, buying vehicles, LCD TVs, etc., etc., but they're still covered under good 'ol Mom and Dad??
So it's the press weasels fault?
These fools (our so-called representatives) just don't get it. No, it is not the press' fault. They've been all but cheer-leaders for the left for years. No, it isn't the process either. Although the process sure looks un-Constitutional from where I stand. The real, fundamental problem that these mental midgets just don't get is that the bill represents an un-American, anti-American socialist expansion of government. It is unworkably expensive and flat out stomps on a significant portion of our liberties and freedoms. Worse, it sets a dangerous precedent for the government to continue to mandate things for us to have that they control. We, the electorate, understand this even if they can't or won't. We will be electing representatives that "get it."
Taxation (mandates) without representation led to a little dust-up once before. Don't make the mistake of thinking it can't happen again. My personal belief is that if they try to ram through amnesty for illegal aliens -- in a vain a attempt to remain in power -- in any way similar to the Constitutionally questionable way they rammed through obama/Reid/Pelosi-care, that will probably touch it off. A lot of people wouldn't have thought something so obviously socialist and un-American and un-Constitutional as obama/Reid/Pelosi-care could've become law, and we all got surprised. The socialist 'rats in power could similarly be surprised by the reaction to amnesty. That's generally how these things start, a mis-estimation of someone else's response to your actions...
The rogue bastards think they are invincible. They are about to have their bubbles burst. Real people are back in charge now.
I remember reading that story about Che-Porter here on FR! One of the standout examples of arrogance in the past two years, and that’s quite the club.
The elite's are going to be swept out.
Just what I thought-—another female with hyphenated last name. Coulda told ya.
Shouldn't that have been BEFORE the bill passed?
Can somebody tell me why this is supposed to be a good thing? I guessing it's cheaper for the parent to insure a "child" than if that GROWN 25 year old child got a job with benefits or bought their own insurance. The elites keep infantalizing the people.
Silly you! We PASS the bill to learn what's in it.
Oh the humanity. This is what conservative columnists were saying weeks ago.
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