Posted on 04/24/2011 12:28:46 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Democrats, allies hope to flip the script on town-hall rage By Daniel Strauss and Emily Cahn - 04/24/11 01:37 PM ET
If video of angry constituents haranguing members of Congress over healthcare reform captured the tone of that policy debate, Democrats and their allies hope that similar clips will emerge in 2011 to define the coming battle over Medicare and entitlement reform.
Left-leaning groups pushed the idea last week that Americans all over the country are outraged at Republican legislators and have been confronting them at town halls to voice their opposition.
In emails and press statements, Democratic organizations have trumpeted examples of town-hall meetings where Republican legislators were criticized by constituents. An email sent out by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) press office on Thursday cited a recent town hall in which House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was booed while discussing his deficit-reduction plan.
"Even Chairman Ryan’s constituents don’t approve of his plan to deliver tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans while ending Medicare," the email read. "At a recent town hall in Wisconsin, Chairman Ryan was booed as he defended his budget’s continuation of low taxes for the richest people in our country."
On Friday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee published a roundup of town-hall events titled "Town Hall Meeting Alert: House Republicans Under Fire For Voting to End Medicare." The roundup described town halls around the country as ones where Republicans faced "tough questions" about their support for the Ryan budget.
An email from the liberal organization Americans United for Change listed recent town halls under the headline "House GOP Facing ‘Angry,’ ‘Booing,’ ‘Tough Crowds’ Back Home After Voting to End Medicare, Give Millionaires Another Tax Break…"
A handful of Republicans were asked pointed questions from their constituents at town-hall meetings last week, including freshmen Reps. Robert Dold (R-Ill.), Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) and three-term Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.).
But, as of yet, those confrontations – measured in numbers and vitriol – have not matched the passion seen at healthcare town halls in 2009.
One attendee at a Meehan meeting on Wednesday accused the congressman of voting to abolish Medicare with his vote on the Ryan budget bill, CNN reported.
"Did you not vote for Paul Ryan's bill?" the attendee asked. "Well, that is to abolish Medicare and give people some money. It will not be the Medicare that we know."
But Meehan shot back, saying "No ma'am, I did not vote to abolish Medicare. And that is factually untrue."
Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) cut a presentation on the federal deficit short at a town-hall meeting he held last week after audience members began firing questions at him about the Ryan budget and its changes to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, according to the The Daily Herald, a Chicago-area newspaper.
Senior citizens in the audience expressed their discontent with turning Medicare into a voucher program, calling the change a “shell game” that would bog senior citizens down with uncertainty in dealing with private healthcare companies.
In a town hall event on Wednesday held by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), an audience member was removed after she became loud and disruptive.
Moveon.org sent an email to residents in Barletta's district asking them to attend the congressman's town hall to "ask the congressman why he voted for a budget that that puts millions of seniors, children, and people with disabilities at risk of losing their health care, so we can give millionaires trillions in tax cuts.”
The group did not ask its members to disrupt the event.
An article in the Pennsylvania Morning Call compared the recent town halls to the highly confrontational meetings in 2009 over healthcare legislation, describing the more recent vintage on the GOP's budget as "reminiscent" the healthcare events.
But there are differences between this year’s early examples and the sustained string of events in 2009.
The town halls that liberal organizations and Democrats have been touting haven't been nearly as crowded as those in 2009. And none of those being touted as examples of extreme public discontent with the Ryan budget have gotten so heated that violence could have broken out.
By contrast, in 2009, event organizers at a town hall in Florida threatened to cut the event short when attendees began violently pushing and shoving each other between stints of heckling.
The distance between the Tea Party (conservatives) and the Me Party (liberals) is a million miles. Tea Partiers wanted government out of our pockets and our lives; Me Partiers want government to loot the pockets of others and provide for every facet of their lives.
This might backfire on them (I say might because the leftist media is more corrupt than a rusted junkyard wreck) because as Wisconsin demostrated, the left doesn’t have one percent of the class, composure, respect and patriotism in their protests that Tea Partiers do. They also lack soap and evidence of ever having come with a mile of laundry detergent.
Democrats seem to underestimate the depth of our hatred for them and their socialist agenda.
Those of us who care about our children support drastic cuts in government spending. Sadly, that appears to only be the republicans.
And none of those being touted as examples of extreme public discontent with the Ryan budget have gotten so heated that violence could have broken out.
By contrast, in 2009, event organizers at a town hall in Florida threatened to cut the event short when attendees began violently pushing and shoving each other between stints of heckling.
They're not giving up on the "conservatives are the violent ones" theme despite the death threats against WI Republicans and the largely unreported bus rocking episodes there.
And none of those being touted as examples of extreme public discontent with the Ryan budget have gotten so heated that violence could have broken out.
By contrast, in 2009, event organizers at a town hall in Florida threatened to cut the event short when attendees began violently pushing and shoving each other between stints of heckling.
They're not giving up on the "conservatives are the violent ones" theme despite the death threats against WI Republicans and the largely unreported bus rocking episodes there.
Don't forget the "no labels movement."
They've also tried "re-framing" (George Lackoff, rhymes with) and "Giving Obama a Chance To Get His Message Out."
He has trouble with that last one because he's so much smarter than ordinary people that there's almost no way for him to connect with us.
The people who are objecting to Paul Ryan’s budget bill are not his constituents. They are bussed in to create havoc. I am going to a townhall meeting in Lake Geneva, WI this coming week, and I will know every face in the crowd (pop. 7,000) It is a very conservative district. I’ll bet the hecklers will all have out-of-state addresses and license plates.
What is wrong with the old folks? First of all, none of the proposed changes affect anyone over age 55, and even if they did THERE IS NO MORE MONEY! Are these people so selfish and greedy that they want their children and grandchildren to be burdened with massive debt?
I am heading towards 60 myself, and I am ashamed of these people, and I loathe the AARP. They want everything they need paid for by someone else so they can live in ritzy retirement communities and play golf.
Yay! Let us know how things go.
Unfortunately, in our 'entitlement' culture, this Democrat ploy often works. The left is well aware of this and will plant people at Republican congressional Representative's town hall meetings to (a) embarrass the Republican Representative and, (b) feed the media lie that Americans are furious with 'mean' Republicans 'taking their Medicare away' (a palpable lie). The Democrats hope to start a public chain-reaction against the GOP making any meaningful cuts in Medicare (or anywhere else) with demagoguery and false stories about irate citizens 'rising up' against Republican office holders proposing cuts (even small cuts) in federal entitlement programs. True, Americans are comfortable with their entitlement programs and wary when they appear threatened. However, it's becoming crystal clear that we cannot afford to just keep borrowing and spending without endangering the whole financial structure of the government and, more significantly, the entire U.S. economic structure.
That harsh reality is slowly but surely, dawning on many Americans. Meanwhile, the left panics, runs to the dog-eared demagogue's playbook and starts the lies flowing while the complicit media dutifully publish/broadcast the lies. The difference is that, this time, we've all heard the BS a million times and most sentient Americans know that entitlements are killing us, economically, and that no one over 55 would be affected by any changes in Medicare reimbursement. So, the left tries but will ultimately fail to convince the rest of us that American citizens are storming town hall meetings to confront Republican lawmakers over proposed cuts and changes in Medicare. I despise the attempt but in a way, I can't really hate the left because, in the final analysis, lies are all they have.
Those attacking Republicans at town halls are Democrat shills and set ups. Naturally the media will not REPORT that, but word will indeed get out. It always has.
Democrats and ALLIES!!!! Now THAT’S funny. The Hill is a left wing outfit, having worked as shills for the Democrat party and Hussein for years. Is this supposed to be NEWS??
Wanted: Angry Liberals-- If the Ryan budget is so unpopular, where are the town-hall meltdowns?
The reason this movement will become an utter failure is that unlike those that opposed the “healthcare” bill, any opposition to legitimate spending and fiscal reform would be completely contrived.
Conservative: "And how would you resolve the problem?..."
Socialist Democrat: "YOU'RE A HATER! YOU'RE A RACIST! HAAAAATERRRRR!!!!"
Astroturf
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