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I spoke with thousands of voters at town-hall meetings this summer. What I gathered from them is that it's not just the proposed overhaul of health care that has them upset. Many also expressed a sense of betrayal. In spite of their hope for change, it still appears that the government in Washington is run for its own benefit and the benefit of special interests—not for the benefit of the American people. The folks I met with also don't trust politicians in Washington to address mounting long-term challenges to our economy.

DISABLED MARINE VET CONFRONT HIS REPRESENTATIVE AT TOWNHALL MEETING The video of disabled Marine veteran David Hedrick confronting his representative, Brian Baird, at a town hall meeting in Clark County Washington has now surpassed 1 million views in the 13 days since it was first posted on the internet. The current count is 1,027,497 and climbing. The video has been seen or heard (as has David) on Fox News, Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and any number of other places on the internet and various news and talk radio networks. The left has tried to discredit both David...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) ran into a tough crowd Tuesday night, as hundreds opposed to Democratic healthcare proposals booed, jeered and screamed at their Congressman and one other. Fifteen hundred people – the limit set by local authorities -- filled the gymnasium of North Point High School during Hoyer’s first healthcare town hall meeting of the recess. The crowd appeared divided between those supportive of Hoyer’s push for a health insurance overhaul and those ready to loudly voice their opposition. The result was a volatile mix of anxious and edgy people, most of whom waited in line for...

The bully-in-chief is at it again. His "Organizing for America" campaign site had a call for a Phone Call campaign to Senators on the anniversary of 9/11.(it was taken down after it was discovered). The campaign is to fight back again the town hall protesters, and fight for the public option. There is nothing wrong with that a phone campaign to push a political point, but the rhetoric in this was incredibly disgusting. All 50 States are coordinating in this – as we fight back against our own Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists who are subverting the American Democratic Process, whipped to...

An overflow crowd of about 1,200 people attended a boisterous town hall meeting Monday night in Petaluma on the national health overhaul, many expressing support for a proposed government-run program and others shouting it down. Nearly 100 shut out of overflowing meeting The two-hour meeting, run by Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey, was the first and only chance for many Sonoma and Marin County residents to ask questions and air comments before Congress reconvenes after Labor Day to consider the pending legislation. Dozens spoke on both sides of the debate amid constant jeers and chants from an audience that filled every...

A top Republican senator warned Tuesday that if Democrats try to overhaul health care without Republican support, "it will wreck our health care system and wreck the Democratic Party." "The intensity on this issue across the country is like nothing I"ve seen in a long, long time," said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate. After a month of town halls back home, Alexander said it's clear to him and other Republicans that Americans are "scared to death" about the sweeping policy changes coming from Washington this year and the massive debt they are creating. Alexander...

What is it, something like two-thirds of us are supposedly happy with our health coverage? A few years ago, you could have counted Mary Casey in that number. But then she contracted a rare form of cancer. Her insurance company wouldn’t pay for the drug that her doctor said might save her life. Corporate bureaucrats were the ones rationing health care then — and still are. And when Casey appealed the decision, she learned of the existence of death panels long before Sarah Palin started mouthing off about the mythical ones in the House proposal. The company’s denial of her...

I spoke with thousands of voters at town-hall meetings this summer. What I gathered from them is that it's not just the proposed overhaul of health care that has them upset. Many also expressed a sense of betrayal. In spite of their hope for change, it still appears that the government in Washington is run for its own benefit and the benefit of special interests—not for the benefit of the American people. The folks I met with also don't trust politicians in Washington to address mounting long-term challenges to our economy. It's not just the attendees of town-halls meetings in...

1st Amendment: Mark Lloyd, a disciple of Saul Alinsky and fan of Hugo Chavez, wants to destroy talk radio and says free speech is a distraction. The new FCC diversity "czar" says Venezuela is an example we should follow.When Mark Lloyd was appointed July 29 as the chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission, a nation focused on ObamaCare and a deteriorating economy took little notice. But as angry constituents flood town hall meetings and call in to talk radio, a man dedicated to silencing them sits at the right hand of the president. They share a common hero...

Congress needs to slow down when it comes to a national health care program, Sierra Vistans told their congresswoman. It was a message that Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords heard, often loudly, Monday night at a Sierra Vista town hall meeting on health care reform. It’s something she said she will take back to Congress when the country’s legislative arm resumes work after Labor Day. “The American people are frustrated. They think we are moving too quickly. It’s too confusing,” and that is evident by what many of the speakers said at the meeting, she remarked after the meeting. Even...

Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform with Sen. Warner WHEN: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) WHERE: Fredericksburg Expo Center, 2371 Carl D. Silver Parkway, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 You are asked to RSVP (requested for planning purposes) online at http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=townhall. RSVP does not guarantee admittance. Arrive early to ensure entry

Obama and his minions are finding out that just calling anyone who disagrees with him and his crazy agenda a racist is getting old. Their new tact, as evidenced by Rep. Diane Watson of California, is even scarier- if Obama fails, America fails. the investment of a nation into an individual reminds me of another political movement, but I can't think of just what....

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird backed out of a promise to hold a living room meeting at the home of a Pacific County Republican chairwoman, the GOP activist said Monday. Nan Malin of Long Beach said a Baird staffer told her the private meeting was nixed because of unspecified posts Malin had written on a right-leaning blog. "It's really the congressman's loss," Malin said. "He's really missing an opportunity to have a real dialogue. These town halls have not had a real dialogue." A representative for Baird, D-Vancouver, said tonight's 7 p.m. public town hall at Ilwaco High School would serve...

In a word, it was exhilarating. Hot Air has video of HCAN folks being told how to disrupt this particular rally. There were hundreds of folks from HCAN. Some had yellow and others had the more traditional blue signs. There was one woman holding up a yellow sign that kept mumbling something about "getting the numbers" and so she, who was white, was a definite candidate for a plant. There was also an individual in a two piece suit who appeared to be a union organizer. That was an assertion he didn't deny when I repeatedly called him on it.

So now the mainstream media is in catch-up mode. Having quietly fretted as Obama’s poll numbers drifted lower and misrepresented the extent of independent voters’ support, they now must explain that the town hall crowds weren’t simply crackpots or dupes of the insurance industry. Those people are actually quite representative of the electorate — especially the electorate willing to turn out to vote in the 2010 congressional elections. And while they swooned at Obama press conferences, the media must now admit that Obama has been colossally ineffective at persuading the public. The “catch-up” phenomenon is nothing new. We saw it...

This will not shock too many people who have followed the antics of counter-demonstrators at Congressional town-hall meetings. It’s the same strategy employed at the Tucson tea-party meeting, without the thrown elbows; maybe they’re just implied. In this video taken just before a town-hall meeting held yesterday by single-payer advocate Rep. Jan Schakowsy (D-IL), a Health Care for America Now (HCAN) organizer instructs his troops on how to disrupt and shout down others so that they “take their cookies and go to bed” (via HA reader Joel P):

In four short years Carol Shea-Porter has evolved from a rabble-rousing, town hall disrupting anti-war activist who once had to be forcibly removed from a President George Bush event in Portsmouth to a Member of Congress who instructed armed security guards to remove a frustrated voter from her own town hall event in Manchester on Saturday. In the appended video, Shea-Porter can be seen instructing security to remove a man for standing to ask a question without a ticket. Shea-Porter previously held a lottery to determine who could ask questions. She can also be heard taunting the man on his...

Here is a video report on a Town Hall Meeting held by Sen. Harry Reid at UNLV that was "by invitation only" - and the only people invited were supporters of ObamaCare, with a heavy union presence. When one man tried to get in who was against ObamaCare, he was told to get out. That confrontation is on this report. The man told those keeping him out, that Reid was supposed to be representing him, but he was told that he was not invited and that he should get out. . . . . (Watch Video)

Sadly, for Republicans who have richly enjoyed watching Democrats getting a taste of their own medicine at town halls across the country, the August recess is winding down. Still, there are already so many memories. Humiliating, awful, scarring memories that are likely to still be haunting Democrats when November of 2010 rolls around. 7) Steny Hoyer vs. Don Jeror: Nancy Pelosi's condescending 2nd in command, Steny Hoyer, ran into a buzzsaw named Dan Jeror who, after emphasizing that he was a registered Democrat, got off one of the best lines of the summer so far: "Why would you guys try...

So is this guy a terrifying threat to democracy? Or just a civic-minded citizen? If you think that his position on healthcare changes the likelihood that he will discharge that weapon, is this a rational belief? I think carrying guns to protests is entirely counterproductive. Indeed, I'm not sold on the general virtues of protesting, which worked for Gandhi and the civil rights marcher, but has a dismal track record on other concerns. But I think people have a perfect right to do it, including with guns, though I also think the secret service is within its rights to ensure...