Protesters Argue Over ObamaCare Outside Grayson Town Hall Meeting - Video 8/17/09

Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | August 17, 2009 | BrianinMO

[Federalist Patriot]

Here are videos from outside a Town Hall Meeting held by Florida Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson. The Orlando Sentinel has some details:

The hastily-called meeting was held in a relatively small union hall which limited attendance to about 120 or so members of the public. But it was held just after a regular meeting of local Democrats, some of whom stayed behind for the town hall in the scarce seats.

Outside the union hall, a frustrated crowd of hundreds of people who could not get into the hall waved signs and chanted simultaneously for and against health care.

There were so many different chants that they were unintelligible. At one point, Andy Showen, 49, of Orlando, angry he couldn't get in, pulled on a side door until police officers stopped him. . . . MORE

Comments left on the Orlando Sentinel website by people who said they were there help to fill in some gaps:

From Wade:

I was in the room. There were 126 seats. 95 were filled with pre-selected Dems. Only 31 "real people."

Why does he have to stack the deck against his constituants.

Why didn't the Sentinel reporter know that 95 of the 126 were pre-seledted local Democrat officials!

And from Tony:

I was at the meeting. I got there at 6:15 and I was number 70 in line. When they closed the doors, there were about 40 in front of me who didn't get in. So a good estimate of how many they let in is 30. They said the place held 130 so they preloaded the room with 100 and let 30 regular citizens in, which is somewhere between 5% and 10% of the people who showed up.

I asked one of Grayson's reps at the door why they didn't get a bigger place. She had two reasons. 1. They couldn't find a bigger place on such short notice (which begs the question, "then why didn't you give some notice?), and 2. She said that it was free and they didn't spend any taxpayer money.

She also told me that lots of events have to turn people away. She was smug and patronizing.

After the recent history of Democrats having "town hall meetings" packed with their own supporters, doing the very same thing again here shows an amazing arrogance.

So the meeting was hastily scheduled; small meeting room; preceded by a local Democrat meeting, with many staying behind to occupy the seats. That really sounds like Grayson wanted to be "open and transparent" as they are so fond of saying. Actually, it sounds like Rep. Grayson is afraid to hear from his constituents.

No video from inside the meeting has surfaced yet that I have been able to find. We'll post it if it turns up.. . . . . . (Watch Videos)

[Sunbunny]

Yeah, we don’t have any big meeting rooms here in Orlando! The biggest convention destination in the US! Any of the big hotels would have donated the space for a town hall.

Instead, Grayson picked a tiny room on a side street with no parking. The police were called to handle the traffic—not the MOB. Grayson is a wienie.

[goron]