Posted on 08/07/2009 7:55:48 PM PDT by Brandonmark
TAMPA — It's a political Rorschach test, the way people see these bitter protests of town hall meetings on health care.
Take that mass vitriol on display in Ybor City on Thursday, when more than 1,000 people — many of them chanting protesters — essentially shut down what had been planned as a discussion/pep rally for President Barack Obama's health care proposals.
One person sees liberal activists and union thugs locking the doors on hundreds of average citizens trying to speak out. Another sees unhinged right-wing zealots trying to shut down open discussion.
"It's like an abstract painting where both sides put their own interpretation to what it means,'' said Republican lobbyist Justin Sayfie.
"Most elected officials are risk-averse,'' Sayfie noted. "Most do not want to participate in a raucous meeting of any kind, and they would much rather participate in something that is scripted and planned."
Which is why the kind of pandemonium presided over Thursday night by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, and state Rep. Betty Reed, D-Tampa, is likely to become rarer and rarer.
"Most members that scheduled big town hall meetings are canceling them now,'' said U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, who has no plans to hold such a meeting and has long preferred smaller group meetings to discuss policy issues.
No politician relishes television images of him or her being screamed at by hundreds of angry critics. And as Castor and other participants saw, these meetings can become less about debating and more about venting and shouting.
"It's a lynch-mob mentality out there. There is an ugliness to it," U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Washington, told the Olympian in explaining why, after holding more than 300 town hall meetings in the past decade, he would hold none on health care.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has no scheduled town hall meetings in Florida during the August recess, and his office did not respond to questions about his plans.
A growing number of members of Congress are forgoing traditional face-to-face meetings in favor of "telephone town meetings" where people can call into a centralized number and punch in numbers to ask a question.
"It's great new technology,'' said Castor, who plans to hold such a meeting next week and said 4,500 people participated in one last month.
The technology also allows the host to control the event and limit surprises. U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, held a recent telephone town hall meeting and drew a complaint that he took no questions from anyone supporting Obama's proposal — something Bilirakis' office denied.
As much as Democratic leaders try to cast the protests as events manufactured by political groups or the Republican Party, it's clear that, when 1,500 people show up in Ybor City on a weeknight, there is plenty of grass roots anger boiling about the health care plan and perception of expanding government.
Those sentiments are being encouraged by conservative radio hosts, bloggers and Web sites urging people to attend town halls. A group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights lists congressional town hall events across the country.
"I can't remember seeing anything like this before,'' Florida Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman, a former member of Congress, said after watching coverage of the Tampa event. "Even in 1994 when we had the tax bill under debate, there was a lot of anger, but at the meeting you could still have dialogue and have some back and forth."
Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com.
Wow! This from the liberal St. Petersburg Times!
TRANSLATION: "I will only listen to my constituents when they agree with me"
They actually think the voters will feel sorry for them. They are more out of touch than I thought.
Saw my first “NO BIG GOVERNMENT” bumper sticker today.
Interesting contradiction early in the article. The event was billed as a pep talk to pump up Obamacare. Later on it’s said that protestors were seen as shutting down open debate. It’s either a pep talk or an open debate event. Not both. Open debate was never the intent.
I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you’re not patriotic!! We should stand up and say we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration!
One CANNOT have a “discussion/pep rally”.
Discussion is antithetical to a pep rally, as is also true with the reverse.
Democrats are clearly the epitome of stupid, however.
You beat me to it!
Darn it!!!
These guys and gals are cowards, they are our leaders. We are in deep fecal material.
Yeah. I agree with Hillary.
'To pay your taxes, press 1. To ask a question about how much you owe press 2. To leave a positive rating for your representative press 3. For All other options please hold. Your call will be placed in a queue and our constituent mediator will be with you as soon as possible. To hear these options again, press the star key on your telephone key pad now.'
And of course when you finally get the human it will be a call center in India because everything got outsourced to save money.
"It's great new technology,'' said Castor,
LOL, I am quite certain you like it.
The technology also allows the host to control the event and limit surprises.
At some point, we could just make a senator or rep post hereditary and then our leaders wouldn't even have to rely on pesky elections or fear angry constituents.
“”It’s a lynch-mob mentality out there. There is an ugliness to it,” U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Washington,”
It is good that our Congress fear the electorate. They should never be sure that their constituents will not tar-and-feather them, or worse.
The deal with democratic forms of government has always been that the worst assholes get to be the top assholes BUT they gotta' listen to the rest of the people or they are subject to sudden murder.
Otherwise, we just let the toughest and meanest people take over the affairs of state and the worst assholes are probably murdered in the crib and never get a chance to serve the nation.
You ain't seen nuttin yet, DUDE!
And to think I was starting to lose interest in the political scene : )
’ “It’s a lynch-mob mentality out there. There is an ugliness to it,” U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Washington, told the Olympian in explaining why, after holding more than 300 town hall meetings in the past decade, he would hold none on health care. “
I couldn’t decide on my mob name.
I hate to admit it, but my own father was an Obama voter (we didn't speak for several months). About 2 months ago I essentially said the same thing to him about the toxic scene that we have. I mentioned that I have never seen such disgust from people who could best be described as a wine and cheese political crowd (vote and that is about it). Needless to say, he was completely oblivious, said he has heard grumblings but nothing more than that. I am firmly convinced that he along with all of these Democrats were literally shocked when they started getting lambasted at these town halls. They are completely tone deaf and are now in panic mode because the silent majority is starting to speak up.
I couldn’t decide on my mob name.
How bout this one from the 90s gangsta rap scene. Brother lynch-hung.
Buggsy Siegel, Kid Twist, Legs Diamond, Scarface, The Hook, Louis Two-Gun, Black Jack, The Mad Hatter, The Peacemaker, The Shadow, The Baron, The Butcher, The Doctor, The Enforcer, all sorts of wonderful names.
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