Posted on 08/15/2009 11:38:34 AM PDT by Natural Law
I attended a Congressman Pete Stark town hall meeting today (8/15/09). It was everything I thought it would be….and that ain’t good.
I arrived well over an hour before the event and there was already a line. The people in front of me actually counted the numbers of people ahead of us and there were only 72. This is important because when I entered the hall I was given a number that might be “randomly” called. That number was not 72, it was 97. Since the hall only held a couple of hundred that raised some suspicions that the event would be stacked and the questions rigged.
Although I estimate that only about one third of the assemblage were pro-Obama they were working closely with the congressman’s staff and were well organized and rehearsed. There were many Obama T-shirts with stick-on badges identifying themselves as pro-healthcare reform. There was significant signage, plenty of hand-outs and probing sessions in which “friendlies” in the crowd were sought out and coached.
Once inside the hall the pro-Obama crowd had a seating strategy. They dominated the front rows, the back rows and had representation in every row. When the Q & A began the reason became clear. They had been coached to politely engage any dissenters and ask them to be quiet or sit down, at least at first. They became louder and more directly confrontational when they were dismissed or ignored. They nearly all had matching Healthcare Reform Now - Thank you signs that they would hold up and waive in unison to either show their support for a pro healthcare reform question or answer or to mask any questions or reactions they thought unacceptable.
Stark did not loose his cool like he is prone to and lacked spunk. I suspect that may be in part due to his health. At 78 years old he appeared to have early stage emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He wheezed and gulped for air frequently. He might also realize that a politician never really wins a fight with a majority of his constituents. He was able to maintain a smug, condescending grin through most of the session.
The questions were heavily against the plan, many better prepared than others. When a question had really hit home or had aroused the anti healthcare crowd he conveniently found some numbers to call that were friendly to him. One person in the crowd with a better vantage point accused him of pulling some numbers out of his pocket. (I think I know where the missing numbers mentioned above went.) One was the obligatory laid-off single mother with a child that was denied healthcare because of a lack of insurance who really didn’t have a question. Another was an out of work union electrician with a similar story. None really got any complete or direct answer from Stark and no minds were changed, but one thing is clear; Stark has never seen vocal opposition like this and seniors a key constituency if his is mad as hell. With the economy in the condition it is and Toyota’s announcement of the closing of the NUMMI factory in his district the out of work union workers are turning on him fast.
[One was the obligatory laid-off single mother with a child that was denied healthcare because of a lack of insurance who really didn’t have a question]
How is that? Where I live we have county health departments where payment is based on a sliding income scale. Children can get free healthcare and immunizations. Is it not that way everywhere? And didn’t Congress just expand SCHIP, the children’s health insurance program?
I would want to see proof that a child, ANY child in this country, legal or otherwise, was refused health care.
Proof. Names need to be collected, and researched. These people are lying, and no one calls them on it. Anyone can stand up and claim to be a ‘doctor’.
Still waiting to see that little bit of theater reported by the MSM.
Isn’t there a law against pretending to be a doctor?
Since I'm not a lawyer I can only give you my impression. It is that these types of laws apply if someone actually practices medicine without a license OR holds himself out as a doctor for purposes of taking money from people.
But this is subject to clarification by FReeper lawyers.
It was obvious BS. But even if the woman was honestly confused about her options I have to blame the Dems for exploiting her misery for political gain.
Not surprising that the Obama forces are now “organzing” their “supporters” for these meetings. There is WAY too much at stake for them to just let this all play out.....Expect to see lots of preprinted signs and t-shirts at future townhalls...
I see this as a tactical victory. Once we have forced them to react to us they have conceded the initiative and are on the defensive. We now need to divide them and force them to defend themselves against each other. That needs to take place on the jobs issue. The key constituency of union members from the UAW, Teamsters, and AFL-CIO are now seriously unemployed or under employed and their jobs aren't coming back soon.
I took a tally of the kinds of questions. I noted whether the question was "for" or "against" the health care reform:
For: 2 - 13% (Including the single mom with no question)
Neutral 1 - 4%
Against 12 - 70%
Other 2 - 13% (Energy, etc...)
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