Posted on 08/07/2009 2:35:36 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ah, democracy! It never works better than when informed citizens gather in town hall meetings to discuss and debate the issues of the day.
But, oh, democracy! It's never more damaged than when partisan zealots plot to disrupt town hall meetings in order to prevent any honest debate of the issues.
And that's exactly what's happening in health care forums held across the nation by members of Congress. We've seen it in Philadelphia; Austin, Texas; Georgetown, Del.; Salisbury, Md; and other communities. Taking a page right out of a Nazi playbook, organizers bus in professional protestors and arm them with instructions on how to take over meetings, shut down discussion, shout over any pro-health care reform speakers, and then post video of the resulting chaos on YouTube. It's mob rule, pure and simple.
Having encouraged viewers to show up, sympathetic anchors on Fox News then pretend these are "grassroots" protests springing up spontaneously across the country in opposition to President Obama's plans for health care reform. Nonsense. There's nothing spontaneous about them. They're not grassroots protests, they're "Astroturf" protests. Just look at who's paying the freight, who shows up and what orders they're given.
Funding and direction for the Stalinist-style campaign comes from two conservative, lobbyist-run Washington think tanks: Americans for Prosperity, headed by Tim Phillips, former partner of Ralph Reed in Century Strategies; and FreedomWorks, led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Previously, both organizations funded and orchestrated the so-called "tea parties" staged on April 15. And in many ways, today's town halls are simply a continuation of yesterday's tea parties, with many of the same players and tactics.
Tea baggers, in fact, have been busy lately. They came out in force on July 20, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, to deny that Neil Armstrong ever walked on the moon. They became overnight "birthers" to deny the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate. And now the same tea bagger/moonie/birther fringe element of the Republican Party is turning out to deny Americans health care reform.
How do tea baggers know when and where to show up? Easy. Organizers e-mail a list of scheduled congressional town hall meetings nationwide. Pick one near you, or sign up for the bus.
And how do they know what to do when they get there? That's easy, too. A leaked memo by Robert MacGuffie originally posted on the FreedomWorks Web site, TeaPartyPatriots.org, spells it out. Rule No. 1: Artificially inflate your numbers. Advises MacGuffie: "Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. ... The Representative should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington."
Rule No. 2: Be as disruptive as possible. "You need to rock the boat early in the Rep's presentation." Why? Rule No. 3: "The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions."
Clearly, the tea baggers' goal is not to take part in any debate over health care, but to prevent any debate. And that, I believe, will prove counterproductive.
The more their disruptive tactics are seen on YouTube, the more these town hall bullies will turn people off. Americans don't like rude, ugly, obnoxious behavior, on the left or the right. Health care is a serious issue, demanding and deserving of serious debate. Turning loose the mob to shut down that debate is not the way to win the hearts and minds of undecided Americans.
Astroturf protestors have one other problem: While they're against Obama's plan for health care reform, they're not for anything else. There is no alternative Republican plan. The only thing they have to offer is the status quo -- which is simply unacceptable. Because the status quo means insurance companies continue to rule: able to deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition, able to limit or drop coverage because of serious illness, and able to raise premiums annually -- thereby bankrupting both families and businesses.
In the end, the staged town hall protests will hurt the opposition's cause, not help it. Which is why, were I a Republican member of Congress, I'd encourage these yahoos to stay home. Were I a Democratic member, I'd pay them to show up.
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(Bill Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a new book, "Train Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon)." You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site: billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.)
“Tea baggers”
Is there anything the Healthers WON’T say?
By the way, why isn’t Code Pink protesting Obama’s war in afghanistan?
The media lose Cindy Sheehan’s phone number?
Bill Press. Long time lefty. Just my opinion of course.
The moron press is almost giddy with the full on permission (indirectly given by the Congress and President in the model of “Follow by example”) to mock, name call, lie and denigrate American citizens.
I pray that I am at least alive to see just rewards for this behavior. It is anything but professional and for some reason, having 4% of the population vote for Obama seems to give them the impression that the majority of Americans are just loving all he’s doing.
The Hartford Courant is a flaming socialist rag. The paper is so thin it will blow away with a slight breeze.
You forget... this isn’t Obama’s war, this is Bush’s war. Obama is just cleaning up the mess. So stop talking!
/sarcasm off
I’ve seen the DNC’s talking points memos on how to counteract the protests and snitch for the White House.
I’ve seen MoveOn, unions, and others organize “support” teams for the rallies.
Have the Healthers produced one pay stubb from the insurance industry to the “rent a mob”? Anything at all to support their rumors of astroturf?
Bill Press is a - well you know.
Is Bill Press still alive?
This guy is a threat to the USA. Anti-free speech. He must be a real puke. Kneepads for his visits with Obama no doubt.
No, but SEIU brownshirts have been. Bill Press is either too stupid or too much of a leftscum to understand that...
Actually that was Whoopi Goldberg, liberal panelist on ABC-Disney's The View.
She denied man ever walked on the moon. Called the whole thing a hoax.
Don't recall the media taking her to task over it.
Ah, we get BOTH Nazi AND Communist association. Keep up the good work, folks. It’s driving them nuts.
Are you kidding. Bill Press has his own radio show on Airhead America that has 10 listeners and 2 of them are on vacation this week.
I could have swore Bill Press loved tea baggers...
He’s a yellow journalist spreading Healther lies about those who protest Obamacare.
I just pointed out how he made up out of whole cloth claims that these “tea baggers” support the conspiracy theory about NASA faking the moon landings.
Now they are throwing “Stalinist” in there?? (The Nazi thing we’re used to of course, just like we’re all racists, homophobes, etc.)
How dare they. They willfully have no clue what Stalin did, because they’ve done everything they can to hide and deny his murders in the history books, the movies, etc.
But like good little Commies, they are actually doing what they accuse everyone else of.
Communist agitator. Sees the takeover stalling.
They’re just going to keep on drumming that “Nazi” rhetoric, aren’t they, no matter how toxic it is to political discourse, and how blatantly false it is. Right out of Goebbels’ playbook—if you’re going to lie, tell a big one, and if repeated often enough, it will be believed. They have the willing lapdog media at their service, how can they lose? If they could only just shut down the few outlets which don’t fall in line, and they’re working on that, via the “Fairness Doctrine”, and I can imagine other ways before they’re through-IRS auditing, etc. They are serious about cementing socialism this time, striking hard while the iron is hot. How I hate their putrid maggot-infested souls.
Which one's supporter is in the hospital from the attack by the other side in St. Louis?
Now, let's ask the question again: Who are the Nazi thugs in this fight?
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