Quote of the Day: On Town Hall Protesters, Health Care Reform and the GOP
Our political Quote of the Day comes from Philadelphia Inquirer columnist/blogger Dick Polman on the increasingly tempestuous Town Hall meetings held by Democrats to discuss health care reform and the role of Town Hall meeting protesters and heckers.
First, the beginning of his analysis, titled “Goon Power”:
I was in college when I first witnessed goon squads in action. Back in those distant days, left-wing radicals would storm into the auditorium and shout down conservative speakers with whom they disagreed. These assaults on free speech occurred all the time. Far more recently, in the autumn of 2003, I covered a Democratic rally in Los Angeles and found myself surrounded by screaming left-wing protesters who were determined to disrupt my street interview with Duff Sundheim, the California chairman of the Republican party. He had come to the rally to offer another point of view, and I wanted to get it into my notes. I wound up yelling back at the protesters and defending the Republican chairman’s right to be heard. Sundheim was so startled at my outburst that he said to me, “Hey, man, I owe you a beer.”
Lately, however, the angry right appears to have cornered the market on anti-democratic thuggery. The incidents mount with each passing day. With aid and encouragement from fake-grassroots corporate lobbying outfits, as well as from the Republican party, are making a mockery of the American town hall tradition……
….The right-wingers who drowned out congressman Lloyd Doggett in Texas, who shouted down congressman Tim Bishop on Long Island, who screamed insults at congressman John Dingell in Michigan, who forced congresswoman Kathy Castor to cut short her meeting in Florida, who heckled and harassed congressman Steve Kagen in Wisconsin, who shouted down congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona so severely that she had to cancel the event during its opening minutes…these are people who actually think they are standing up for America, when, in truth, they are subverting the American tradition of free speech.
Now his ending:
Obviously, there are legitimate grounds for questioning many aspects of the Democratic health reform effort, and not all town hall dissidents should be lumped with the goons. But it is nevertheless chilling to hear Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, declare that the days of civil town halls are “now over,” while offering nary a rebuke to those who exhibit anti-democratic behavior. Nor should we expect him to. The Republican strategy is not to find the best road to health care reform via a two-way dialogue; it’s about breaking Barack Obama and regaining power – and the goon squads are very useful.
Read it in its entirety.
10 Responses to “Quote of the Day: On Town Hall Protesters, Health Care Reform and the GOP”
Last I checked it was SEIU members being arrested for assault at the townhall meetings.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-p…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtDRx3h8JJA[/youtube]
Another video: no punching here just a protestor being put in a headlock, some shoving by pro-healthcare activists and a ripped shirt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kxaGfClPws
Leonidas,
The room in Tampa held 200 people and about 500 others wanted to get in. There's a fire code that prevents more people from getting in. So the protesters started pounding on the door and rushing to get inside when the security told them there was not enough room. The guy with the ripped shirt didn't listen and insisted on pushing. Should security not bother controlling the crowd? Should they let 1000 people in a room that holds 200? That would lead to far more than a ripped shirt.
A similar thing happened in St. Louis, where the mob believed that the union reps and ACORN ?!? were getting preferential treatment or something. So, as in Tampa, they stormed the door. Gladney was in the middle of the fracas. The police ended up arresting a woman just for taking pictures of the fighting.
It's quite obvious that the anti-reform people are causing the ruckus here. They're quite proud of it too, as they believe they “must be heard” over the “lying politicians.” They believe they are right and the Congressmen are wrong and that they should just shout that as loud as possible. Meanwhile, people who really do want to ask questions get drowned out by the nutjobs.
Crowd control is essential here. People who are disruptive should be removed – with force if necessary. They can scream all they want outside but the town hall has certain ground rules that opponents and supporters must adhere to.
During the entire Bush Administration, the left complained that Bush control the audience at his public appearances because the left would have disrupted them. Now that the right is disrupting meetings and Congressmen are now refusing to have public meetings, now the right is evil.
I think what Congressmen hate most is the sneering and laughing when they claim that costs will go down or try to explain what they will subject themselves to the same rules.
“The police ended up arresting a woman just for taking pictures of the fighting.”
Elrod,
Please tell me you don’t really believe this. If you honestly think that the police arrested this woman simply for taking pictures, we might as well give up on any type of discussions and just go to our respective bunkers.
Leonidas – LOL Please show me where the GatwayPundit read that it was just union goons. Here's the newspaper link from his/your link:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.n…
Thrree were arrested for taking pictures – union goon, I think not…
Rudi, ah yes, convincing impartial account of the matter. Just like Gates who claimed he was falsely arrested and 3 weeks later hasn't gotten around to filing.
A local newspaper is less biased than a blogger like InstaPundit. IP spin made it sound like union goons, well the actual article didn't say whay InstaPundit spun…
Take your pick from any of these:
http://www.world-newspapers.com/missouri.html
over the rantings of a nutroot or wingnut blogger.
Everyone hyperbolizes……..that is the nature of today's world. I would appreciate at least a bit of creativity on the part of arrestees…….I might be more readily taken in.
Elrod …
the video you posted clearly showed the “minister” knock the SIEU guy down … they he got tossed in defense … fully LEGAL behavior by the SIEU people ..
the “minister” should have spent the night in jail.
[...] Right Can’t Win a Civil Debate So They Rachet Up The Attacks and Lies Goon Power The right-wingers who drowned out congressman Lloyd Doggett in Texas, who shouted down congressman [...]