Activists say no letup for health protests

[Guest NewsBot]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Conservative activists are vowing to keep up their fight against President Barack Obama's health care plans, even as the Democratic Party pushes back hard, accusing Republicans of organizing angry mobs....

 

By ERICA WERNER

 

More...

[phreakwars]

Yeah, grass roots movement my a$$

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl91YF1d3Kg]YouTube - Rachel Maddow Exposes "Fake" Protesters At Health Care Town Halls[/ame]

.

.

[eddo]

cough acorn cough cough

[timesjoke]

^^^^^exactly eddo.

 

Didn't Obama teach acorn how to run fake protests?

 

So even if these health care protests are fake, is it rair that Obama is getting what he gave out to other people?

 

Funny as hell actually, but of course that is not what is happening.

 

 

 

Sure, I bet there are several people helping communities to form protests, but the people themselves are real, I have gone to many myself and to the "tea parties" before. I am real person, a real tax payer, a real voter, and I speak out against socialist healthcare programs because I am really against them, not because anyone else tells me to.

[ImWithStupid]

I wonder if Rachel Madcow and MSLSD got the order to drum up the Alinsky rules for radicals tactics on these town hall opponents to government run health care, straight from the White House or did they run it through John Podesta and the Center for American Progress first.

[phreakwars]

I wonder how many Acorn members assaulted a law maker.

.

.

[ImWithStupid]

I wonder how many Acorn members assaulted a law maker.

.

.

 

Says, Think Progress.

 

Yea, these horrible people who dare to raise their voices should protest like the lefies do....

 

Students stormed the stage at Columbia University's Roone auditorium yesterday, knocking over chairs and tables and attacking Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the border between America and Mexico.

Mr. Gilchrist and Marvin Stewart, another member of his group, were in the process of giving a speech at the invitation of the Columbia College Republicans. They were escorted off the stage unharmed and exited the auditorium by a back door.

Anarchists in St. Paul attacked RNC busses today en route to the Excel Center.

The anarchists and Leftists knew when the busses would be heading to the convention and were waiting for them.

They nearly killed us!

 

The anarchists and antiwar nuts were protesting on top of the interstate overpasses earlier in the day.

 

Click on the photo to watch the video:

[attach=full]2465[/attach]

THE LEFTISTS ALMOST KILLED US!

 

Later when the GOP busses started to take delegates from Minneapolis to St. Paul the anarchists started throwing sandbags and cement bags at the busses.

The Alabama delegation was one of the busses that was attacked today in Minnesota. The Leftist, anarchist, Obama-supporting radicals attacked RNC delegates today at the Xcel Center and sprayed them with a toxic substance.

An 80 year old RNC delegate had to be hospitalized!!

MyFOX Twin Cities reported:

As the Connecticut delegation was getting off a bus near the Xcel Center, a group of protesters broke free from authorities and attacked the delegates.

Connecticut delegate Rob Simmons told FOX 9 that a group of protesters came toward his delegation and

tried to rip the credentials off their necks and sprayed them with a toxic substance.

The unknown substance burned their eyes and stained their clothes.

One 80-year-old member of the delegation had to be treated for injuries,

and several other delegates had to rinse their eyes and clothing.

 

.

 

[phreakwars]

Thats funny, these anarchists are allegedly Obama supporters, yet zooming in on the image in this post, I see nothing to indicate that, nothing to indicate the are even Democrats. Nice try, but anarchists does NOT= Democrat. As a matter of fact, I see NO political posturing at all in the image. The only thing saying these were Obama supporters is just an opinion from Faux News

.

.

[ImWithStupid]

Think Progress, MSNBC 'Manufacture' a Story With Putative Smoking Gun 'Mob' Memo

 

When the "manufactured" outrage the Left is trying to demonize lines up so inconveniently with public polling, it's sometimes necessary to create evidence for the "manufactured" storyline.

 

Enter Think Progress, which unearthed this shocking, secret memo from the leader of a small grassroots conservative organization in Connecticut, which allegedly instructs members on "infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress."

Right Principles PAC was formed by Bob MacGuffie and four friends in 2008, and has taken in a whopping $5,017 and disbursed $1,777, according to its FEC filing.

 

"We're just trying to shake this state up and make a difference up here," MacGuffie told me during a telephone interview. He's surprised at his elevation to national rabble-rouser by the Left.

 

Right Principles has a Facebook group with 23 members and a Twitter account with five followers. MacGuffie describes himself as an "opponent of leftist thinking in America," and told me he's "never pulled a lever" for a Republican or Democrat on a federal level. Yet this Connecticut libertarian's influence over a national, orchestrated Republican health-care push-back is strong, indeed, if you listen to liberal pundits and the Democratic National Committee, who have crafted a nefarious web out of refutable evidence.

 

Think Progress highlighted his memo's directives to "?Yell,? ?Stand Up And Shout Out,? ?Rattle Him?," calling it a "right-wing harassment strategy against Dems." The blog falsely connected MacGuffie to the national conservative group FreedomWorks through the most tenuous of threads. The Think Progress link that purports to establish MacGuffie as a FreedomWorks "volunteer" leads to his one blog posting on a Tea Party website (on the free social networking site, ning.com). Think Progress calls Tea Party Patriots a "FreedomWorks website."

 

The problem is it's not a FreedomWorks site, according to FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon. FreedomWorks is a "coalition partner" of TeaPartyPatriots.org, but does not fund the site in any way.

 

"There is no formal structural connection," Brandon told me. "Never has been. Never will be. We're just fellow travelers in the movement."

 

When I asked MacGuffie if he was a volunteer for FreedomWorks outside the specious evidence Think Progress cited, he said, "Absolutely not. You can Google all day; you won't find it. There is no formal connection. I don't know anyone from FreedomWorks."

He joined the Tea Party Patriots community site when it was mentioned to him by several local Tea Party activists (whom he admits knowing . . . smoking gun!), and "blogged there, very little." So MacGuffie, a local activist in Connecticut who never volunteered for FreedomWorks wrote a memo and also wrote a blog post on a site not paid for or hosted by FreedomWorks. There's your national conspiracy, folks.

 

The block quote Think Progress provides from MacGuffie's memo (dutifully reproduced on other liberal blogs) also implies there are sentiments in the memo that simply aren't there. Each of TP's examples of the "harassment" MacGuffie is inciting is preceded by a headline MacGuffie didn't write, which lends a considerably more sinister tone than MacGuffie used. The bolded headlines below do not appear in the memo, but do appear in Think Progress' block quote of it:

? Artificially Inflate Your Numbers:

?Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up...

? Be Disruptive Early And Often:

?You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep?s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep?s statements early.?

? Try To ?Rattle Him,? Not Have An Intelligent Debate:

?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...

The attempt to paint him as a professional, funded operative is off-base, MacGuffie said, laughing.

 

"I guess they don't believe that people in America will stand up and fight back when government gets overbearing," said MacGuffie, who added that he originally e-mailed the memo to 8-10 Connecticut activists in June.

 

As is often the case, MSNBC anchors and the DNC alike have taken Think Progress' inaccurate sleuthing at face-value, elevating the humble Right Principles to heretofore unknown levels of national importance.

 

The Rachel Maddow Show repeated Think Progress' reporting on MacGuffie's connections, showing the memo, and declaring its author "affiliated with an organization called FreedomWorks."

 

The DNC has now made the memo the centerpiece of its "Mob" ad out today, from which I grabbed this screen shot, at the :40 mark:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtTBkxvBq88]YouTube - "Enough of the Mob"[/ame]

 

The voice over for this image says behavior at health-care town halls is "straight from the playbook of high-level Republican political operatives."

 

Or, the memo of Bob MacGuffie of Fairfield, Conn., who once wrote a blog post on Tea Party Patriots, a site that is not funded or hosted by FreedomWorks. It's all the same if you're looking to discredit an entire movement of real voters, I suppose.

 

The memo also includes these phrases, which are left out of the reporting and demagoguery:

 

"Do not bring the signs into the hall if you want any chance to be picked for a question."

"Don't carry on and make a scene, just short, intermittent shout-outs," which may sound familiar because the shout-out part was quoted without context by Think Progress.

 

It also offers such guerrilla tactics as, "When the formal Q&A begins, get your hands up and keep them up? be persistent throughout the entire session. Keep body language neutral and look positive to improve chances of being selected." It instructs participants to be ready with follow-up questions and insist that representatives answer questions instead of launching into talking points.

 

The memo outlined strategies MacGuffie had used during a town hall meeting with his Rep. Jim Himes in May of this year. While organizing that event and writing the memo, he emphasized that critics should not get out of hand, he said.

 

His objective was to "make sure we didn't get kicked around, asked good, thought-out questions, and had follow-ups ready," he said. "We took him off his script, but we did not shout him down."

 

The tactics in the memo produced this horrifying civic spectacle. This is what the liberal blogs, Rachel Maddow, and the DNC are intent on preventing. I dare you to find even one errant word or rude action in Bob MacGuffie's "orchestrated, hateful" action. After all, he is the father of our movement:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X97sPeQcZAk]YouTube - AN OPEN EXCHANGE WITH REP JIM HIMES D CT DISTRICT FOUR 5 28 2009[/ame]

 

"[Our representatives] work for us, and there's a lot of good people up here who feel that way," MacGuffie said. "All of us have better things to do with our lives...and these are all real people. They just have to paint us as something else, I guess."

 

Update: Meredith Jessup at Townhall has a round-up of all the mainstream media accounts that include the false Think Progress narrative about the memo. Funny how that works, huh?

The Weekly Standard

 

Wow! Rachel Madcow was so right. That right wing radical from Connecticut sure did stir up that "mob" in that video of the town hall with Rep. Jim Himes (D CT)

 

Whew! He was lucky to make it out alive.

[RoyalOrleans]

This is for all of you well dressed protestors...

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV84OBtGpSQ&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Barbara Boxer Objects To Health Care Protesters' "Attire"[/ame]

[ImWithStupid]

Yea. Well you see, the well dressed, bathed and clean protesters confused the lefties.

 

See, conservatives have to be clean and well dressed, because they have jobs and have to take time during the work day to attend this stuff.

 

Barbara Boxer isn't used to seeing people who earn wages and pay taxes, protesting.

[phreakwars]

Thursday, August 06, 2009

 

My Night at the Tampa Health Care Town Hall

 

Tonight I headed up to South Tampa to sit in on the Health Care town hall with US Congress Member Kathy Castor and State Representative Betty Reed. What I got was a front row ticket to pure rage.

 

I've seen the news late, so I had an idea of how noisy these events are around the nation. When I arrived, some two hours before the event started at six, there were already 20 some odd people there. Many of them were going over questions, such as "If Obama can't pick a dog in six months, why is he trying to get us to pick a health care plan in six weeks?" (which I thought ignored the other 60 years we've been discussing health care). One gentleman was trying to tell me that insurance companies should be allowed to cancel people's policy, because people would get sick, then sign up for health care, and as soon as they were treated cancel their policy - yet he didn't want it to be mandated that people would have to sign up for insurance to avoid such a situation. The answer seemed clear: If you don't have insurance, it's your own fault, and if you get sick and insurance cancels you, that's your fault too.

 

I was lucky in that I knew one of the organizers who let me get in a little early to the front row seats. I think the original plan was to have the front two rows or so filled with people who really wanted to hear about the health care bill, instead of letting those rows be dominated by the protesters we've been seeing on the news at other health care events.

 

If that was the plan, it was not successful. As people came in, several tried to disregard the "RESERVED" seating signs, including one gentleman who ripped it off the chair next to me and stuck it in the chair in front. "Come on man, that's not cool," I said, pointing out the rest of the entire room was empty.

 

"I don't see why anyone should have reserved seats here," he told me.

 

"The disabled?"

 

Before the doors were open to allow people to sit, it was nonstop shouting. Shouting from people outside who pounded on the doors to be let in and complained because they weren't being aloud to start taking seats 40 minutes before the event was to begin. Shouting because they were told to let people through who were reporters or were suppose to be on the council.

 

Shouting as the room was filled to capacity and the others had to wait outside, holding signs like "I can't read, cut taxes" (which made no sense to me at all). When Representatives started coming in, people started shouting "No! No! No! No!" The town hall hadn't even started yet.

 

One thing I noticed was that many of the Shouters, and I came to call them, came in very organized. Many had 3x5 cards with printed questions. Sheets ofof paper printed out with highlighted text, usually held in the same kind of binder. I'm not sure if they all shopped at the same office depot, but the similarity was eerie.

 

Reverend Dixon, a prison minister, started off the room with the Pledge of Allegence. And that's when the shouting started. As people read the pledge, one woman shouted out at the "of the United States of America" part "UNDER GOD!" - and when the room got to "under God", there was a sudden angry shout of "UNDER GOD!" as if they didn't think people would hear it the first time. Reverend Dixon gave the opening prayer - and then the rage fest really got started.

 

As Representative Reed introduced Congressperson Castor - boos erupted. The gentleman next to me stood up to applaud her, and many in the room was on their feet clapping for her. Outside the door, a steady chant started.

 

"BULL ! BULL ! BULL ! BULL !" Castor hadn't even started yet, and people were screaming. Yelling. Fights broke out outside. Castor held the taped together microphones to her mouth - but then the mob shifted tactics to "YOU WORK FOR US! YOU WORK FOR US!" Every minute, it was a new rage filled series of shouts to keep her from discussing her points. She asked the crowd how many of them paid for health insurance through their employer - and people started shouting.

 

"READ THE BILL!" People in the crowd kept screeching at her, including one tall gentleman behind me I'll call Mr. Shouty. Throughout the entire time Castor tried to address the crowd, tried to explain what the bill was about, he and so many others around the room screamed "READ THE BILL! READ THE BILL! READ THE BILL!" Then, because she tried to explain how the health care bill would try to provide health care for those who were uninsured, the screams changed to "TYRANNY! TYRANNY! TYRANNY!" "WE LEFT ENGLAND FOR THIS!"

 

Some of the people who were there to hear the bill tried to shout back at the protesters "Let her speak!".

 

The reply? "No I won't!" by Mr. Shouty. Instead, he turned back to Castor shouting "60 MILLION JOBS LOST! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT 60 MILLION JOBS?"

 

The shouts continued. Castor couldn't even be heard over the din as Mr. Shouty held up a copy of the pocket constitution. "WHERE IS HEALTH CARE IN HERE! SHOW ME WHERE HEALTH CARE IS IN HERE!" (My friend @MariaLaino on Twitter replied "The Necessary and Proper Clause, bitch.")

 

Castor kept trying to go on over the din, as Mr. Shouty and his group kept screeching "SHOW US IN THE CONSTITUTION WHERE HEALTH CARE IS!" Castor talks about the Donut Hole in Medicare - and the Shouters start screeching "THAT'S TED KENNEDY'S BILL! IT'S TED KENNEDY'S FAULT!"

 

And as Castor was winding down, the Shouters started squealing "LISTEN TO US! LISTEN TO US! WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS!" This after almost 20 to 30 minutes of nonstop screaming and temper tantrums from the moment she started walking towards the podium. They hadn't heard a word she said, and screamed when she left the room under escort.

 

With every speaker, it was the same. A pushing match next to me erupted between Mr. Shouty Man and a union rep who got in his way. Ms. Lee Stirrat stepped up to explain the healthcare issues and about how even she has problems with insurance and trying to get the medication she needs. The Shouters all groan and start shouting, drowning her out as she's trying to explain the problems with people trying to get care under insurance.

 

When State Representative Reed came back to the podium, the shouts only continue. "FOLLOW THE CONSTITUTION! WHY AREN'T YOU FOLLOWING THE CONSTITUTION!" Evidently, following the constitution means not taking turns with your views, but screaming the other person so nobody can hear anything at all. The Florida Health Commissioner makes the case that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness requires a healthy body - a claim that lead to more jeers from the Shouters. He tried to discuss infant mortality issues, only to be screamed at that "OBAMACARE PAYS FOR ABORTIONS! DON'T TALK ABOUT INFANT MORTALITY WHEN YOU KILL BABIES!" Even when he protested he never performed an abortion, it didn't matter. Other Shouters squealed every time infant mortality was said "ILLEGALS! ILLEGALS! ILLEGALS!" This became a refrain. When 40 million Americans without health care was brought up - that was all illegal aliens.

 

Dr. Collins, a nutritionist, for a brief time held the room as she explained helping people who have come out of heart surgery - only to be shouted at when she tried to explain people who didn't know how to get good nutrition. Evidently, this was an impossible concept for the Shouters that people don't know how to eat healthy.

 

Finally, after almost an hour, police offers started pulling people out of the room who were just disruptive. Mr. Shouty was the first, to the applaud of many in the room - but there were still many Shouters to go. As one Ms. Coe stood to explain that as people have lost their jobs - people have lost their health care. The response by the Shouters? "Be more responsible!" One woman shouted out "Responsibility, Oprah!" Yes, the speaker was a black woman.

 

I think the lowest point was when Reverend Dixon came up to speak, and started to discuss the progress that had made during the 60's and 70's. The woman behind me started shouting "Yeah - we know what you did during the 60's! We know the 'progress' you made!" The look on Reverend Dixon's face was heartbreaking. He knew what she meant - civil rights. The progress made by civil rights groups for equality was some sort of slur now thrown back in Dixon's face.

 

She knew what he did during the 60's and 70's. Marched for equal rights maybe, or protested.

 

The questions that came next followed were mostly by Shouters who remained. Why are we paying more for health care when we have so many deficits? When Mr. Newton explained that health care currently costs us a lot of money because people have to use the emergency room - which they are required by law to treat, passing on the costs to us, and so health care reform would be cheaper - yup. The rage was back to shout at him. Conspiracy theory questions were asked, like "The bill says the federal government will gain access to all of our checking accounts." Some guy next to me let me know that when the government took over health care, nobody would go to the doctor because the government would be allowed to read your health care records. Why they would I don't know, or why HIPAA laws wouldn't still apply- but that was this man's fear.

 

continued....

[phreakwars]

In the end, that was everything for this meeting. Fear and rage. Rage that Castor wouldn't ask questions about 30 minutes of constant screaming at her. Rage that the public option even existed because it would drive regular insurance companies out of business -and when Mr. Newton brought up the example of the US Postal Service versus USPS, the Shouters, well, shouted that "YEAH! AND UPS IS BETTER!" Which, I guess proved his point, but the Shouters acted like they had won some important point. Rage at the uninsured that were all illegal aliens, or were having all of the babies who needed government funding to be born. Rage that the public option would somehow destroy health care, or destroy medicare, or something. Rage that people said that insurance companies shouldn't be allowed to drop people from care, or that there were people losing their jobs (evidently all Obama's fault), or that the national deficit was so high (again, also evidently all Obama's fault for waging the War in Iraq then spending money to save the financial system and stimulate the economy). Rage that Rep Reed wasn't "following the Constitution" because it didn't mention health care (then again, it didn't mention interstate roads either).

 

By the end, the rage was effecting even the health care supporters who tried to shout down the Shouters towards the end. It became like a weird recursive shouting event, as the Shouters shouted and the other people shouted at the shouters to shout them silent.

 

When it finally ended, almost 30 minutes early I think, I walked out - and the Shouters were still out there, now shouting about Acorn for some reason (maybe they believe insurance policies will be issued by Acorn supporters or something).

 

A group of 5 police officers stood talking next to the parking lot. I stopped next to them. "Gentlemen, that was more excitement than one man deserves to have. Good job." I tipped my hat as they laughed and drove away.

[phreakwars]

 

 

The Weekly Standard

 

Wow! Rachel Madcow was so right. That right wing radical from Connecticut sure did stir up that "mob" in that video of the town hall with Rep. Jim Himes (D CT)

 

Whew! He was lucky to make it out alive.

 

Bob MacGuffie Defends His Mob Memo | Right Wing Watch

Bob MacGuffie Defends His Mob Memo

 

By Kyle | August 5, 2009 - 9:17am

Last night Alan Colmes brought Bob MacGuffie, the man responsible for the "Rocking The Town Hall" memo that urges right-wing activists to overwhelm and disrupt Congressional town hall meetings by shouting down the speakers and generally causing a commotion.

Needless to say, MacGuffie didn't see it that way, insisting that outbursts are "not terribly disruptive" and that those that have occurred have been the result of genuine and spontaneous anger at the Democrats' effort to transform America into a socialist nightmare.

In essence, MacGuffie said, these sorts of tactics are necessary because Democrats "have gotten away with their phony town halls for too long" where they have been allowed to spew their "lies, deceit, and misrepresentation."

MacGuffie insisted that his goal is merely to get people to ask Representatives questions and hold them accountable, but when Colmes pointed out that urging people shout out and disrupt the event does not generally lead to a fruitful exchange of views, MacGuffie's response was that "well, hey, passions run deep."

The interview then took an interesting turn when MacGuffie insisted that these outbursts were aimed at fighting "government intrusion in our lives," at which point Colmes asked why he wasn't urging right-wing activists to descend on Republican town hall events when the Bush administration was greatly expanding the scope of government power with things the Patriot Act and warrantless searches.

MacGuffie responded that he doesn't carry any water for Bush and as Colmes continued to press him as to why, if he is, as he claims, opposed to those who want to increase the power of the state, he wasn't urging protests of Bush or the Republicans when they were doing exactly that, MacGuffie's only retort was that "George Bush was awful."

And that was about the only thing MacGuffie said during the entire 15 minute interview that we can all agree on:

.

.

[ImWithStupid]

So you're trying to say that Rachel Madcow, MSLSD and Think Progress (which is proven false about as often as Media Matters) were reporting truthfully and this guy...

 

Right Principles PAC was formed by Bob MacGuffie and four friends in 2008, and has taken in a whopping $5,017 and disbursed $1,777, according to its FEC filing.

 

"We're just trying to shake this state up and make a difference up here," MacGuffie told me during a telephone interview. He's surprised at his elevation to national rabble-rouser by the Left.

 

Right Principles has a Facebook group with 23 members and a Twitter account with five followers. MacGuffie describes himself as an "opponent of leftist thinking in America," and told me he's "never pulled a lever" for a Republican or Democrat on a federal level. Yet this Connecticut libertarian's influence over a national, orchestrated Republican health-care push-back is strong, indeed, if you listen to liberal pundits and the Democratic National Committee, who have crafted a nefarious web out of refutable evidence.

and his 23 Facebook friends in Connecticut couldn't organize outrage, in Connecticut but somehow drove people in Tampa to gasp loudly voice their opinion.

 

The nerve of those bastards to voice their opinion. Sounds like freedom of speech to me.

[phreakwars]

So you're trying to say that Rachel Madcow, MSLSD and Think Progress (which is proven false about as often as Media Matters) were reporting truthfully and this guy...

 

and his 23 Facebook friends in Connecticut couldn't organize outrage, in Connecticut but somehow drove people in Tampa to gasp loudly voice their opinion.

 

The nerve of those bastards to voice their opinion. Sounds like freedom of speech to me.

Yeah, and you expect ME to believe THAT SHIIT you posted from a right wing blog owned by Rupert Murdoch?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Standard

.

.

[ImWithStupid]

Yeah, and you expect ME to believe THAT SHIIT you posted from a right wing blog owned by Rupert Murdoch?

 

The Weekly Standard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.

.

 

 

Hahahaha!!!

 

With about a 1,000% more credibility rating than Media Matters or Think Progress, combined.

 

Keep on drinking the Daily Kos, Media Matters, White House, Center for American Progress, MSLSD, American Thinker Kool-aid, buddy.

 

Hahaha.

 

There were links all over my post that substantiate the information, but since the attention from MSLSD, the Facebook friend count has gone to 168 people(coincidentally just about the same number of people who watch the Rachel Madcow show because everyone knows that she and Keith Overbite are just White House, talking point hacks). What a dangerous mob.

 

Hell even Mr. Tingly feeling up his leg, Chris Matthews seems to be having a touch of buyers remorse for backing this insanity.

[ImWithStupid]

In the end, that was everything for this meeting. Fear and rage. Rage that Castor wouldn't ask questions about 30 minutes of constant screaming at her. Rage that the public option even existed because it would drive regular insurance companies out of business -and when Mr. Newton brought up the example of the US Postal Service versus USPS, the Shouters, well, shouted that "YEAH! AND UPS IS BETTER!" Which, I guess proved his point, but the Shouters acted like they had won some important point. Rage at the uninsured that were all illegal aliens, or were having all of the babies who needed government funding to be born. Rage that the public option would somehow destroy health care, or destroy medicare, or something. Rage that people said that insurance companies shouldn't be allowed to drop people from care, or that there were people losing their jobs (evidently all Obama's fault), or that the national deficit was so high (again, also evidently all Obama's fault for waging the War in Iraq then spending money to save the financial system and stimulate the economy). Rage that Rep Reed wasn't "following the Constitution" because it didn't mention health care (then again, it didn't mention interstate roads either).

 

By the end, the rage was effecting even the health care supporters who tried to shout down the Shouters towards the end. It became like a weird recursive shouting event, as the Shouters shouted and the other people shouted at the shouters to shout them silent.

 

When it finally ended, almost 30 minutes early I think, I walked out - and the Shouters were still out there, now shouting about Acorn for some reason (maybe they believe insurance policies will be issued by Acorn supporters or something).

 

A group of 5 police officers stood talking next to the parking lot. I stopped next to them. "Gentlemen, that was more excitement than one man deserves to have. Good job." I tipped my hat as they laughed and drove away.

 

 

Wow!

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boa77oBPZ8M]YouTube - Town Hall Protest - Tampa[/ame]

 

Look at that wild, violent mob in Tampa.

 

I can see why the Congresswoman was in fear of her safety. All those radicals in Dockers and polo shirts, and the old, gray haired lady. Scared me too.(I didn't see any of Nancy Pelosi's "swastikas" though. I guess more leftie BS, but if you're the Speaker of the House, why would anyone expect you to have any integrity?)

 

Hahahaha.

 

<Media Matters, Think Progress, MSLSD, MSM, Leftie Bloggers, STILL full o' Sh!t>

[phreakwars]

Hahahaha!!!

With about a 1,000% more credibility rating than Media Matters or Think Progress, combined.

 

 

Ya think?

 

Although the publication has never been profitable and "loses more than a million dollars a year",

 

Hmm, must be all that comprehensive journalism that keeps them going strong.

.

.

[phreakwars]

Right-Wing Turncoat Gives the Inside Scoop on Why Conservatives Are Rampaging Town Halls

 

Right-Wing Turncoat Gives the Inside Scoop on Why Conservatives Are Rampaging Town Halls | Health and Wellness | AlterNet

 

The Republican Old Guard are in the fix an atheist would be in if Jesus showed up and raised his mother from the dead: Their world view has just been shattered. Obama's election has driven them over the edge. Consider Former Congressman Dick Armey. Several far right foundations and the multitrillion dollar health-insurance industry have teamed up with him to organize the far right foot soldiers of the Republican Party to intimidate people speaking on behalf of health-care reform. They are using my old shock troops -- given many of these folks were first energized by the Evangelical pro-life movement that my late father and I started in the 1970s. What we did to clinics they are now doing to congressmen and others speaking out for health care reform.

 

Having failed at the ballot box, having watched their Fox News-organized "tea parties" fizzle the intimidation tactics which the Republicans have embraced are being used in a well-financed, top-down orchestrated fake grass roots campaign by corporate interests to try and protect the profits of the insurance business. Armey's FreedomWorks is organizing against health care reform. Armey's lobbying firm represents pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb. Armey's lobbying firm also represents the trade group for the life insurance industry. FreedomWorks is supporting the status quo at all costs. (They are also fans of fossil fuels. Armey's lobbying firm represents Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE, on energy related issues.)

 

Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed FreedomWorks for building "amateur-looking" websites to promote far right interests of Armey. FreedomWorks represents a top-down, corporate-friendly approach that's been the norm for conservative organizations for years. How do I know this is the norm? Because I used to have strategy meetings with the late Jack Kemp and Dick Army and the rest of the Republican gang about using their business ties to help finance the pro-life movement to defeat Democrats. I know this script. I helped write it.

 

Democratic members of Congress are being harassed by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior at local town halls. It's the tactic we used to follow abortion providers around their neighborhoods. "Protesters" surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety. We used to do the same to Dr. Tiller... until someone killed him.

.

.

[phreakwars]

Busted, this slimeball even admits they are bussing in people to shout out at the town hall meetings. Of course, he claims they are just "PROP TOOLS"

 

Listen close, they are coming to NEBRASKA too.

 

Yeah, grass roots my a$$

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Mo9d-dqB8]YouTube - Rachel Maddow Takes On Tim Phillips Of Americans For Prosperity[/ame]

.

.

[eddo]

Ya know Bender, posting links to Rachael Maddow really isn't adding to your credibility here....

[phreakwars]

Ya know Bender, posting links to Rachael Maddow really isn't adding to your credibility here....

Your right, I can do better then that

 

Health Care Protester Exposed As Operative For Congressman's Opponent

 

Oh yeah, ALSO not credible... how about...

 

Heather Smits Blish

 

.

 

Current

 

Drawerist at Maelstrom Solutions, LLC

Drawerist at Ideal Campaign

Marketing Advisor at Kewaunee County Economic Development Corporation

 

Past

 

Senior Partner at The Apotheo Group

Director of Marketing at SBWire

Creative Director at Lake-Effect Design

 

VP, Marketing at The Torrential Group, LLC

Internet Marketing Strategist at Gard for Congress

Advisor, IT Committee at Republican Party of Wisconsin

Vice-Chairman at Republican Party of Kewaunee County

President, CEO at Lake-Effect Design, LLC

Secretary at Republican Party of Kewaunee County

 

maelstromsolutions.com

 

Maelstrom is proud to announce Patriot. The ultimate tool for online donations, volunteer management, and event planning. This incredible system is now available for organizations that need to do online fund-raising, such as non-profits, political campaigns, and educational foundations. Prices start at $40 a month. See it yourself at www.yourpatriot.com .

 

www.yourpatriot.com

Patriot is a web based system designed to support the common needs of non-profit and politicians, and other political organizations. It has just about everything you need under a single roof and can be operational in minutes. From easily collecting donations from credit cards, organizing events and handling fees, to managing volunteers our solution has much to offer. Patriot can be used with any existing website, regardless of where it is hosted. It is also extremely wed designer friendly, so your web geek of choice can easily add Patriot to any campaign site in minutes. So, there is nothing stopping you from adding donations to your website today!

 

Our system was created to deliver all of this functionality to organizations of any size for around $1 a day. Therefore it is now possible for very small organizations, or those with strict budgets to have amazingly powerful management tools.

 

We give you all of the tools you need:

 

Collect and track donations on your existing website

Add unlimited custom fields to your donor or contact databases

Take fees from all major types of credit cards

Track and manage checks, cash, or in-kind donations

Plan events, gather RSVPs and collect attendance fees

Give volunteers an easy method to sign-up

Assign volunteers to tasks and automatically send them reminders

Plan auctions, record buyers, and show the item list on your website

Track all donors and attendees for future reporting or strategy

Easily export everything to excel for easy reporting or manipulation

Communicate with powerful bulk email management tools

Track membership or subscriptions and even collect dues online

Each volunteer gets their own donation form that they can customize

Volunteer referred donations are tracked on a leaderboard

Can be setup and implemented in 10 minutes (longer in NY & NJ)

 

Our developers are continuously adding new features, and those are driven by your needs and requests Our goal is to make this the ultimate online tool for your donation collection and tracking.

 

OH YEAH, TOTALLY GRASS ROOTS HERE, shes just an average citizen who lives down the street..

.

.

[Chi]

Busted, this slimeball even admits they are bussing in people to shout out at the town hall meetings. Of course, he claims they are just "PROP TOOLS"

 

Listen close, they are coming to NEBRASKA too.

 

Yeah, grass roots my a$$

 

YouTube - Rachel Maddow Takes On Tim Phillips Of Americans For Prosperity

.

.

 

I have a not so secret crush on Rachel Maddow. Everytime my bf sees her on tv, he tells me my gf is on. Esp. after he found out she is gay. I had no idea.

[timesjoke]

 

I was lucky in that I knew one of the organizers who let me get in a little early to the front row seats. I think the original plan was to have the front two rows or so filled with people who really wanted to hear about the health care bill, instead of letting those rows be dominated by the protesters we've been seeing on the news at other health care events.

 

 

If that was the plan, it was not successful. As people came in, several tried to disregard the "RESERVED" seating signs, including one gentleman who ripped it off the chair next to me and stuck it in the chair in front. "Come on man, that's not cool," I said, pointing out the rest of the entire room was empty.

 

"I don't see why anyone should have reserved seats here," he told me.

 

"The disabled?"

 

Okay, you can tell this guy is a complete hack for Obama, purely without any notion of "why" people are so darn angry right now.

 

 

I will not waste too much time on this idiots BS, but I have to ask......do these people really believe they are so special?

 

 

Anyone who is not there to kiss Obama's behind should not be allowed to sit in the front rows? I really like the 'disabled' comment. If he really thought the seats were for the disabled, why was he sitting there?

 

 

Oh, blind Obama followers are considered disabled? Maybe I can go along with that

 

 

 

 

 

People are angry because even Obama refuses to offer specifics, everything is clouded in shadows and mystery with general claims of how we should trust Obama to do what is needed and not bother with the details.

 

Everything is rush, rush, rush, get it passed and even play games to get around normal approval methods because even many Fiscally responsible Democrats (blue dogs) do not like this plan.

 

Why all the rush? This plan does not even help a single person until Obama is out of office so why is he claiming we have to pass legislation without discussing the specific details?

 

 

Because they are pulling a 'bait and switch'. The budget office has already said this will not reduce costs as Obama claimed, so there goes that reason. This is not 'budget neutral' as he promised, so there goes that idea. There is no immediate help to a single American so there goes the need to rush idea.

 

Everything Obama claims has been proven to be wrong.....so why be in such a rush to pass somthing that does not look anything like his promises?

 

Because it is about the power, not helping people.

 

 

 

 

Just because people are angry, that does not mean their concerns are "FAKE".

 

These are real people with real concerns, why is it only liberal/socialist protesters are genuine to elitist people like Obama?