Goon power
The new tradition of town hall thuggery
Goon power
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
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 way things normally work, congressmen on recess meet with constituents and engage in two-way dialogue; the way things have worked lately, choleric conservative citizens engage in a one-way dialogue, shouting down the congressmen and basically trashing the democratic format - not caring a damn for the fellow citizens in attendance who might actually be interested in hearing about the health care reform effort, however flawed it may be.
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. Worse yet, sometimes they have no idea what they're talking about. At one Texas town hall meeting, the vocal protesters ranted against all forms of "socialized or government-run health care," yet when congressman Gene Green asked how many were Medicare recipients, half the hands went up.
Fear and ignorance is rampant, as always. What's noteworthy is how brilliantly that fear and ignorance is being harnessed by the corporate and political forces that have a big stake in the status quo. Witness, for instance, the organizational efforts of lobbyist-run Washington groups such as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks (one of the FreedomWorks volunteers wrote the now-infamous memo that advises the goons to "rock the boat early...watch for an opportunity to yell out...the goal is to rattle him").
But my favorite is the faux-grassroots group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights, which, as it turns out, is run by Rick Scott, the former boss of a for-profit hospital chain who lost his job during a fraud probe that ultimately forced the chain to plead guilty to serious charges of overbilling and to pay $1.7 billion in fines. (Scott's group had publicized the Arizona town hall that had to be shelved during the opening minutes.)
Then we have the handiwork of the Republican party. The latest worthless remark by national chairman Michael Steele came in reference to a query this week about whether the GOP was encouraging or condoning the goon behavior. Absolutely not, said the chairman, "that’s not something deliberately coordinated by me or any one state party."
Actually, the Connecticut Republican party has been listing the times and dates of town halls. The Texas Republican party posted video of Lloyd Doggett's chaotic event, with nary a word of condemnation for the goon behavior. The Hillsborough County Republican party in Florida sent out emails encouraging people to pack the Kathy Castor event, and offered talking points (right-wing talk host Glenn Beck also publicized the event).
Then there are the Republican partisans who show up on false pretenses. At the Kagen event in Wisconsin, a vocal woman named Heather Bliss insisted that she was "just a mom from a few blocks away." A local TV affiliate (to its credit) decided to fact-check her claim. It turns out that, as recently as last year, "just a mom" Bliss was the vice chairwoman of the county Republican party, with ties to the Republican National Committee.
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.
Gphilly – I agree. My 401K has rebounded at about 80% as of end of July since the Fall crash. I have refinanced my 30-yr mortgage to a lower percent 15 yr rate. I am making out – and I certainly realize I am quite lucky, but as I have discussed with friends while on vacation this year, many of us have been struggling with health care insurance costs (employee contribution increases) as well as increases in the amounts that are no longer covered even for regular, routine services (x-rays. Labs, and other ancillary services) with coverage from IBX, Aetna among other large insurers. ALL are in agreement that overhaul of the industry is needed. I would be willing to pay higher taxes to help fund effective, reasonable and regulated reform.— Regg_PSU88- At the Castor event, the SEIU people were seated thru a side door even before they let the 1,000 strong crowd outside in. Then they forced the door shut, preventing people from hearing what was being said, and Castor took no questions. Obama, according to AP, told Dem representatives that if they get insulted "we will strike back with twice the force". His political arm, Organizing for America, is sending letters to SEIU, ACORN and others to get out to the town halls and confront the critics. He has personally told supporters to get out there and "get fired up". But I guess that is okay. It is the senior citizen who called Steny Hoyer a liar and the vet who asked Tim Bishop if he has even been to the VA and asked vets what they think of it who are the mob and goons. Bishop was confronted by a vet right after he said the VA is an efficiently run medical service. That vet had no right to question him.— tom - wilmington, de
- I appreciate your discussion of left-wing attempts to discourage discussion as well as right-wing attempts with the current healthcare reform. It is hard to appear even-handed in this type of post, but the historical context of bad-behavior by left-wing groups helps put things in context. What I find quite interesting about the current disrupted town hall meetings is that these type of events did not occur, as far as I can recall, when Bush passed Medicare D legislation. The current Obama plan is expected to cost 1 trillion over ten years to provide coverage to uninsured Americans. Medicare D is expected to cost from 500-700 billion (less than one trillion, of course, but still a considerable expense) to provide drug coverage to older adults who already get health coverage from Medicare (without drug coverage in most cases). Why did no one protest Medicare D expansion?— Nalaka
- Democrats and their minions are apoplectic. Limbaugh compared the Obama healthcare logo to the Nazi symbol. However, nowhere in the conservative media is it being reported that Nancy Pelosi compared the town hall protestors to Nazis carrying swastika's. Funny how that conservative media works, isn't it?— tom - wilmington, de
Comment removed.- The protesters against healthcare reform are the same a— mxlplk
- ljl, are your breaking out that 'whigs' line again? It wasn't funny the 1st 20 times & still isn't:) Also, you forgot to add something on your calculations, I will attempt to do so:) Borrow money from chinese, give said money to citizens from govt., they buy cars (but have to junk perfectly good cars), sales of cars temporarily increase, tax revenue temporarily increases, deficit increases because tax revenue doesn't pay back the $3 Bil, interest rates go up, inflation goes up, etc. Time and again democratic govt. policy (see welfare, tax increases & CRA) inflicts pain on the very people they are trying to help, ironic isn't it?— NEPhilly
- gphilly & ljl, how many clunkers have to be traded in to offset cost and carbon footprint of the 3 Gulfstream jet ordered by Nancy the Nazi hater?— A Friend
- Sorry. The protesters against healthcare reform are the same people as the birthers. Angry white voters who hate Obama not for what he does or says but for what he is. I know these people. No matter what Obama does, they will always hate him.— mxlplk
- Camtheman – Correct! How to fund and run healthcare is an essential question. But instead of constructively engaging in that conversation, Repubs spend their time proliferating lies about euthanasia for the elderly. The real question is if you are such a deficit hawk, where were you and other conservatives when Bush, and his admin., were spending money at an unprecedented pace? It didn’t seem to be much of an issue for you then…— Ender
- Such behavior by the GOP is probably the same as it was for the Whigs in the 1850's.— Augs
- These are my 2 favorite insane liberal comments of the day. 1. "Health Care could be paid for many times over by initiating a minor tax on the top 1% earners." - this is so outrageously false that I laughed out loud when I read it. 2. "no people of color are protesting healthcare reform" - this is just a ridiculous example of trying to bring race into a healthcare argument, and it could not be farther from the truth. One prominent person of color not only attended a rally in St Louis as a protester, but was beaten by some planted union thugs. Check it out : http://www.examiner.com/x-5738-St-Louis-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m8d7-Update--Violence-erupts-after-Rep-Russ-Carnahan-DMO-town-hall-on-health-care-six-arrests-made— pete317
- Comment removed.
- Real conservatives were against Medicare Part D, but defeating giving $$$ to seniors to pay for drugs not covered by medicare is a political loser (and should have made liberals very happy, but GWB did it)! Again, Medicare not doing its job was more of a culprit, IMHO! In regards to the deficits, do you think it is a good argument to say, 'but Bush did it so we can'? I thought this administration was going to be better than the last? Thank God the chinese are putting the brakes on this liberal tax and spend president and congress! Who would have thunk the chinese communists are better at economic discipline than dems or repubs of recent years? Scary:)— NEPhilly
- Comment removed.
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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