By Ian Urbina
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
2:00 a.m. August 8, 2009
The bitter divisions over the overhaul of the nation's health care system have exploded at town-hall meetings over the past few days as members of Congress have been shouted down, hanged in effigy and taunted by crowds. In several cities, noisy demonstrations have led to fistfights, arrests and hospitalizations.
Democrats have accused the protesters of being organized by conservative lobbying groups such as FreedomWorks, while Republicans have responded that the protests are an organic response to the Obama administration's health care restructuring proposals.
There's no dispute, however, that most of the shouting and mocking is coming from opponents of those plans. Many of those opponents have been encouraged to attend by conservative commentators and Web sites.
“Become a part of the mob!” said a banner posted yesterday on the Web site of talk-show host Sean Hannity. “Attend an Obama Care Townhall near you!”
The exhortations don't advocate violence, but some urge opponents to be disruptive. “Pack the hall,” said a strategy memo circulated by the Web site Tea Party Patriots that included instructions to “rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation.” It added, “Yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early.
“Get him off his prepared script and agenda. Stand up and shout and sit right back down.”
The memo was obtained by the liberal Web site ThinkProgress. Its author, Robert MacGuffie, a founder of the conservative Web site Right Principles, confirmed that the memo was legitimate.
In response, liberal groups and the White House have also started sending supporters instructions for countering what they say are the organized disruptions.
A volatile mix has resulted. In Mehlville, Mo., St. Louis County police officers arrested six people Thursday night, some on assault charges, outside a health-care-and-aging forum organized by Rep. Russ Carnahan, a Democrat. Opponents of change, organized by the St. Louis Tea Party, apparently clashed with supporters organized by the Service Employees International Union outside the middle school gym.
That same day in Romulus, Mich., Rep. John Dingell, a veteran Democrat, was shouted down during a health care meeting by a rowdy crowd of foes of health care overhaul, many crying, “Shame on you!” A similar scene unfolded in Denver on Thursday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California visited a homeless clinic there.
In a statement yesterday, Dingell, 83, deplored those trying to “demagogue the discussion” but said he wouldn't be deterred. “As long as I have a vote, I will not let shouting, intimidation or misinformation deter me from fighting for this cause,” he said.
The tenor of some of the debates has become extreme. Pelosi has accused people at recent protests of carrying signs associating the Democratic plan with Nazi swastikas and SS symbols, and some photographs showing such signs have been posted on the Web. On Thursday, talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said the administration's health care logo was itself similar to a Nazi symbol.
Yesterday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League released statements criticizing the comparison.
“It is preposterous to try and make a connection between the president's health care logo and the Nazi Party symbol, the Reichsadler,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
On Thursday, top White House aides tried to bolster Senate Democrats during a lunch meeting, arming the lawmakers with tips for avoiding disastrous town-hall meetings.
“If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard,” said deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina, according to an official who attended the meeting.
Earlier in the week, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs compared the scenes at health care forums to the “Brooks Brothers brigade” in 2000 – a reference to the protests that disrupted the vote count in Miami during the presidential election battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Portrayed at the time as local protesters, many were Republican staff members flown in from Washington.
One of the week's most raucous encounters occurred Thursday in the Ybor City section of Tampa, Fla., where about 1,500 people attended a forum held by Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Kathy Castor. When the auditorium at the Children's Board of Hillsborough County reached capacity and organizers had to close the doors, the scene descended into violence.
As Castor began to speak, scuffles broke out as people tried to push their way into the meeting room. Parts of her remarks were drowned out by chants of “Read the bill! Read the bill!” and “Tyranny!” as a video recording of the meeting showed. Outside the meeting, there were competing chants of “Yes, we can!” and “Just say no!”
Some of the protesters told local reporters they had been urged to come by a local activist group promoted by conservative radio and television host Glenn Beck. Others said they had received e-mail messages from the Hillsborough County Republican Party that urged people to speak out against the plan and offered talking points.
Elsewhere, there was similar discontent.
At an Aug. 1 appearance at grocery store in Austin, Texas, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat, was drowned out as he tried to speak on health care change. One opponent had a mock tombstone with Doggett's name on it.
Last week, a protester hanged an effigy of Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr., D-Md., during a rally opposing health care change. This week, Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., said he had received a death threat about his support of health care changes.
Support for Obama's approach to health care has dropped in the polls, and the White House sought to address some oft-repeated claims.
Among them: Will Medicare benefits be cut? Will government bureaucrats ration care? Will the elderly get progressively less care and then have euthanasia presented as an option?
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius answered: No, no and no.
She said the administration wants to save money in Medicare by eliminating unnecessary procedures and hospital readmissions, among other things, but that there is no desire to eliminate needed benefits. She contended that insurance companies already ration care and that Obama wants to give doctors more control, not less.
As for the euthanasia claim: “Nothing could be less true. . . . That is just not part of the conversation,” Sebelius said.
The rumor has become widespread and seems to stem from a provision in the House bill that would require Medicare to pay for direct consultations with health care professionals. Sebelius noted that no one would be required to use the benefit and said it would help many families.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In the Union-Tribune on Page A1
Source:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/08/1n8health235058-health-care-heats-town-hall-meetin/?uniontrib