Showing posts with label Town-Hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Town-Hall. Show all posts
Saturday, May 06, 2017
Saturday, January 09, 2016
CNN: Guns in America town hall with President Obama
Full HD Video - CNN's Guns in America Town Hall - US President Barack Obama Town Hall
World SX
Published on Jan 7, 2016
During CNN's Guns in America town hall, President Barack Obama answers the questions
President Barack Obama rejected the "imaginary fiction" that he wanted to take away the guns of law-abiding Americans during a town hall meeting on his gun policies aired on CNN Thursday night.
"The way it is described, is that we are trying to take away everybody's guns," Obama said, charging that his opponents had twisted his plans on gun safety measures.
"Our position is consistently mischaracterized," Obama said. "If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over-the-top, it is so overheated."
The town hall was a rare forum for a President who is entering his final full year in office. He fielded questions from those who support his actions, including a priest and victims of gun violence at the "Guns in America" special. But he also heard from a wide range of advocates opposed to his policies, including a gun executive, a sheriff, a rape survivor and a widow who criticized his executive actions that would, among other things, narrow the so-called "gun-show loophole" on background checks.
The President also said that he would be happy to meet with representatives of the National Rifle Association, which declined to take part in the town hall meeting even though other gun rights advocates did attend. But he said the conversation would have to be based on facts, "not some imaginary fiction in which Obama is trying to take away your guns."
He dismissed such accusations as conspiracies, and that the notion that he would be paving the way for eventual martial law as absurd given that he didn't have much time left in the White House.
"I'm only going to be here for another year," he said.
Obama is headlining the "Guns in America" event exclusively on CNN to press for public support for the executive measures he announced on Tuesday. In an interview with Anderson Cooper, Obama attributed some of the tensions over the issue to divergent perceptions on gun ownership between rural and inner city communities.
"Part of the reason, I think, that this ends up being such a difficult issue is because people occupy different realities," he said.
The President opened the event by acknowledging that he himself has never owned a gun and had little experience with them, stemming in part from his upbringing in Hawaii, where he said sport shooting is not as popular as in other parts of the country.
He then disputed the notion that most criminals got guns illegally or through personal connections, making background checks -- a major focus on his policy initiative on guns -- of little utility.
"All of us can agree that It makes sense to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who would do others harm, or themselves harm," he said.
He called on Congress to set up a system that is "efficient" and doesn't inconvenience lawful gun owners to create a background check system that would stem at least some illegal gun activity.
"The fact that the system doesn't catch every single person ... has to be weighed against the fact that we might be able to save a whole bunch of families from the grief that some of the people in this audience have had to go through," he said.
He made a similar argument in response to a question from Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu, who said that the executive actions wouldn't have prevented the mass shootings that prompted much of Obama's push for greater gun control.
"How are we going to get them to follow the laws?" Babeu asked of those who commit gun crimes.
After Babeu was introduced as a Republican running for Congress, Obama responded with a hint of sarcasm as he wished him good luck in his race.
.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Obama rejects criticism that he's been too hard on Wall Street
The president acknowledges that measures taken to stabilize the economy haven't worked as fast as hoped but says he has 'absolutely not' vilified or enacted policies harmful to the business community.
September 20, 2010
By Michael A. Memoli, Tribune Washington Bureau
Stephen J Boitano / CNBC via Getty Images
President Obama sought to challenge critics who say his administration has been hostile to businesses, arguing in a televised forum Monday that measures he has taken to stabilize the economy have boosted the private sector.
During an event styled as a town-hall meeting on business news channel CNBC, the president acknowledged that the economic recovery was not proceeding as quickly as he would like. But he said he has "absolutely not" vilified or enacted policies harmful to the business community.
"As a consequence of reckless decisions that had been made, the economy was on the verge of collapse. Those same businesses now are profitable; the financial markets are stabilized," he said. "The only thing that we've said is that we've got to make sure that we're not doing some of the same things that we were doing in the past that got into this mess in the first place."
While some have accused him of being hostile to Wall Street, Obama said a "big chunk" of the nation "feels like I've been too soft on Wall Street."
"It's very hard to find evidence of anything we've done that's designed to squash business as opposed to promote business," he said. "What I've tried to do is just try to be practical."
Even as he pointed to a new report marking the official end of the recession, Obama acknowledged the "understandable" frustration of many who feel the economy has barely improved.
"The hole was so deep that a lot of people out there are still hurting, and probably some folks here in the audience are still having a tough time," he said. "So the question then becomes, what can we now put in place to make sure that the trend lines continue in a positive direction, as opposed to going back in the negative direction?"
Part of that discussion included the debate over Bush-era tax cuts. Obama tread familiar ground, saying he would only support extending relief for the middle class. He did not answer specifically whether he would rule out a compromise to allow tax cuts to sunset only on those earning more than $1 million.
During the hour-long event, Obama offered rare commentary on the "tea party" movement. America, he said, has "a noble tradition of being helpfully skeptical about government," but that activists this year have been "misidentifying sort of who the culprits are." Today's federal government is actually "less intrusive" than it was during Ronald Reagan's presidency, he said.
He also challenged candidates running on a tea party-favored platform of smaller government to be specific about what they would do if elected.
"It's not enough just to say, 'Get control of spending.' I think it's important for you to say, 'You know, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits,' or, 'I'm willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits,' or, 'I'm willing to see these taxes go up.'"
Republicans criticized the president for what they said was a PR campaign that misrepresents his failed record.
"The president's insistence on raising taxes for small businesses is only further proof that Democrats will never let good, pro-growth economic policies get in the way of the liberal dogma that has resulted in record-breaking deficits and sustained high unemployment," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele said in a statement.
On other topics, Obama said he has not made any determinations about personnel going forward, and praised his economic team as doing an "outstanding job." Asked about any "course correction" coming, he only talked of working to elevate the level of debate between the parties.
"It's not just a matter of implementing good policies, but also setting a better tone so that everybody feels like we can start cooperating again instead of going at loggerheads all the time," he said.
Monday's event comes as Obama is set to spend much of his week focused on foreign policy. He will travel to New York on Wednesday to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and will speak to the body on Thursday.
During an event styled as a town-hall meeting on business news channel CNBC, the president acknowledged that the economic recovery was not proceeding as quickly as he would like. But he said he has "absolutely not" vilified or enacted policies harmful to the business community.
"As a consequence of reckless decisions that had been made, the economy was on the verge of collapse. Those same businesses now are profitable; the financial markets are stabilized," he said. "The only thing that we've said is that we've got to make sure that we're not doing some of the same things that we were doing in the past that got into this mess in the first place."
While some have accused him of being hostile to Wall Street, Obama said a "big chunk" of the nation "feels like I've been too soft on Wall Street."
"It's very hard to find evidence of anything we've done that's designed to squash business as opposed to promote business," he said. "What I've tried to do is just try to be practical."
Even as he pointed to a new report marking the official end of the recession, Obama acknowledged the "understandable" frustration of many who feel the economy has barely improved.
"The hole was so deep that a lot of people out there are still hurting, and probably some folks here in the audience are still having a tough time," he said. "So the question then becomes, what can we now put in place to make sure that the trend lines continue in a positive direction, as opposed to going back in the negative direction?"
Part of that discussion included the debate over Bush-era tax cuts. Obama tread familiar ground, saying he would only support extending relief for the middle class. He did not answer specifically whether he would rule out a compromise to allow tax cuts to sunset only on those earning more than $1 million.
During the hour-long event, Obama offered rare commentary on the "tea party" movement. America, he said, has "a noble tradition of being helpfully skeptical about government," but that activists this year have been "misidentifying sort of who the culprits are." Today's federal government is actually "less intrusive" than it was during Ronald Reagan's presidency, he said.
He also challenged candidates running on a tea party-favored platform of smaller government to be specific about what they would do if elected.
"It's not enough just to say, 'Get control of spending.' I think it's important for you to say, 'You know, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits,' or, 'I'm willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits,' or, 'I'm willing to see these taxes go up.'"
Republicans criticized the president for what they said was a PR campaign that misrepresents his failed record.
"The president's insistence on raising taxes for small businesses is only further proof that Democrats will never let good, pro-growth economic policies get in the way of the liberal dogma that has resulted in record-breaking deficits and sustained high unemployment," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele said in a statement.
On other topics, Obama said he has not made any determinations about personnel going forward, and praised his economic team as doing an "outstanding job." Asked about any "course correction" coming, he only talked of working to elevate the level of debate between the parties.
"It's not just a matter of implementing good policies, but also setting a better tone so that everybody feels like we can start cooperating again instead of going at loggerheads all the time," he said.
Monday's event comes as Obama is set to spend much of his week focused on foreign policy. He will travel to New York on Wednesday to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and will speak to the body on Thursday.
.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Health Reform Town Hall
Dennis Spellman KIAH
September 5, 2009
September 5, 2009
*The video included in article was 'extremely perplexing' to post.
Video Link: http://www.39online.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=05ea1945-7cd3-4c14-bc9d-6a64d17042da&src=front
HOUSTON - Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston held her final town hall meeting on health care Saturday.
Some people who met at a northwest Houston Church simply had questions on how the plan would help them and their families. Most others voiced their opinions.
"I want to congratulate President Obama for trying to get this bill passed because we've been needing it for a long time," Atheal Hawthorne told Jackson Lee.
"It's really a mute point about what it's going to cost because we're already broke. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, their all broke. We don't have the money for it, Chuck Jenkins told Jackson Lee.
Others say they want to support a health care bill, but not the one that's currently proposed.
"Is there wisdom in waiting? Is there wisdom in sitting back and having a formalized public discourse so we can get all these issues on the table and make something that I can say lets do it," Carl Morris asked the Congresswoman.
Many here say government health care is the moral thing to do. Others say it could be morally wrong too.
"I don't like having to pay for other people's abortions whether here or over seas," said Linda Lutkus.
Congresswoman Lee supports having a government run health program, and now before she goes back to Washington to vote on the issue.
Source: http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah-health-townhall-story,0,242952.story
,
,
Video Link: http://www.39online.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=05ea1945-7cd3-4c14-bc9d-6a64d17042da&src=front
HOUSTON - Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston held her final town hall meeting on health care Saturday.
Some people who met at a northwest Houston Church simply had questions on how the plan would help them and their families. Most others voiced their opinions.
"I want to congratulate President Obama for trying to get this bill passed because we've been needing it for a long time," Atheal Hawthorne told Jackson Lee.
"It's really a mute point about what it's going to cost because we're already broke. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, their all broke. We don't have the money for it, Chuck Jenkins told Jackson Lee.
Others say they want to support a health care bill, but not the one that's currently proposed.
"Is there wisdom in waiting? Is there wisdom in sitting back and having a formalized public discourse so we can get all these issues on the table and make something that I can say lets do it," Carl Morris asked the Congresswoman.
Many here say government health care is the moral thing to do. Others say it could be morally wrong too.
"I don't like having to pay for other people's abortions whether here or over seas," said Linda Lutkus.
Congresswoman Lee supports having a government run health program, and now before she goes back to Washington to vote on the issue.
Source: http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah-health-townhall-story,0,242952.story
,
,
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Congressman Rips Protester for 'Nazi' Line
CNN
(Aug. 19) -- Most Congress members conducting town hall meetings this month have chosen a noncombative posture to deal with angry participants who disrupt the proceedings. Not Rep. Barney Frank.
At a lively two-hour meeting Tuesday night in Dartmouth, Mass., Frank gave as good as he got in confronting opponents of overhauling the nation's health care system.
The crowded hall had both supporters and detractors, but the opposing side was much louder and more raucous, booing the Massachusetts Democrat from the moment he was introduced and shouting questions and challenges at him throughout.
"You want me to talk about it or do you want to yell?" he asked over and over when interrupted while trying to answer. Continued shouting brought a sterner rebuke.
Disruption never helps your cause," he said more than once. "It just looks like you're afraid to have rational discussion."
While Frank attempted to respond to all questions, he gave up when one woman compared health care proposals favored by Frank and President Obama to policies of Nazi Germany.
"When you ask me that question, I'm going to revert to my ethnic heritage and ask you a question: On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked.
"You stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis," he said, adding such behavior demonstrated the strength of First Amendment guarantees of what he called "contemptible" free speech.
"Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table," Frank said to the woman. "I have no interest in doing it."
Despite the disruptions, the meeting covered many of the issues of the health care debate, with Frank shooting down rumors that a House health care bill would mandate free insurance coverage for illegal immigrants.
He read from the section of the bill that excludes payments for that purpose, and when another questioner referred to a different section guaranteeing nondiscrimination, Frank pointed out that the first section he read superseded that language.
Some in the crowd applauded, but others booed and shouted. Frank asked why the detractors shouted for him to answer, and when he did, they shouted more.
"What's the matter with you all?" he said. "I don't know if you get angrier when I answer the questions, or when you don't think I do."
.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Hillary Clinton Fights Back: 'I Will Not Be Channeling My Husband'
State Department Backs Off Claim Clinton Lost Her Cool Due to Mistranslation
By MARTHA RADDATZ and KIRIT RADIA
Aug. 11, 2009
The State Department today suggested there is more to the story of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's curt response Monday to a Congolese student who seemed to ask her to give her husband's opinion on a local issue.
Secretary of State Clinton gets irked when a student asks her what Bill thinks.On Monday, at a town hall in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congolese student asked the secretary and former NBA basketball player Dikembe Mutombo a question through an English translator.
"We've all heard about the Chinese contracts in this county, the interferences from the World Bank against this contract. What does Mr. Clinton think, through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton, and what does Mr. Mutombo think on this situation?" the translator said.
Clinton paused nearly nine seconds before responding.
"Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state. I am. So, you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to be channeling my husband," she said sharply.
Watch Video of Hillary Clinton's Response: "I'm Not Channeling My Husband"
Muted clapping and laughter could be heard from the audience, but most students may have likely been confused. It turned out the student had intended to ask about President Obama's opinion, not former President Bill Clinton's.
Clinton spokesman P.J. Crowley was very careful in his comments today, saying he doesn't know exactly what happened, but he suggested that the questioner misspoke instead of the translator, as Clinton aides first suggested on Monday.
Source: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=8297962&page=1
P.S. Folks, we can add another Crowley to the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiaI2EZ9ubwhttp://
.
By MARTHA RADDATZ and KIRIT RADIA
Aug. 11, 2009
The State Department today suggested there is more to the story of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's curt response Monday to a Congolese student who seemed to ask her to give her husband's opinion on a local issue.
Secretary of State Clinton gets irked when a student asks her what Bill thinks.On Monday, at a town hall in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congolese student asked the secretary and former NBA basketball player Dikembe Mutombo a question through an English translator.
"We've all heard about the Chinese contracts in this county, the interferences from the World Bank against this contract. What does Mr. Clinton think, through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton, and what does Mr. Mutombo think on this situation?" the translator said.
Clinton paused nearly nine seconds before responding.
"Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state. I am. So, you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to be channeling my husband," she said sharply.
Watch Video of Hillary Clinton's Response: "I'm Not Channeling My Husband"
Muted clapping and laughter could be heard from the audience, but most students may have likely been confused. It turned out the student had intended to ask about President Obama's opinion, not former President Bill Clinton's.
Clinton spokesman P.J. Crowley was very careful in his comments today, saying he doesn't know exactly what happened, but he suggested that the questioner misspoke instead of the translator, as Clinton aides first suggested on Monday.
Source: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=8297962&page=1
P.S. Folks, we can add another Crowley to the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiaI2EZ9ubwhttp://
.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Pelosi and Hoyer Speak Out Against Town Hall Disruptions
August 10, 2009 10:22 AM
Posted by Anna Aulova
Posted by Anna Aulova
(CBS/AP)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, have written an op-ed for USA Today discussing the latest town hall disruptions, which they argue should not impede health care reform.
Deeming the protests "un-American" because they disrupt meetings between congresspeople and their constituents, Pelosi and Hoyer both expressed their unfavorable views of the incidents.
Protesters at some town hall meetings have drowned out congresspeople and caused unrest and even violence. They have offered slogans such as "Tyranny!" "Just say no!" and "No Obama Care."
Congresspeople home for their August recess have been confronted by protesters around their homes and offices. The Washington Post reports Rep. Baron P. Hill had so many incoming calls and visitors that his phone lines became jammed. He has been holding clandestine meetings with constituents to avoid any major disruptions and allow everyone to speak freely without protesters shouting over them.
"These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades," Pelosi and Hoyer write. "The dialogue between elected representatives and constituents is at the heart of our democracy and plays an integral role in assuring that the legislation we write reflects the genuine needs and concerns of the people we represent.
" They go on to reiterate the importance of passing health care reform as soon as possible and not allowing the "ugly campaign" to hinder the progress of extending health coverage to millions of Americans.
Reform would provide citizens with better choice, stability, lower costs, and better quality, Pelosi and Hoyer write, adding that "people must be allowed to learn the facts" about health care.
They write that despite the disruptions, congresspeople will make their best efforts to hear the concerns of their constituents and explain any legislation in full detail.
"We are confident that our principles of affordable, quality health care will stand up to any and all critics," write Pelosi and Hoyer.
.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
PROGRESSIVES THINK THE PROTESTS ARE MANUFACTURED
PROGRESSIVES THINK THE PROTESTS ARE MANUFACTURED
By Jon Christian Ryter
August 9, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
Wall Street Journal writer John Fund wrote an www.opinionjournal.com piece the other day noting that the "...White House is clearly worried about the opponents of its health care plan who are showing up at town-hall meetings with members of Congress. It took an extraordinary step of issuing a three-minute video rebuttal to a Drudge Report item that featured a 2007 clip of Barack Obama supporting the 'elimination' of private health insurance over time after a government plan is introduced. Later in the day, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called the health care protesters a form of 'manufactured' anger. Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse went further and called them 'angry mobs of rabid rightwing extremists.'"
Let's face it. This is one time the media spinmeisters can't win the public relations debate. Why? Because those agitated rightwing extremists in "...limes and pinks and Brooks Brothers suits" who showed up at the health care town halls wearing Dockers and short sleeve sport shirts; or dresses, shorts and tank tops and flip-flops represent about 80% of the People of the United States. The protesters, in this instance, were not the minority voices of the voting public, they were the voting public. (And, the White House can't steal enough ACORN votes next year to overrule the will of the People who clearly intend to fire a bunch of Congressmen and Senators.) Let's hope they remember they are voting out the idiots who voted for the stimulus bills, and the idiots who nationalized the auto industry, and the idiots who voted for a socialist healthcare bill. Sadly, the arrogant fools on Capitol Hill who see themselves as demigods haven't yet disambiguated the message from the Tea Parites or the message from the healthcare town halls. Maybe it will translate better when the voters say, "You're fired!" Isn't that nice...everyone gets to play Donald Trump next November.
When the political issues are not so clearly defined, the politicians and their partners in the mainstream media can play the smoke and mirrors shell game and fool the weak-minded people that fiction is truth and truth is whatever they say it is. But, with the whole country vehemently opposed to the theft of the healthcare industry by greedy, corrupt politicians in bed with America's Marxists and healthcare lobbyists who come to dinner with pockets full of money, the American people are fed up.
Far left Californian Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose re-election campaign war chest will be filled by lobbyists who want to make sure their clients are sitting at the feast-laden universal healthcare table when the gratuities are doled out, told MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews that the media needed to "...take a look at what's going on here." Boxer apparently believes that the American people won't mind if their health care is doled out in dribbles while their children wait weeks or months to visit to the pediatrician when they get sick; or that the elderly won't object to being denied healthcare because old age is eventually terminal anyway.
Even though the Tea Party protests earlier this year were spontaneous, Boxer insisted that the healthcare protests were "...all planned. It's to hurt our president," she said, "and it's to change the Congress." For once a liberal may have actually got something right. The American people are boiling mad. They fully intend to change Congress in 2010. Boxer was right. For a liberal Senator, being right once in 18 years is better than average for the left. The American people intend to change Congress in 2010, and even more in 2012. The people of the United States do not intend to become the Soviet Union of the West. And, they do not intend to let Barack Obama become the Marxist dictator he sees when he looks in the mirror every morning.
The White House joined the fray once they saw that, universally, the American people were opposed to the government's single payer healthcare plan (that is now referred to simply as the "public option.") The White House and the far left House and Senate leadership—and the mainstream media—are using Obama's talking points "manufactured protest" to characterize the reaction of the American people from Florida to Washington State, and from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, California as being fabricated by the Republican Party and/or lobbyists for the healthcare industry who want to continue gouging policyholders with escalating insurance premiums and partially paid claims.
Gibbs, like Chris Matthews, referred to the healthcare protesters as the "Brooks Brother brigade," making it obvious where the talking points originated. When Sen. Arlen Specter [D-PA] together with Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, held a health care town hall in Philadelphia on August 3, they were booed by a bipartisan audience. One woman in the audience told Specter and Sebelius: "I look at this healthcare plan and I see nothing that is about health or care..." (the audience starts applauding.) "...What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, Senator. Medicaid is broke. Medicare is broke. Social Security is broke. And you want us to believe that a government that can't even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run one-seventh of our US economy? No, sir! No.!" So, let me ask—now, does this sound like a woman who was paid by the healthcare industry as their shill? Or, that's she's a "rented" protester? No, sir! No! She's nobody's shill. She's an angry American. And, by God, before November, 2010, every liberal politician in America is going to know what an angry American looks like and sounds like...and just how much damage they can do to a worthless, graft-sucking politician!
Congressman Lloyd Doggett [D-TX] encountered the same reaction to the "public option" when he tried to sell government healthcare to his constituents. Congressman Frank Kratovil [D-MD] was hung in effigy by his constituents. Fourth term Congressman Tim Bishop [D-NY] was harassed so badly that he had to be escorted from the town hall site by the police.
The liberal website, Think Progress wrote a blog-post accusing the conservative advocacy groups, Americans For Prosperity and Freedom Works of organizing the "right wing harassment strategy, which they added was "..often marked by violence and absurdity." White House press secretary Gibbs suggested that protesters may have come via AFP's 13-state bus tour. Think Progress said that the DNC had a 10-page memo from a Connecticut activist that was evidence that there was a well-coordinated national campaign by the Republicans to protest healthcare. That, of course, is not true since, at the highest levels of politics, the money Mafia that fund both parties are in bed with each other.
And, finally, former Gore-Lieberman 2000 campaign manager Donna Brazile said that the Dockers' crowd that shows up on all of the videos (instead of the Brooks Brothers crowd that simply does not exist in any of the videos) were "rented" organizers. Brazile told the media that the town hall protests were the result of "...a well-organized group of lobbyists who are paying people to go out. They're renting organizers," she said adding, as if to -self confirm the validity of her statement, "The left has done it. Now, they're doing it. This little band of protesters are trying to stop [Congress] from doing [its] job. They know they can't win the debate, so they want to shut down the conversation." Asked by the media for proof, Brazile admitted she had none, adding, "I've seen this dance before." Of course she has. She's helped choreograph it in every Democratic political photo op for at least two decades where the boys in Washington needed interested spectators that simply didn't exist..
Almost every member of Congress has faced angry crowds in town hall settings when they attempted to convince their constituents that rationed healthcare for all Americans is not as bad as the Canadians make it sound.
In Tampa, Florida Congresswoman Kathy Castor [D-FL] and African American Florida State Representative Betty Reed held a health care town hall at the Children's Board of Hillsborough County. Eight hundred Tampa residents showed up, but only 200 were admitted. Many of them were members of SEIU who actually sponsored the town hall. The rest were senior citizens or those who were not carrying signs and placards opposing Obama's healthcare "reform." Four union goons sent to help the Congresswoman by frightening the opposition to silence by sheer brawn, attempted to exclude anyone opposed to universal healthcare from their meeting.
Halfway through Castor's unsuccessful attempt to convince her constituents that Obama's socialized medicine would be good for America, a fight broke out. One audience member said to Castor, "you won't let the people speak." Someone in the audience shouted, "Why won't you let the people speak?" Castor ignored those who disagreed with her, talking over them when they spoke. Union members pushed those with opposing views away from the doors, closing them. As the doors closed, someone inside the room said: "Tyranny!" Others shouted: "Read the bill! Read the bill!" Others began shouting, "Hold it outside! Hold it outside!" since 75% of those who came to voice their views were now locked out.
Many of those in the room were senior citizens. Most were typical middle class people, the type of person standing in front or behind you when you go to vote. The air suddenly turned ugly, like a violent, dark thunder storm where ground-strike lightning precedes the rain. A man shouted: "Bulls**t!" Others began chanting "You work for us!" and "Hear our voice!" It was at that point that the union goons began to push the protesters out of the room, closing the door. In the scuffle, one man in a short sleeve green shirt was accosted by three union thugs. His shirt was literally torn from his body. Tampa police, with orders to do so from Castor, locked the doors so the protesters could not enter. Castor took that opportunity to skip out of the building without fielding the questions of those to came to aire their grievances with their Congresswoman.
This is not how a Republic woks. This is how a communist state operates. The voters in the 11th Congressional District of Florida elected Castor in 2006 with 70% of the vote. They re-elected her in 2008 with 72%. With that vote, they surrendered their right to free speech in the 11th Congressional District. Hopefully the voters will correct that oversight in Nov., 2010.
Across the nation Democrats who had scheduled healthcare town halls to give their constituents the "good news" that they were going to get the public option (i.e., anal roto-rootering) that would theoretically allow them to keep what they have if they want to keep their private insurance plan, or switch to the government's universal healthcare plan, either staged "Congressman friendly" town halls by hand-picking the attendees from local labor unions friendly with the White House, or simply canceling them. The protests are genuine. They are not "Republican." They are nonpartisan. And, most of all, they didn't begin with Obama's healthcare reform program. Nor did they start with "cash for clunkers," which has angers millions of Americans. It began with the President George W. Bush's $700 billion bailout for banks when all that was needed to solve the financial crisis in 2008 was to change the Fed's "mark to market" rule that would free up local banks to loan money. It was that simple to solve. And, it still is. But the longer Obama tinkers with the economy, the harder the problem is going to be to fix. But, as history has proven over and over again, you can't fix the economy by robbing the taxpayers and recycling their money to the welfare crowd—whether those receiving the grand gratuities are poor or rich.
America's politicians should have paid attention when the first spontaneous Tea Parties were held across the country on April 15. And, if not then, on Memorial Day or on Independence Day because on July 4, the dye was cast. On Nov. 2, 2010, the non-partisan People intend to fire every Congressman and Senator who [a] personally failed to read the legislation they voted to enact, [b] voted for any of the stimulus bills, [c] voted to seize control of any car company or bank, or [d], voted to seize the American healthcare industry and convert the United States into a communist nation.
The Obama Administration is so desperate to steal control of your healthcare that the White House website issued this statement: "There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there...These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
The last leader that took used approach to limit free speech thorugh intimidation in the privacy of the homes of the citizens was Adolph Hitler. In a Republic, we have a right to free thought, free speech, and the right to discuss our ideas, our dislikes and our fears in the public square. And, government, according to the 1st Amendment of the Constituion is obligated to listen to our complaints—and properly address them. And, not by using Gestapo tactics designed to intimidate people into silence. The White House's attempt to stifle free speech is not only a violation of the Constitution, it's an impeachable offense.
.
By Jon Christian Ryter
August 9, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
Wall Street Journal writer John Fund wrote an www.opinionjournal.com piece the other day noting that the "...White House is clearly worried about the opponents of its health care plan who are showing up at town-hall meetings with members of Congress. It took an extraordinary step of issuing a three-minute video rebuttal to a Drudge Report item that featured a 2007 clip of Barack Obama supporting the 'elimination' of private health insurance over time after a government plan is introduced. Later in the day, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called the health care protesters a form of 'manufactured' anger. Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse went further and called them 'angry mobs of rabid rightwing extremists.'"
Let's face it. This is one time the media spinmeisters can't win the public relations debate. Why? Because those agitated rightwing extremists in "...limes and pinks and Brooks Brothers suits" who showed up at the health care town halls wearing Dockers and short sleeve sport shirts; or dresses, shorts and tank tops and flip-flops represent about 80% of the People of the United States. The protesters, in this instance, were not the minority voices of the voting public, they were the voting public. (And, the White House can't steal enough ACORN votes next year to overrule the will of the People who clearly intend to fire a bunch of Congressmen and Senators.) Let's hope they remember they are voting out the idiots who voted for the stimulus bills, and the idiots who nationalized the auto industry, and the idiots who voted for a socialist healthcare bill. Sadly, the arrogant fools on Capitol Hill who see themselves as demigods haven't yet disambiguated the message from the Tea Parites or the message from the healthcare town halls. Maybe it will translate better when the voters say, "You're fired!" Isn't that nice...everyone gets to play Donald Trump next November.
When the political issues are not so clearly defined, the politicians and their partners in the mainstream media can play the smoke and mirrors shell game and fool the weak-minded people that fiction is truth and truth is whatever they say it is. But, with the whole country vehemently opposed to the theft of the healthcare industry by greedy, corrupt politicians in bed with America's Marxists and healthcare lobbyists who come to dinner with pockets full of money, the American people are fed up.
Far left Californian Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose re-election campaign war chest will be filled by lobbyists who want to make sure their clients are sitting at the feast-laden universal healthcare table when the gratuities are doled out, told MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews that the media needed to "...take a look at what's going on here." Boxer apparently believes that the American people won't mind if their health care is doled out in dribbles while their children wait weeks or months to visit to the pediatrician when they get sick; or that the elderly won't object to being denied healthcare because old age is eventually terminal anyway.
Even though the Tea Party protests earlier this year were spontaneous, Boxer insisted that the healthcare protests were "...all planned. It's to hurt our president," she said, "and it's to change the Congress." For once a liberal may have actually got something right. The American people are boiling mad. They fully intend to change Congress in 2010. Boxer was right. For a liberal Senator, being right once in 18 years is better than average for the left. The American people intend to change Congress in 2010, and even more in 2012. The people of the United States do not intend to become the Soviet Union of the West. And, they do not intend to let Barack Obama become the Marxist dictator he sees when he looks in the mirror every morning.
The White House joined the fray once they saw that, universally, the American people were opposed to the government's single payer healthcare plan (that is now referred to simply as the "public option.") The White House and the far left House and Senate leadership—and the mainstream media—are using Obama's talking points "manufactured protest" to characterize the reaction of the American people from Florida to Washington State, and from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, California as being fabricated by the Republican Party and/or lobbyists for the healthcare industry who want to continue gouging policyholders with escalating insurance premiums and partially paid claims.
Gibbs, like Chris Matthews, referred to the healthcare protesters as the "Brooks Brother brigade," making it obvious where the talking points originated. When Sen. Arlen Specter [D-PA] together with Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, held a health care town hall in Philadelphia on August 3, they were booed by a bipartisan audience. One woman in the audience told Specter and Sebelius: "I look at this healthcare plan and I see nothing that is about health or care..." (the audience starts applauding.) "...What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, Senator. Medicaid is broke. Medicare is broke. Social Security is broke. And you want us to believe that a government that can't even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run one-seventh of our US economy? No, sir! No.!" So, let me ask—now, does this sound like a woman who was paid by the healthcare industry as their shill? Or, that's she's a "rented" protester? No, sir! No! She's nobody's shill. She's an angry American. And, by God, before November, 2010, every liberal politician in America is going to know what an angry American looks like and sounds like...and just how much damage they can do to a worthless, graft-sucking politician!
Congressman Lloyd Doggett [D-TX] encountered the same reaction to the "public option" when he tried to sell government healthcare to his constituents. Congressman Frank Kratovil [D-MD] was hung in effigy by his constituents. Fourth term Congressman Tim Bishop [D-NY] was harassed so badly that he had to be escorted from the town hall site by the police.
The liberal website, Think Progress wrote a blog-post accusing the conservative advocacy groups, Americans For Prosperity and Freedom Works of organizing the "right wing harassment strategy, which they added was "..often marked by violence and absurdity." White House press secretary Gibbs suggested that protesters may have come via AFP's 13-state bus tour. Think Progress said that the DNC had a 10-page memo from a Connecticut activist that was evidence that there was a well-coordinated national campaign by the Republicans to protest healthcare. That, of course, is not true since, at the highest levels of politics, the money Mafia that fund both parties are in bed with each other.
And, finally, former Gore-Lieberman 2000 campaign manager Donna Brazile said that the Dockers' crowd that shows up on all of the videos (instead of the Brooks Brothers crowd that simply does not exist in any of the videos) were "rented" organizers. Brazile told the media that the town hall protests were the result of "...a well-organized group of lobbyists who are paying people to go out. They're renting organizers," she said adding, as if to -self confirm the validity of her statement, "The left has done it. Now, they're doing it. This little band of protesters are trying to stop [Congress] from doing [its] job. They know they can't win the debate, so they want to shut down the conversation." Asked by the media for proof, Brazile admitted she had none, adding, "I've seen this dance before." Of course she has. She's helped choreograph it in every Democratic political photo op for at least two decades where the boys in Washington needed interested spectators that simply didn't exist..
Almost every member of Congress has faced angry crowds in town hall settings when they attempted to convince their constituents that rationed healthcare for all Americans is not as bad as the Canadians make it sound.
In Tampa, Florida Congresswoman Kathy Castor [D-FL] and African American Florida State Representative Betty Reed held a health care town hall at the Children's Board of Hillsborough County. Eight hundred Tampa residents showed up, but only 200 were admitted. Many of them were members of SEIU who actually sponsored the town hall. The rest were senior citizens or those who were not carrying signs and placards opposing Obama's healthcare "reform." Four union goons sent to help the Congresswoman by frightening the opposition to silence by sheer brawn, attempted to exclude anyone opposed to universal healthcare from their meeting.
Halfway through Castor's unsuccessful attempt to convince her constituents that Obama's socialized medicine would be good for America, a fight broke out. One audience member said to Castor, "you won't let the people speak." Someone in the audience shouted, "Why won't you let the people speak?" Castor ignored those who disagreed with her, talking over them when they spoke. Union members pushed those with opposing views away from the doors, closing them. As the doors closed, someone inside the room said: "Tyranny!" Others shouted: "Read the bill! Read the bill!" Others began shouting, "Hold it outside! Hold it outside!" since 75% of those who came to voice their views were now locked out.
Many of those in the room were senior citizens. Most were typical middle class people, the type of person standing in front or behind you when you go to vote. The air suddenly turned ugly, like a violent, dark thunder storm where ground-strike lightning precedes the rain. A man shouted: "Bulls**t!" Others began chanting "You work for us!" and "Hear our voice!" It was at that point that the union goons began to push the protesters out of the room, closing the door. In the scuffle, one man in a short sleeve green shirt was accosted by three union thugs. His shirt was literally torn from his body. Tampa police, with orders to do so from Castor, locked the doors so the protesters could not enter. Castor took that opportunity to skip out of the building without fielding the questions of those to came to aire their grievances with their Congresswoman.
This is not how a Republic woks. This is how a communist state operates. The voters in the 11th Congressional District of Florida elected Castor in 2006 with 70% of the vote. They re-elected her in 2008 with 72%. With that vote, they surrendered their right to free speech in the 11th Congressional District. Hopefully the voters will correct that oversight in Nov., 2010.
Across the nation Democrats who had scheduled healthcare town halls to give their constituents the "good news" that they were going to get the public option (i.e., anal roto-rootering) that would theoretically allow them to keep what they have if they want to keep their private insurance plan, or switch to the government's universal healthcare plan, either staged "Congressman friendly" town halls by hand-picking the attendees from local labor unions friendly with the White House, or simply canceling them. The protests are genuine. They are not "Republican." They are nonpartisan. And, most of all, they didn't begin with Obama's healthcare reform program. Nor did they start with "cash for clunkers," which has angers millions of Americans. It began with the President George W. Bush's $700 billion bailout for banks when all that was needed to solve the financial crisis in 2008 was to change the Fed's "mark to market" rule that would free up local banks to loan money. It was that simple to solve. And, it still is. But the longer Obama tinkers with the economy, the harder the problem is going to be to fix. But, as history has proven over and over again, you can't fix the economy by robbing the taxpayers and recycling their money to the welfare crowd—whether those receiving the grand gratuities are poor or rich.
America's politicians should have paid attention when the first spontaneous Tea Parties were held across the country on April 15. And, if not then, on Memorial Day or on Independence Day because on July 4, the dye was cast. On Nov. 2, 2010, the non-partisan People intend to fire every Congressman and Senator who [a] personally failed to read the legislation they voted to enact, [b] voted for any of the stimulus bills, [c] voted to seize control of any car company or bank, or [d], voted to seize the American healthcare industry and convert the United States into a communist nation.
The Obama Administration is so desperate to steal control of your healthcare that the White House website issued this statement: "There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there...These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
The last leader that took used approach to limit free speech thorugh intimidation in the privacy of the homes of the citizens was Adolph Hitler. In a Republic, we have a right to free thought, free speech, and the right to discuss our ideas, our dislikes and our fears in the public square. And, government, according to the 1st Amendment of the Constituion is obligated to listen to our complaints—and properly address them. And, not by using Gestapo tactics designed to intimidate people into silence. The White House's attempt to stifle free speech is not only a violation of the Constitution, it's an impeachable offense.
.
..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)