The Town Hall Mob

[meme]

Wow is Commie really making a comeback among you conservatards? (Note not all conservatives are conservatards, only the really special, gays are icky, abortion kills babies, Obama is a Kenyan righties) Are you all going to start using the term Reds and Pinkos again too? This is too funny.

If the shoe fits..call them what they are..

 

[Onceler]

heard it all before..must suck to be a Progressive about now, eh?

Not at all. The country is talking about healthcare instead of invading countries that didn't attack us - things are much improved.

Oh - and did you see the unemployment rate actually dipped down today?

Things are looking up.

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

Codepink was widely despised even within the peace movement. Its members were called things far, far worse than "angry white people".

I have seen this comparison being made a lot, and I don't know how to really respond to it. It's an interesting point. I guess that, to me, it's so obviously transparent that there is a huge difference between trying to end, or at least call attention to, a horrifically immoral war that was murdering people very day, and attempting to shut down health care insurance for the nearly 50 million who don't have it, while protecing the millions more of underinsured, as well as people who can lose their homes, and even lives, at the whim of their insurance company.

Now the people showing up at these townhall events; some are gop operatives, and have been caught redhanded. They are using the same methods of the so-called, brooks brothers "riots" - an "angry mob" of concerned and outraged citizens shutting down the 2000 recount.

But I suspect that many of them are just old people. That's what they look like. and most probably don't work for the gop. But they have very good health care through medicare. And it's become kinda obvious that they don't give a shit about anything but their own old asses, and are petrified that allowing others the option of buying in, will eventually cause them to lose some of their benefits.

And you know, to me, there's nothing admirable about that. Nothing at all. I feel sorry for them. that's what pitiful examples of human beings I think they are.

You're probably one of the few people on this board with health insurance as good as what I've got (i would guess). Believe me, this is no skin off my personal nose, and what makes me outright smirk sometimes? Is that I know some of the most voracious opponents of this on this board, are much more vulnerable to an eventual fucking from our health care system than I am.

I'm 100% for single payer because I believe everyone has the right to live.

So I see some differences between the comparisons you are attempting to make over tactics, but I know that not everyone will agree.

Yes, they were called worse... but NOT by the mainstream media.

1) People are not protesting the desire to provide insurance to those that do not have it. They are protesting the method and the lack of our ability to pay for the method being presented.

2) I have an HSA account with catastrophic care. It includes a copay for preventative medicine. I am single and in excellent health. It is all I need. Because I am able to invest my HSA account, I will never have to worry about being able to cover my deductible. I currently have over 8 years worth of deductibles in there and haven't had to invest into the HSA account in over 5 years. This is NOT a good option for families with small kids... so please do not mistake this as something everyone should do.

3) I love how people vilify the health care industry then turn right around and want to rely upon the most vile of all organizations when it comes to fucking us over.... the political bureaucracy in DC. For fifty years they have run deficits. In good times and in bad. Social security is going to start going negative within the next decade. Medicare is a time bomb waiting to explode.
Our national debt is growing at an insane and highly unsustainable pace. The buyers of our debt are becoming more and more scarce and if we continue adding to our debt, they will be gone and then the dollar will implode.

4) I want healthcare reform. But I want it in the manner that will take a hard look at why costs have risen so much relative to inflation. Break that down. Find the problems and fix them. Simply switching HOW we pay for healthcare does not address the cost factor and thus will have minimal effect. Even the idiots at the CBO undertstand this.

 

[Cancel7]

Not at all. The country is talking about healthcare instead of invading countries that didn't attack us - things are much improved.

Oh - and did you see the unemployment rate actually dipped down today?

Things are looking up.

Yep. All the headlines are saying "jobs report signals shift in economy".

There have been some really good signs of late.

Hope is alive!

 

[Cancel7]

Yes, they were called worse... but NOT by the mainstream media.

Let's begin with this.

What are you calling the mainstream media? Because a lot of people on Fox, called cp things far worse than Krugman's "angry white people". Are you serious here?

 

[Canceled2]

Paul Krugman is a friggen Communist for gawds sake..who takes anything he says seriously..

The Mob:

 

[meme]

Code pinkos were written up in the MsM as the "pink ladies..

but as you see, Republicans and Conservatives attending town halls are, written up as right wing extremist, angry mobs, etc etc..

some non biased reporting there..

we not only have to fight the Democrats, but also the Lamestream Media who is in the back pockets of the Progressive Democrats party..

 

[USFREEDOM911]

The Town Hall Mob

Article Tools Sponsored By
By patriot PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 6, 2009

There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Freedom of Speech,” depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.’s “Four Freedoms,” shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don’t like what he’s saying, but they’re letting him speak his mind.

That’s a far cry from what has been happening at recent town halls, where angry protesters — some of them, with no apparent sense of irony, shouting “This is America!” — have been drowning out, and in some cases threatening, members of Congress trying to talk about health reform.

Some commentators have tried to play down the mob aspect of these scenes, likening the campaign against health reform to the campaign against Social Security privatization back in 2005. But there’s no comparison. I’ve gone through many news reports from 2005, and while anti-privatization activists were sometimes raucous and rude, I can’t find any examples of congressmen shouted down, congressmen hanged in effigy, congressmen surrounded and followed by taunting crowds.

And I can’t find any counterpart to the death threats at least one congressman has received.

So this is something new and ugly. What’s behind it?

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, has compared the scenes at health care town halls to the “Brooks Brothers riot” in 2000 — the demonstration that disrupted the vote count in Miami and arguably helped send George W. Bush to the White House. Portrayed at the time as local protesters, many of the rioters were actually G.O.P. staffers flown in from Washington.

But Mr. Gibbs is probably only half right. Yes, well-heeled interest groups are helping to organize the town hall mobs. Key organizers include two Astroturf (fake grass-roots) organizations: FreedomWorks, run by the former House majority leader Dick Armey, and a new organization called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights.

The latter group, by the way, is run by Rick Scott, the former head of Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain. Mr. Scott was forced out of that job amid a fraud investigation; the company eventually pleaded guilty to charges of overbilling state and federal health plans, paying $1.7 billion — yes, that’s “billion” — in fines. You can’t make this stuff up.

But while the organizers are as crass as they come, I haven’t seen any evidence that the people disrupting those town halls are Florida-style rent-a-mobs. For the most part, the protesters appear to be genuinely angry. The question is, what are they angry about?

There was a telling incident at a town hall held by Representative Gene Green, D-Tex. An activist turned to his fellow attendees and asked if they “oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care.” Nearly all did. Then RepresentativeGreen asked how many of those present were on Medicare. Almost half raised their hands.

Now, people who don’t know that Medicare is a government program probably aren’t reacting to what President Obama is actually proposing. They may believe some of the disinformation opponents of health care reform are spreading, like the claim that the Obama plan will lead to euthanasia for the elderly. (That particular claim is coming straight from House Republican leaders.) But they’re probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or even to what they’ve heard about what he’s doing, than to who he is.

That is, the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the “birther” movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.

And cynical political operators are exploiting that anxiety to further the economic interests of their backers.

Does this sound familiar? It should: it’s a strategy that has played a central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of working-class whites.

Many people hoped that last year’s election would mark the end of the “angry white voter” era in America. Indeed, voters who can be swayed by appeals to cultural and racial fear are a declining share of the electorate.

But right now Mr. Obama’s backers seem to lack all conviction, perhaps because the prosaic reality of his administration isn’t living up to their dreams of transformation. Meanwhile, the angry right is filled with a passionate intensity.

And if Mr. Obama can’t recapture some of the passion of 2008, can’t inspire his supporters to stand up and be heard, health care reform may well fail.

If you believe that this is only just now occuring, you are delusional and so is the author of this tripe.

Odd that he didn't include the "shouting down" during both of President Bush's campaigns, by the mad as hatter liberals.

Now; go kiss Obams's ass somemore.
You're obviously suffering from seperation anxiety.

 

[Socrtease]

Med mal reform, more affordable if not free medical schools. Germany and France have much lower costs than we do, I know you righties hate to look to anyone else for answers, but we have shown for the last 30 years we don't have them. Insurance companies only want to make a profit for their share holders. They find every reason in the world to not cover expensive life saving procedures by calling them untested, experimental etc. Cost really are the problem. The other place people should look is at Mayo. ALL their docs are on salary, they get raises yearly but because they are on salary they are not pushing unnecessary tests to push the bottom line up. Mayo does it pretty damn good.

 

[USFREEDOM911]

Fucking hilarious. When the Dems protest something and tear up property/attempt to block people from entering meetings/come into meetings and start shouting their slogans/chants... that is free speech. But if a Republican/conservative group does... well then... they are a MOB and evil and oh my goodness lets not forget racists.

What is that famous quote??

OH YEAH!!
"DON'T TAZE BE BRO"

 

[Cancel7]

1) People are not protesting the desire to provide insurance to those that do not have it. They are protesting the method and the lack of our ability to pay for the method being presented. No, this is why you are protesting it. I don't believe you have any evidence to project your reasons onto the (mostly) retired americans showing up at these meetings.

2) I have an HSA account with catastrophic care. It includes a copay for preventative medicine. I am single and in excellent health. It is all I need. Because I am able to invest my HSA account, I will never have to worry about being able to cover my deductible. I currently have over 8 years worth of deductibles in there and haven't had to invest into the HSA account in over 5 years. This is NOT a good option for families with small kids... so please do not mistake this as something everyone should do.

3) I love how people vilify the health care industry then turn right around and want to rely upon the most vile of all organizations when it comes to fucking us over.... the political bureaucracy in DC. For fifty years they have run deficits. In good times and in bad. Social security is going to start going negative within the next decade. Medicare is a time bomb waiting to explode.
Our national debt is growing at an insane and highly unsustainable pace. The buyers of our debt are becoming more and more scarce and if we continue adding to our debt, they will be gone and then the dollar will implode. Medicare is a timebomb waiting to explode for the same reasons our employer-provided health care system is not sustainable and more and more Americans are going without insurance because their companies can't afford to give it to them - out of control health care costs. You call others captain obvious? Everybody knows this...well, maybe not meme. The President is the one who is attempting to get the country to face up to this fact, and deal with it.
4) I want healthcare reform. But I want it in the manner that will take a hard look at why costs have risen so much relative to inflation. Break that down. Find the problems and fix them. Simply switching HOW we pay for healthcare does not address the cost factor and thus will have minimal effect. Even the idiots at the CBO undertstand this.

No one is suggesting we don't deal with healthcare costs, and I have no idea where you are getting that from. We must deal with them. That's known.

 

[USFREEDOM911]

You know what they say when you can't attack the message.

Would that be like you supporting the attacking of people exercising their right of free speech??

Of course it would.

 

[USFREEDOM911]

I think that the Rs have learned a bit from the Obama campaign's "get in their faces."

To paraphrase:

They won, they should get over it.

 

[meme]

So many fibs, so little time...

 

[USFREEDOM911]

Wow, a rare public appearance from the ever elusive and most mysterious Senator I've ever seen!

Why do they always set these things up for work days?

That's so the hard working right, can't take off to get there; but the free loading liberals have nothing better to do.

 

[Onceler]

Would that be like you supporting the attacking of people exercising their right of free speech??

Of course it would.

I have criticized the lack of civil discourse, intimidation & death threats.

Can you show me where I "attacked" people for "exercising free speech?"

IQ's on the right suck.

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

Wow is Commie really making a comeback among you conservatards? (Note not all conservatives are conservatards, only the really special, gays are icky, abortion kills babies, Obama is a Kenyan righties) Are you all going to start using the term Reds and Pinkos again too? This is too funny.

Abortion DOES kill babies. Genetics dictates that. Other than that, I agree with the above.

 

[USFREEDOM911]

Not at all. The country is talking about healthcare instead of invading countries that didn't attack us - things are much improved.

Oh - and did you see the unemployment rate actually dipped down today?

Things are looking up.

I seem to remember that during President Bush's term(s); that when same thing was offered, that the anti-right always pulled out the "that's because so many don't qualify for unemployment and therefore aren't counted".

Aren't you going to play the same card now and if not, why??

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

No one is suggesting we don't deal with healthcare costs, and I have no idea where you are getting that from. We must deal with them. That's known.

You say Obama's plan is addressing healthcare costs? Even when the idiots at the CBO are capable of understanding his plan does NOT reduce costs? Yet he continues to push forth this plan?

 

[USFREEDOM911]

The Mob:

That must have been what was meant by shouting down.
You know how loud a hungry baby can be.