I just wrote a post about the kind of healthcare debate our Democratic representatives should be having while Republicans are crunching numbers. If I had just listened to that little voice inside my head that heard Ralph Bristol on WTN this morning discussing with his listeners their plans to disrupt health care town hall meetings and said to myself, “He’s talking about this for a reason. There is a movement afoot to bully lawmakers into not even having a discussion on healthcare,” I wouldn’t have wasted my time.
And then I remembered also reading in Politico that certain town hall meetings were being canceled because some elected Dems were fearful and then Bristol saying “ha ha ha isn’t that funny that they’re afraid of you, my harmless little fuzzball listeners.”
Think Progress put it all together this afternoon:
This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior†at local town halls. For example, in one incident, right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety.
This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity. Recently, right-wing demonstrators hung Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) in effigy outside of his office. Missing from the reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.
Then they printed the leaked memo from the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots that details exactly how to unmistakeably disrupt a health care town hall that I’m sure was faxed to every two-bit Teabag and right-wing radio station across the country.
– 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. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.â€
– 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.â€
– 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. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.â€
The memo above also resembles the talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks for pushing an anti-health reform assault all summer.
“Try To “Rattle Him,†Not Have An Intelligent Debate?” Well, this certainly makes the following Teabag Party signs suddenly very ironic:
These next two aren’t relevant but, OMG! Really?!?
Ouch. Callous, much?
Does this mean what I think it means? Seriously, dude, don’t make us have to have another beer summit. Poor Elbert couldn’t take it.
You go with your bad pen, eldano!
Sure, town halls are packed with planted questions. But if the rep is telling their constituents why they are doing what they are doing, isn’t that a good thing? Could they be better? Sure. I wish they were like the House of Commons. But as these groups see, it is certainly a way to get in front of your representative.
Oh, and now I need to write my representatives and let them know that I support health care reform.
I’m not knocking your education or your intelligence; I just can’t believe you revere town meetings like you seem to be doing. I think the representative’s motivation *does* matter, and that, while transparency is a good disinfectant for government, what matters ultimately is the vote that the representative does — or does not — cast on the floor. You ought to know equally as well as I do that representatives plant questions at town halls. My point is this: town halls are less about transparency and more about publicity.
Yes, *wink,wink* we’ll continue this later. Thanks for the well wishes and for the follow on Twitter.
P.S. Where was your blog defending Bush when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at him? Or was that what you call “reasoned debate?â€
Um…George Bush was at a press conference in another country not at a town hall meeting in this one. And President Bush didn’t really need me to defend his right to be heard at a town hall since he made sure that any he had were stuffed with sycophants. Remember when he wouldn’t even tolerate being in the same room with some ladies wearing anti-Bush T-shirts? Yeah…good times.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/chris-_thefold/2009/08/dont-talk-while-tea-bagging.php?ref=reccafe
“Town halls were invented by politicians to get some face time with the voters…â€
To continue, the motivation of the elected official for having a town hall should be irrelevant. Citizens in a participatory democracy can and should use them to their benefit, i.e. get some questions answered by their elected official.
But, of course, the citizen’s responsibility doesn’t stop there.
Hey George, good luck moving and when you get that book out *wink, wink* we can continue this conversation.
“Town halls were invented by politicians to get some face time with the voters…”
You write that as if it’s a bad thing. It’s not, unless questions are pre-planned and civil debate on an issue is squashed by either the elected official or an unruly mob (who can’t really win the debate so they try and shut it down).
And what is all this about my “education?” Several times on this blog and others people who disagree with me try to shut me up by invoking my education and inferring that I think I’m smarter than everybody else. What is with that?
P.S. Where was your blog defending Bush when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at him? Or was that what you call “reasoned debate?”
I must have forgotten that there’s a vast right-wing conspiracy going on. Silly me.
No, Alinsky’s book doesn’t say those things verbatim, but the strategic principles are all there. I’d get it out and quote it, but I’m moving tomorrow and it’s packed away somewhere in my car…maybe this weekend, if you’re lucky.
Teabaggers…teabirthers…minions…zzzzzzzzzzz. From calling me an ass to calling these people the names given to them by your heroes in the mainstream media, anybody should have considerable difficulty taking you seriously. Town halls were invented by politicians to get some face time with the voters, much like the staged town hall debates during presidential campaigns. Surely a woman of your education knows this much (but just in case, see “The Electoral Connection” by David Mayhew).
I didn’t suggest that you manufactured anything…but now that you mention it, I’m suspicious.
[...] Jump to Comments MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Liberadio’s Mary Mancini offer detailed reports about the right-wing special interest groups opposed to health [...]
Does Rules for Radicals actually call for activists to “Artificially Inflate Your Numbers,†“Be Disruptive Early And Often,†and “Try To ‘Rattle Him,†Not Have An Intelligent Debate?’â€
What about hanging your opposition in effigy?
And one more thing, George, I’m not sure how you can say that I am manufacturing a connection between the people holding these signs at the Teabag Rally and the healthcare town halls bullies. The talking points were disseminated from the Tea Bag umbrella organization!
Nothing to do with Conservative activists…really?
I agree, calling you an ass is not reasoned debate. *Group hug*
I’ll agree that our elected officials need to craft intelligent and well-reasoned legislation that prioritizes the needs of Americans instead of special interests and that it might take longer than President Obama wants. But no, I don’t think the original intent of the town halls were a joke. They are now, though thanks to the Tea Birthers.
I went to a neighborhood breakfast and Congressman Cooper fielded reasonable and intelligent questions from the attendees. I guess that was before the WTN/WLAC minions got their marching orders.
P.S. Calling me an ass isn’t reasoned debate. Oh, and head over to Kleinheider’s blog. Matthew Hurtt is exactly right: what you’re complaining about is essentially that conservatives are using Saul Alinsky’s tactics now…that liberals don’t have a monopoly on “Rules for Radicals” anymore. Food for thought.
It’s about as classy as I expected.
My guys? Do you know who my guys are? Do I even have guys?
I’ll acknowledge that conservative activists won’t let a debate on HR 3200 occur when you acknowledge that town halls are a joke, and they exist for the benefit of the elected official and not for the benefit of “reasoned debate,” or better yet, when the SEIU quits running around town yelling that the sky is falling and that 47 million people will DIE if we don’t do this RIGHT NOW!
Fair enough?
Your an ass, George. How’s that for classy?
How about you acknowledge the point of my post which is that your guys won’t even let a debate on the merits of HR 3200 occur.
Any thoughts on that?
This is a Democratic Party problem. Democrats won a supermajority in November and is now meeting opposition after narrowly passing ACES. Boo hoo!
The Democratic Party’s problem is two-fold: a) *some* Democrats KNOW HR 3200 is a piece of garbage in its current form and the President has literally ONE shot at getting this done during his tenure, and b) Democrats are great at getting elected and even better at having no idea what to do with their wins.
Healthcare passage/stoppage has ZERO to do with conservative activists…but I guess it’s fun to parrot Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, and Keith Olbermann (at other peoples’ expenses, no less) to drive traffic to your blog, right?
You stay classy, Liberadio!
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