Town Hall Meetings.

[once a runner]

As long as we are going to make unsubstantiated claims based on a civil town hall meeting we might as well bring up the whole astro-turf topic.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/31/rec ... ment-memo/

I'm sure many won't bother reading the article based on the website. Even if Obama staged the meeting, it's nothing new in the world of politics. The republicans constantly screened attendees of campaign speeches. Of course we can't forget about their planted stooge (Jeff Gannon) in the press corps during the Bush years. If Obama did stage the town meeting, I don't believe that was the right thing to do and it disappoints me.

There is a certain short sightedness to disrupting these town meetings. We finally get the politicians to talk to the people in an open format and all we show them is that we can't behave civilly. When a representative has to be escorted out for his own security something is very wrong. What makes you think that the politicians will have more town hall meetings in the future? Way to go ahead and ruin what could have been a good thing.

[vman]

unsubstantiated claims??? How about outright lies :!: :!: :!: :!: You would think that with such a loyal audience, the Liar-In-Chief, errrrr POTUS would at least give honest answers. Unfortunately that did not happen....@ Tueday's New Hampshire Town Hall:

“I have not said that I was a single-payer supporter.” This is directly contradicted by candidate Barack Obama’s own website which quotes Obama at a rally in Ames, Iowa form 2008: “If I were designing a system from scratch I would probably set up a single-payer system. … So what I believe is we should set up a series of choices….Over time it may be that we end up transitioning to such a system.” So there you have in one paragraph the true purpose of Obama’s public option: a vehicle to slowly transition all Americans out of private coverage and into a government-run single payer health care system...... This Trojan Horse view of the public option has been reaffirmed by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein, and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

[southpaw]

This so called Jeff Gannon must not of been very good this the first I ever heard of him. So Bush had one stooge and how many stooges does Barry have? How many stooge networks does Barry have in his back pocket? That dog won't hunt.

I guess its okay when the Soros bought and paid for protesters from tje Daily Kooks and Acorn and the goonsquads from the union halls show up and riot it okay but ordinary Americans of their own free will and free of charge finally get upset and speak some a little too loud and their branded by the Barry Brownshirts as Swastika carrying, white hooded Un-Americans. Maybe there is some organized protests from conservative groups but the massive country wide scale of these protests makes a wholesale right-wing conspiracy of this size ludicrous. The GOP is not that smart.

These so called Congressman who cowardly leave and cite "security reasons" really need a reality check. Finally people are fed up and venting on the one responsible...The US Democrat Led Congress of Nancy and Harry.

[once a runner]

Vman to do you have any evidence beyond circumstantial to prove that the Obama town hall audience was hand picked? If not, that would be an "unsubstantiated" claim. Obama would probably try to get a single payer health care plan through, but realizes that he is not likely to get support for that right now. Personally, I wish he would try for the single payer program. That is why he has backed off his claim of being a single payer supporter.

Southpaw, I can't believe you never heard of Jeff Gannon. Perhaps they didn't cover that story on Fox. He was a regular at Bush press conferences and white house briefings. He threw out ridiculousy easy questions to the president and his staff. After some investigation, it was found that Jeff Gannon was not his real name and his "other job" was that of a male prostitute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gannon

[southpaw]

Like I said in the previous post Bush had one stooge and Barry has a whole industry of stooges and stooge networks. You really amaze me OAR, first it is clear that Barry has gotten nothing but softballs and clearly the NH town hall was dog and pony show. I've personally talked to people who were at the NH townhall and the one with Specter in State College and the Cardin one in Hagerstown. They all said the same thing that the place as already half filled with bought and paid for union legbreakers and acorn goons. As for single payer health care..who going to pay for it? Don't tell me it will save money we know how much money the USPS saves. How much is it going to cost and who going to pay for it? If you can answer that then shut up about Obamacare because if you can't pay for it what's the point?

[once a runner]

Single payer would be paid for everyone, much like medicare. I'm sure you initial reaction would be higher taxes. The only people who would see tax increases are those who currently do not have health care coverage. Those who currently have health care coverage either pay for it themselves now or their employer pays for it (or some combination of the two). For those who pay for it out their own pockets, that cost is saved and certainly part of it would then go to paying the tax. Chances are their tax would be less than what they pay for health insurance now. If your employer pays your insurance they would no longer have that burden and that money should be reimbursed in your pay checks and then used to pay the tax. Again, chances are you would not pay more out of pocket for insurance than you do now.

Although it may not save your employer immediately it will in the long run. They will no longer be burdened with double digit inflation in health care costs. I would think that would be especially beneficial to small businesses. Health care is always a very delicate issue with those who have to negotiate their contracts and that would never be an issue again.

I still believe in choice and if a person wants to opt out of the government run health care program and pay a private insurance company, go right ahead and do that.

[Lemmy]

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 30, 2005; Page A04

Three Denver residents yesterday charged that they were forcibly removed from one of President Bush's town meetings on Social Security because they displayed a bumper sticker on their car condemning the administration's Middle East policies.

The three, all self-described progressives who oppose Bush's Social Security plan, said an unidentified official at an event in Denver last week forced them to leave before the president started to speak, even though they had done nothing disruptive, said their attorney, Dan Recht.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Mar29.html

Protesters often stand out because the crowds are packed with Bush supporters, who have been invited by a local GOP House member or organization. Those onstage at most of the town hall meetings are carefully screened people from the area who agree with the president's Social Security proposal. The participants typically rehearse what they will say with members of the president's advance team and rarely, if ever, say anything critical about his plan for private accounts.


hmm, Southaw aren't you a union member?

[Lemmy]

Here's another...

Protesters Arrested for Anti-Bush T-Shirts Win Settlement
August 20, 2007 By Matthew Rothschild
Nicole and Jeff Rank were arrested on Independence Day, 2004, for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts. They were on the grounds of the capitol in Charleston, West Virginia, where Bush was giving a speech.

Amidst others who were wearing pro-Bush shirts, the Ranks were wearing shirts with Bush’s name having a line through it. On the back of one of their shirts was: “Love America, Hate Bush.”

They were singled out by White House event staff and local law enforcement, who told them they would have to leave. When they didn’t, they were arrested for trespassing. The city of Charleston, in a matter of days, realized its error and apologized to the Ranks.


http://www.progressive.org/mag_mc082007

[Goodwill]

That dang Bush

[Lemmy]

Hey now, Southpaw mentioned above in several posts that President Bush only had one stooge. Just saying...