Democrats Skip Town Halls to Avoid Voter Rage

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

The reception that Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., a Democrat, received here one night last week as he faced a small group of constituents was far more pleasant than his encounters during a Congressional recess last summer.

Then, he was hanged in effigy by protesters. This time, a round of applause was followed by a glass of chilled wine, a plate of crackers and crudités as he mingled with an invitation-only audience at the Point Breeze Credit Union, a vastly different scene than last year’s wide-open televised free-for-alls.

The sentiment that fueled the rage during those Congressional forums is still alive in the electorate. But the opportunities for voters to openly express their displeasure, or angrily vent as video cameras roll, have been harder to come by in this election year.

If the time-honored tradition of the political meeting is not quite dead, it seems to be teetering closer to extinction. Of the 255 Democrats who make up the majority in the House, only a handful held town-hall-style forums as legislators spent last week at home in their districts.

It was no scheduling accident.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/us/politics/07townhall.html?hp

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This is chicken shit. You let the damn Tea Partiers win!

[Catshrink]

1. I agree with you.

He should hire some bouncers, set out the rules, and open the meetings up. What he did smacks of elitism which only fuels the 'baggers influence on others.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. My rep got death threats and stopped having town halls

The local teaklan is still pissed at him for depriving them of an opportunity to act a fool in public.

I think he did the right thing. As he said, when the Capitol cops as well as local cops tell you they can't keep you safe you pay attention.

[Catshrink]

17. Wow, that is bad.

But if they can throw Code Pink out of Congressional hearings, they should be able to handle the disruptors.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Well Code Pink are scary and dangerous women!

:sarcasm:

[Titanothere]

42. The ones I saw in DC were pretty scary, one lady looked mad and mean enough to kill

Seriously, I was taken aback when she walked by. Probably the angriest looking woman I've ever seen.

[tinymontgomery]

43. You've never seen my wife when I come home late!

:spank:

[Titanothere]

44. Oh yeah, been there.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

35. Teaklan... I like that!

[av8rdave]

2. How disappointing

And what missed opportunities to voice a little reason to the idiots!

[Doremus]

3. Except the only part that gets televised is the teabagger outrage, not the rebuttal nt

[CBHagman]

40. Yes, generous coverage from the media for disruptors.

Last summer newspapers filled their front pages with images of open-mouthed, red-faced, sloppily dressed teabaggers getting in the faces of politicians. Since then The Washington Post has had a nigh-insatiable lust for covering the teabaggers and occasionally wrings its hands that it is providing too little coverage.

Of course all the coverage rewards disruptive behavior, gives the teabaggers free advertising, and skews public opinion. The teabaggers are a minority, but like bullies everywhere, they know how to manipulate.

[Tempest]

10. You have got to be joking

Voice reason to the tea baggers?

They don't want to listen to reason, let alone anything else.

All they want to do is to make the candidate look bad and to behave like animals.

[av8rdave]

13. Point taken...however,

It makes the D's look like republican cowards when they don't do the events.

[Tempest]

15. Only to the tea baggers

To everyone else it makes sense because no one willingly wants to have shit thrown at them by the monkeys.

[AlbertCat]

22. It makes the D's look like republican cowards when they don't do the events.

Not when you remember the Teabaggers are often bussed in from places these reps don't even represent.

Stop pretending the Teabaggers are a real grass roots movement and a voice of the people. The headline ASSUMES they're avoiding "voter rage". I assume they did it to avoid fake bussed in rage from non-constituents. Why doesn't the headline read:

DEMOCRATS SKIP TOWN HALL MEETING TO AVOID FAKE OUTRAGE BUSSED IN BY FREEDOM WORKS.

[Grassy Knoll]

23. + 1000 n/t

[SemperEadem]

32. well put... the title of this article stokes the falseness of the idea of voter rage

there is no such thing. All it is the equivalanet of monkeys dancing for bananas in front of the cameras. They perform on cue and probably set their tivo's to capture their fukkery for posterity.

Teabaggers are counterfeit and their rage is put on. They are a bunch of opportunists who are hungry for attention and national exposure. Not a one of them made a peep when bush was actively stripping them of their constitutional rights, giving money hand over fist to their ultra-rich buddies and leaving all of the liabilities for the taxpayer to deal with. NOT ONE WORD WAS HEARD BY THEM BETWEEN JANUARY 20, 2000 and JANUARY 20, 2009. The ONLY reason why they're performing is because a black man is in the oval office.

I don't blame pols from cancelling town hall meetings, especially when these monkeys are being bused in from outside of the district with the sole purpose of disrupting meetings.

[saigon68]

24. Worse than animals these Cretins are Psychopaths

[n2doc]

4. Tea Partiers aren't Democrats

They are republicans, and vote that way. I don't see the Republicans allowing a bunch of war protesters or civil rights activists into their meetings.

If people want a venue to shout nonsensical crap, they can always call Fox.

[Tempest]

7. Case in point

I was reading an article in my home paper today where a tea bagging organizer asked a crowd to raise their hands if they were former Republicans and almost the entire crowd raised their hands.

[onehandle]

16. Yep. nt

[SemperEadem]

33. exactly

tea baggers and independents are really republicans who dont' have the stones to admit that they are republican.

[RedCloud]

5. Tea baggers were bussed in from elsewhere. This is a crime.

You cannot cross state lines with the intent to riot or disrupt. Check out the Chicago 8 or was it 7 or 9 for more details.

And they received huge donations from the wealthy to disrupt. Those wealthy pricks should be in the slammer by now.

Republicans were chicken shit of pay back and held by invitation only town halls. I think they should bring proof of address to attend to avoid the out of districts phoney crowds.

[Dappleganger]

14. They're doing it anyway.

They have figured out how to game the system.

[defendandprotect]

30. Nixon & Watergate, Bush-Roberts fascist rally. How many Americans know?

Nixon's fake telegrams/phone calls supporting the war --

his fake "hard-hat" counter protesters --

GOP-sponsored fascist rally to stop the vote counting in Miami-Dade, which succeeded.

No police force interference! Roberts made Chief Justice.

Right wing is specializing in lawyers who will help them evade or disrespect the law.

Cheney was very frank about telling us that this is still going on -- that THEY create

reality and we live it --

But I don't think many understand the true depths of what he was saying ---

and I'd include 9/11 MIHOP in that --

As well as our having created the Taliban/Al Qaeda, financing it thru ISI-Pakistan

and that we actually baited Russia into Afghanistan during Carter administration

. . . "in hopes of giving them a Vietnam-type experience."


We also created and printed those "violent" Islamic text books we heard so much about and

shipped them into the ME to try to create a violent Islamic movement.

Another "false flag" operation designed to create hatred for Muslims -- and eventually the

death of 1 million and more in Iraq.

Nixon-Watergate/Bush-Roberts-fascist rally - how many Americans really know?




See my journal --

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[xchrom]

9. oh shit!!! nt

[Wizard777]

12. You got that right. He wins on a razor thin margin. He need to remember that Israel can't vote.

[Tempest]

8. I wouldn't call it chicken shit or a win by the tea baggers

I find it more prudent to stay away from a group of people who don't like you, don't support you and has no intention of allowing a civil discourse to occur.

I highly doubt the Christians went willingly into the lion's den and I don't expect anyone else would either.

[doc03]

19. My Rep has been having teleconferences since last year

The next day the Teabaggers show up at his office protesting. He agreed one time last fall to meet with the Teabag leaders then what they did was set him up by sending out e-mails and calling into talk radio asking protesters to show up. When he showed up at his office he was met with about 50 screaming nut cases carrying signs calling him a socialist and a Nazi, so he called off the meeting. Then the next day the Teabaggers were on the radio complaining the Congressman refused to meet with them.

[elocs]

20. Well last summer most Democrats pretty much surrendered the town hall meetings

to the freepers and teahadists who were as mad as hell, screaming and yelling. Disagree with them and their methods, but they had passion. They cared enough to show up and to scream and yell and carry on. It's no wonder they got the attention.

Last summer I went to a pro-healthcare reform rally at a local park. There might have been 30 people there and it was calm and laid back like a Lutheran church service. The speakers said all the right words, but there was no passion. Needless to say that meeting received very little media coverage.

It's hard to win an argument or an election without passion.

[sybylla]

27. I was at a couple of those forums in Wisconsin - it wasn't passion

I'd call it much closer to paranoid delusions with violent tendencies. If the congressman hadn't introduced the county sheriff and his men at the beginning of one of these so-called forums, I'd have left long before it finished.

[defendandprotect]

28. As I was reading, was wondering about any attempts to keep "order" . . .

I know that in our Town Hall you wouldn't be able to get away with that --

at least so far!!

Don't count on anything where right wing aggression is in play --!!

[elocs]

29. But where were all the Democrats? Why were these meeting conceded to the freepers?

Say what you will about the Baby Boomers, but when they protested in the 60s they got their points across loud and clear and nobody ignored them or mistook them for a meeting of the chess club.

[sybylla]

36. One of the forums I was at the Dems were sorely outnumbered and it was effing scary.

Two others, they took buses of Dems to fill the front of the halls so that it was much more even. (And a few even held up banners and signs outside to make the Boomers happy.) Those busloads of Dems were motivated only by a need to support their congressman by instilling into the process a friendlier, less threatening environment, rather than by some pressing need to support the healthcare cause. Their congressman was on the right side of the healthcare debate. As was every other Dem congressperson in this state.

But you can never out-do insanity for motivation. What good is protesting insanity? Protesting for protest's sake is a waste of time and energy that can be put into some more productive activity.

In fact - the better response might have been to let the teabaggers think they were a majority, let them get over confident, let everyone see how truly deluded they are, and thereby blow their own cause right out of the water. (Which you see working in some places right now.) The motivation they could derive from that kind of delusion could keep them busy working on their lost cause past election day, where they will split the conservative vote (like Nader and his followers did) and help put libs in office.

The teabaggers were focusing on non-issues and outright lies. You can't counter the deluded with the truth. As Barney Frank said, arguing with them is like arguing with the dining room table. What's the point. Our Dem legislators are smarter than that. They weren't going to let a room full of crazies determine what the healthcare legislation looked like in the end. The party faithful knew that.

And that proved true. The lies, the outrageous false claims and rumors, the vitriol spewed at these forums made no impact on the final legislation. It delayed it until the media got sick of covering the side show (or shamed out of it) and started doing their job of sorting through the truth and the lies. The insurance companies targeting a couple of weak-kneed moderates had more influence on the final bill than any mass of screaming teabaggers could.

Conceded to the freepers? No. Nothing was conceded to them in the end but a few useless minutes on local news or a couple of worthless inches in local papers, few of which are friendly to libs anyway.

[Iowa]

37. Most Democrats are smart enough to realize that these town-hall meetings are a joke.

They're based upon the false premise that politicians actually give a shit about what the little people think. These "meetings" are nothing but dog and pony shows... just advertising masquerading as citizen participation. They're designed to provide the false impression that citizens actually have a voice in government, while providing politicians a PR venue. Freepers aren't bright enough to see these farcical "meetings" for what they are, so they showed up actually expecting a voice.

[elocs]

38. Well take me back to a year ago and remind me how the whole healthcare debate went.

How the bill that was supposed to be finished and passed last fall had to be fought for tooth and nail until in this year it was passed by reconciliation. I believe that the freepers captured and framed the debate and were able to drag out the process for over another half a year.

All that time Democrats naively believed that common sense and logical arguments would win the day. So much for that notion.

[Iowa]

41. Nah. You're operating under a false premise, although it would be nice if you were right...

Unfortunately, I'm afraid our political system is WAY beyond that.

"...had to be fought for tooth and nail until in this year... All that time Democrats naively believed that common sense and logical arguments would win the day."

Not true. There are many progressives who never believed that - not for a moment. Obama, Congress, the insurance corps, & the pharmaceutical corps got precisely the bill they wanted. It was a done deal from the get-go. All this business about them fighting "tooth and nail" was nothing but theater to manipulate the base. If the freepers hadn't behaved badly at town-hall meetings, they'd have concocted some other excuse for their corporate written bill. Showing up at those ridiculous dog & pony shows they call "town-hall meetings" wouldn't have changed the outcome one iota.

Those meetings are nothing but one-act plays for suckers and rubes. That's why there were so many freepers there, and so few progressives. IMO.

[certainot]

21. dems can fix this by getting their reps backs where the attacks start- the local

right wing radio stations that are coordinated with the GOP through the RW think tanks that supply the daily limbaugh hannity and local blowhards talking points and were/are used to call out the dittoheads/teabagers to harass dem candidates at those town halls.

they are the same radio stations and blowhards who attack and distort and threaten progressive causes and candidates 24/7 WITHOUT CHALLENGE.

those 1000 uncontested radio stations and their coordinated repetition have a lot to say about what is and what isn't acceptable in US politics and media and they have been getting a free speech free ride for 20 years, since reagan killed the fairness doctrine.

the stations themselves need to recognized as the political power centers they are and they need to be picketed. the stations rely heavily on local sponsors.

universities that broadcast their sports on limbaugh hannity stations that do racism and global warming denial need to be pressured to look for alternatives. there is no good reason for national chains like trader joes to advertise on those local stations. or the fed food stamp program. the local stations need to be pressured to offer balance.

local station sponsors need to be asked WTF? most i have spoken to do not defend limbaugh and sons and IMO would look for alternatives if they get a few more calls.

[defendandprotect]

25. k

[sybylla]

26. Love the broad brush - not.

More prize-winning hack and slash journalism from the NY Times.


Edited to add that if hosting a town hall forum only brings out the delusional and violent, why would you bother? Doing so becomes an exercise in insanity - doing the same thing over an over again expecting a different result.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. His district is a barrel full of vipers

nasty republicans

[judesedit]

34. As long as we let corporate-bought big media squash the truth, spread false propaganda, and have a

monopoly over our air waves, these ignorant people will continue to rant and vote against their own best interest. In S. Florida the only station that spoke the whole truth was taken off the air, and nothing comparable can be found. The majority of Americans without the bucks to buy satellite radio, etc, are kept intentionally from the truth. Republicans are used to stealing elections in any way possible. Well, you're looking at one way. Spread the truth in short sound bites repetitively and continuously and we will begin to get through to the people. "The republicans screw the American people again". What's new? "The republicans screw the American people again". What's new? "The republicans screw the American people again". What's new? "The republicans screw the American people again". What's new? "The republicans screw the American people again". What's new?

It's time to fight fire with fire!

[24601]

39. Frank ran as a DINO one of two conservative districts in Maryland.

His election was razor thin and I'm not surprised that they turned against him.