A report from a Tom Latham town meeting in Nevada, IA

[pstans]

One of the people that attends DFA meetups in Ames with me went to the town meeting Tom Latham held in Nevada, Iowa (Story County). He called his post Latham's Nevada Fiasco, so as you can tell it went very well for us Dems. I am going to attend Latham's meeting in Marshalltown on Thursday. Here is his report from the Nevada meeting.

Latham's Nevada Fiasco
I made it to Tom Latham's forum today in Nevada. He got an earful from the 40 to 50 or so people who were there. The crowd was over 50% seniors, and they were clearly against privatization of Social Security. Latham is not well informed on the subject and tried to regurgitate Republican talking points, but I do not think many in the room were buying it. About half of the forum was on Social Security, which was the stated subject. But a number of other issues came up, including the bankruptcy bill, benefits for reservists, the budget deficit, and the war. He had some signs for the dog and pony SS show that the White House and Tom Delay are making him give, but he never even got a chance to go through them. Many people asked good, pointed questions, and Latham was clearly on the spot. It was great!

The privatization of Social Security came up several times, and that is what I asked about, too. I pointed out that the Republicans earlier (Bush just a few months ago during the campaign) used the word privatization to describe their plan to divert the payroll tax from the SS insurance program to personal retirement accounts. Now with the current Republican doublespeak, they say their plan is not privatization. I pointed out to Latham that his web site and the pamphlet he mailed out stated he is adamantly opposed to privatization, and I was glad to see that. But is he really opposed to Bush's privatization plan? He then tried to redefine privatization, and he would not say one way or another if he supported Bush's privatization plan. Others pointed out to him how misleading he is with his stated opposition to privatization. I think he is very vulnerable on this issue, and he came off to many as quite evasive and deceiving on this and other issues. I hope he gets the same response at his other forums.

His two biggest mistakes were in answering why eliminating or raising the cap on the SS payroll tax wouldn’t fly and on the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. To the first question, he said that if the rich paid more SS payroll tax, that they would more than get it back in increased SS benefits when they retired, and there would be even less money available for other people’s benefits - this is absolutely the dumbest response to a SS question that I ever heard, and I later explained to him that benefits are not in a 1:1 ration to the amount of tax put in. He did not argue with me on that, and I think he realized he made a very stupid statement.

On the second to last question, a woman asked if he remembered a forum at the North Grand Mall when Latham told her that the war in Iraq was worth the cost and that we will eventually find those weapons of mass destruction. Did he still feel that way today? He made a joke that they were out of time and they should end it there, and he a some of the audience laughed. She said soberly that she did not think it was funny. Latham was then embarrassed and agreed that it was a serious matter, and he gave the White House talking points that everyone thought Sadam had WMDs (a chorus rang out that “I didn’t”) and how democracy is spreading in the Middle East. What an ass!

The very last question was from a senior who said “If the majority of your constituents feel one way about the SS issue and Tom Delay feels the other way, then who are you going to side with?” Latham said he would take the side of his friends, them realized that that was ambiguous and added “you are my friends.” We’ll see. I think most of those in room knew that Tom Delay is a much bigger friend and that Latham will sell us out.

I strongly encourage you all to go to any of the upcoming forums that Latham has planned over the next month. You can tell he is uncomfortable selling the Republican bullshit on SS and other issues. And I think a lot of people have a much more negative impression of him now.

Please attend the other forums and ask tough questions.

[Divernan]

1. Really enjoyed your detailed post - let us know if he changes

his responses on Thursday.

[Rambis]

2. thank you

Somebody asked Jim Leach a question like who are you going to side with if a majority of you're constituents agree on an issue and you agree with Bush which way would you vote. He was very honest, Bush

[Hobarticus]

3. "Latham said he would take the side of his friends..."

WHICH MEANS HIS CONSTITUENTS GET THE SHAFT!!!

Great post!!!

[rurallib]

4. Well a report from Latham and one from Leach

meetings. Sounds like they tried to steer the conversations and the people weren't buying the crap.
Any others like King or the big cutter Nussle have meetings that someone wants to report on? I hope the truth is getting back to the white house. Of course it won't. Jesus I am stupid.

[Counciltucky]

5. King...

...isn't going to hold many meetings with his constituents. He's too ill-tempered and too much of a loose cannon. He's not able to be trusted in public.

[pstans]

6. Just got home from Latham's meeting in Marshalltown

I went to the meeting with a couple ideas for questions, but basically just wanted to see what he said and what the people in my county asked. There were probably around 40 people there with 15 or so being senior citizens, and 10 being from community groups. I was surprised by the lack of information that Latham gave. I guess he was holding the meetings to see what the people in his district were thinking.

At the meeting in Story County on Tuesday Latham tried to discuss the Bu$h/Delay talking points on Social Security. Today, he didn't even mention any of them, only saying privatization one time and that was to respond to a question about privatization. He said that he wanted to remind everyone that privatization would not mean SS would be totally privatized that the money would still be in control by SS. The discussion on SS was dominated by 2 people (one was a LaRouche supporter who was passing out brouchure about Fascism and Bush.) who talked for what seemed like 5 minutes and didn't ask any questions. (Note: If you got to a town meeting, don't hog the podium, ask a question and let the person answer.)

The Teri Schiavo tradegy was brought up and Latham played that very safe. The question was geared towards the feeling that the government overstepped their bounds by interfering with the Judical branch and state's rights. Latham didn't volunteer how he voted, he had to be asked specifically about it. Latham said he was in Washington, so he was there to vote, and he voted to intervene. He said that he would always side with life. He said that it was not uncounstitutional for Congress to intervene regarding 1 persons life, but his reasoning was vaugue.

Overall, a theme that I came away with was that everyone wanted money from the government (for law enforement, transportation, community programs, etc) and that half of the people are complaining about the deficit. Yet, he told everyone who asked about specific money or grants that he was fighting for them. It will be interesting to see what happens to these groups funding. A couple of times, Latham pointed the finger at Des Moines, about Medicare and Medicaid for example. It felt as if he was blaming Vilsack and hoped that people would remember when it comes time to vote for the next governor.

[Hardrada]

7. They tried to nail Nussle too

But he was a bit more slippery. He's really got to be defeated since he is essential hard core fascist wing GOP.

[justgamma]

8. Nussle will be in Clinton

the 29th. Trying to figure out a way to get out of work to go. Grassley didn't come anywhere near easter Iowa.