RIGHT-WING GOONS DISRUPT TOWN MEETINGS

They're not really right wing goons/conservatives, Advocate, they're MACs.

What is a MAC?

Have I got that wrong? Isn't that Foxy's term for what she thinks she is?

AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

Should anyone have forgotten ...

From 2000:

The Republican Brownshirts on the march.


Swiftboating Town Halls

With federal lawmakers returning home this week to begin their month-long recess, the far right is welcoming them with large, angry throngs at "town halls gone wild." "Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops [and] congressmen fearful for their safety" have marked the ugly scenes that have become the rule in recent days, as normally respectful meetings between representatives and their constituents have been inundated with right-wing protesters focused on killing health care reform. Over the weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became one of the more widely publicized victims, when a mob of protesters chanting "just say no" to health care followed him out of an event. These encounters are being orchestrated by the same lobbyist-run groups -- Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks -- that brought together the tax day tea parties in April. While trying to give the appearance of a "grassroots" uprising, the demonstrations are cover for a corporate-lobbyist engineered harassment strategy that encourages participants to "yell," "stand up and shout," and "rattle" elected officials in favor of reforming health care. Their goal -- recently outlined by an influential lobbyist as "delay" then "kill" -- is apparent: Having successfully delayed a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are seizing on town halls to ambush lawmakers in an attempt to fool them and the greater public into thinking there is wide opposition to health care reform. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took a "hard line against the Tea-Party organized disruptions," labeling them a "Brooks Brothers Brigade," a reference to GOP staffers staging protests during the 2000 Florida recount.

THE MEMOS: As with the tea parties, these town halls are "lessons in how political interests enlist human and technological resources to build political pressure while those responsible remain safely behind the curtain." Last week, The Progress Report obtained a leaked memo from a volunteer with Tea Party Patriots, a website sponsored by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) (led by a former associate of Jack Abramoff) and FreedomWorks (led by former Republican Majority Leader and current lobbyist Dick Armey). The memo detailed how town hall goers should infiltrate meetings and harass Democratic members of Congress. The memo said activists should "stand up and shout out and sit right back down" so the representative is "made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington." The overall goal, said the memo, is to "rattle" the elected official. Earlier this week, a FreedomWorks volunteer, who doubles as a Tea Party protester, published another memo that outlined a strategy "for his fellow activists -- a playbook of sorts for protesters seeking to disrupt and harass members of Congress during town hall forums in their districts."

A BROAD STRATEGY: Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has endorsed the strategy of staged protests, telling Politico the days of civil town halls are now "over." In a memo to House Republicans, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) promised "anger" during the August recess: "Americans' anger will be on full display in the weeks ahead as Members of Congress leave Washington and travel the nation listening to the voices of their constituents." The published memos are similar to talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks that push an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by AFP, is busing people all over the country to protest health care reform. America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade group and lobbying juggernaut representing the health insurance industry, is also sending staffers to monitor town halls in 30 states. Meanwhile, Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR), led by disgraced hospital executive Rick Scott, is running a national campaign against a public health care option. Yesterday, the group took credit for "helping gin up the sometimes-rowdy outbursts targeting House Dems at town hall meetings around the country, raising questions about their spontaneity." Earlier in the week, a representative of CPR "sent an email to a list serve (called the Tea Party Patriots Health Care Reform Committee) containing a spreadsheet that lists over one hundred congressional town halls from late July into September." And last weekend, CPR announced it will send staff to "confront" lawmakers at town halls and then transition to negative ads.

TOWN HALLS GONE WILD: In one incident of right-wing outrage, protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY), forcing police to escort him to his car. In another, anti-health care protesters hung up an effigy of Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) outside his district office in Salisbury, MD. The city was the site of a recent symposium on the dangers of "government-run health care," sponsored by a group called "Patients First," a project of AFP. Two nights ago, Reps. Steve Kagen (D-WI) and Steve Driehaus (D-OH) had to face down angry mobs. Kagen, whose town hall was targeted by the Wisconsin chapter of AFP, was "repeatedly disrupted" by "incomprehensible" shrieks and shouts from conservatives. And just last night, Fox's local Houston affiliate reported that at a rowdy town hall hosted by Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), some attendees admitted "they don't live in the district." Still, Democrats are vowing not to let the disruptions stop health care reform. "I hope my colleagues won't fall for a sucker-punch like this," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) told The Progress Report. "These health insurance companies and people like them are trying to load these town halls for visual impact on television." Doggett agreed. After his town hall was ambushed he declared, "I am more committed than ever to win approval of legislation to offer more individual choice to access affordable health care. An effective public plan is essential to achieve that goal." And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised Democrats wouldn't waiver: "In spite of the loud, shrill voices trying to interrupt town hall meetings and just throw a monkey wrench into everything, we're going to continue to be positive and work hard."

--americanprogressaction.org

Yes, the present Rep goon initiative harkens back to 2000 when Rep thugs disrupted the vote recount in FL.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/080409d.html

It was actually my term, but Foxy is fond of it. I'm content to let her have it.

T
K
O

What u allege goes back to American commie tactics
of the 1930s n 1940s.

Is it your view that the alleged commie activities justify what the Rep goons are up to?

Btw, I think you are full of it. The USA commies never had the numbers to disrupt things.

You may not like their tactics (and I dont either), but calling them goons is a little harsh.

OR, are you willing to call EVERY person that voices their opinions goons if you dont like the opinion?

I think the point is that their opinion doesn't make them goons, but rather that they prevent the discussion from happening by disruptions.

Imagine that you were making a reasonable argument to not call these people goons and somebody was just shouting next to you so that I couldn't hear you.

I don't think this is about EVERY person being a goon, but to say that there are NO goons here is probably more false.

T
K
O

Advocate wrote:

No.

Advocate wrote:

U r hopelessly FAKE.
U have not the remotest idea
of what u r talking about.

Some of the very guys who DID it,
subsequently wrote about it and lectured about the history of it.
If I remember accurately from around 50 years ago,
Herbert Philbrick wrote about it in I Led 3 Lives, among others.

To say nothing of the commies' use of pinko "fellow travellers".





David

Steele’s Claim, State GOP Are Actively Promoting Town Hall Mobs
By Zaid Jilani on Aug 6th, 2009 at 4:00 pm

Contrary to Steele’s Claim, State GOP Are Actively Promoting Town Hall Mobs
Yesterday in an conference call that ThinkProgress took part in, GOP Chairman Michael Steele told reporters that neither the national Republican party nor any state Republican parties are promoting town hall disruptions:

STEELE: I had nothing to do with that, I did not encourage that. And we’re not encouraging people to be angry I mean to the point of being nasty and brutish and ugly. That’s not what this is about. There’s no upside for the Republican Party or the people involved to do that. Now some people, you know, that’s how they express their frustration, that’s how they express their frustration. But that’s not something deliberately coordinated by me or any one state party.

Unfortunately, Steele’s statement isn’t true. This past weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) was harassed by right-wing protesters who refused to have a civil dialogue with the Congressman. The front page of the official website of the Texas Republican Party prominently features and endorses the incident. The website headline reads, “Doggett Fields Softballs“:

If you click on the picture, it links to a video of the incident, which is hosted by the Texas Republican Party’s official YouTube account, txgoptv. At the conclusion of the video, the words “Produced by the Republican Party of Texas” pop up alongside a legal disclaimer that proclaims the video was paid for the by the Republican Party of Texas.
The Texas GOP’s endorsement of these tactics joins remarks by Sen. John Coryn (R-TX) that the “fear” and “anger” of Americans over health care reform present “real opportunities” for the Republican Party.
The Texas GOP isn’t alone in encouraging the mob protests, though. On a blog post titled “Here’s to Mob Rule,” Connecticut GOP chairman Chris Healy yesterday listed off the times and locations of several health care town halls. In the post he wrote that “one perrson’s [sic] mob is another person’s concerned’s citizen’s group” and remarked that if members of Congress “get upset because people are shouting at them, maybe they should listen.”

Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!
Bob Cesca Political Author, Blogger, and New Media Producer


At the risk of bringing down the digital wrath of blog-savvy oldsters, I've noticed that a considerable number of the anti-reform Republican "hooligans," as Rachel Maddow describes them, who turn up at various town hall meetings to shout incomprehensible loud noises just happen to be senior citizens. And while the old people who turn up to protest health care reform are, to some extent, victims of the usual Republican lies and disinformation, they're still adults and therefore responsible for their opinions, their actions and their ziplock baggies filled with crazy.

Yes, they've been tricked by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh into believing that health care reform will somehow involve golden-grilled ACORN thugs showing up at bingo with a tray of syringes filled with black liberal death juice. Yes, they've been tricked by Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs into thinking that this "halfrican American" president with his terrorist pals and Kenyan birth certificate is trying to supplant God's U.S. government with a liberal fascist homocracy.

But failing to grasp the extraordinary contradiction evident in receiving Medicare benefits while simultaneously shouting nonsense about "government-run health care" is quite simply inexcusable.

President Obama at a town hall meeting last week described a letter he received from a Medicare recipient:

"I got a letter the other day from a woman. She said, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'"
At a town hall meeting held by Rep. Robert Inglis (R-SC):

Someone reportedly told Inglis, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare."
"I had to politely explain that, 'Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government,'" Inglis told the Post. "But he wasn't having any of it."
It's no wonder with "very serious" analysts like Arthur Laffer are appearing on CNN and saying things like this (and getting away with it unchallenged):

"If you like the post office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government."
Yeah, just wait until the government gets its mighty robot claws on Medicare and Medicaid -- snatching control away from, you know, the government. (Incidentally, the post office is amazing. As Maher said recently, anyone can drop a letter into a blue metal box on the sidewalk and in a couple of days it arrives at the place listed on the envelope. For 44 cents. Off the top of your head, can you name anything that costs 44 cents and actually functions exactly as advertised?)

I can only hope that the Keep your goddamn government hands off my Medicare! people are exceptions and that a vast majority of Republican seniors understand that Medicare, Medicaid and the Veteran's Administration are all government-run health care systems. Put another way: they're actively and willingly participating in socialized medicine. So the seniors who understand the facts about the Medicare system and yet are screeching at town hall meetings about government-run health care are, well, insert your favorite colorful synonym for "freakishly colossal hypocrites" right about here.

Either these people have been so kerfluffled and enraged by the wingnutty "reparations" and "killing old people" lies they're hearing on AM radio that they've forgotten about the source of their current health insurance coverage, or they're fully aware of the fact that they are, indeed, beneficiaries of socialism, but they refuse to allow anyone else to participate in a similar program. You know, because socialized medicine is bad. Except for them.

Take this guy for instance:



He's one of several elderly protesters shouting in tongues at a town hall held by Rep. Steve Kagan (D-WI) this week. And based on his obvious age and USMC cap, we can deduce that he's very likely receiving medical coverage from the government in the form of Medicare or the Veteran's Administration or both (you can do that). I'd wager, too, that he'd be totally unwilling to give up his coverage. He'd be *cough* crazy to do that.

Or, to paraphrase various wingnut emails I've received, perhaps this old timer ought to get a job instead of freeloading off the system. I mean, why should I pay taxes to finance this guy who refuses to work? Of course the realistic answer is that healthy Americans of any age who aren't spending thousands of dollars a month on gouged health care premiums tend to strengthen both our communities and our broader economy -- including my best interests as well. Rising tides, lifting boats and all that. Another argument I've heard, by the way, is that seniors and veterans have earned their socialist health care. To which I usually respond: I see. So socialized health care is a reward for a job well done? Can I quote you?

I don't claim to know the full stories behind the variety of senior citizens who have been recruited to disrupt these town halls, but one thing is clear. They're participating in a corporate lobbyist-driven campaign to prevent the rest of us from acquiring the same affordable, reliable public health care they enjoy. In other words, their government-run health care is excellent. So excellent that it can't be shared. And they're so intensely motivated in this selfishness that they're volunteering their time to infiltrate town hall meetings and loudly ambush public officials at the request of lobbyists who are very simply lying to and exploiting them.

With all due respect to their chronological age, shame on them.