Continuing with the theme of big government gone astray, I’d like to point out Blue Dog democrat Heath Shuler, who is a fairly conservative member of the democratic caucus; and despite opposing the House bill on healthcare has decided not to hold town hall meetings in person.
Rep. Heath Shuler
This is a fairly personal post for me considering Congressman Heath Shuler is my “representative” from the 11th district of North Carolina. After being inspired by the patriotism of other Americans throughout the country, I began to look into when and where Rep. Shuler would hold a healthcare town hall. I was disappointed to find out he would be “phoning it in”.
Heath Shuler will be holding I believe two telephone town halls on the healthcare issue. This is definitely disappointing considering the seriousness of this issue. As Americans have started to voice their opinions against the issue, the Obama Administration has started fighting back, and democrats all over are cancelling their town hall meetings including Rep. Heath Shuler.
Most of the dems site the threat of violence or disruption as their reason for “phoning it in” or cancelling all together. Unfortunately some of the town halls did get violent, but the culprits are the union thugs and Obama moonbats. I found a piece written at the Daily Kos by someone in Rep. Heath Shuler’s district in which he too is mad about Shuler not holding town halls; except his frustration is because he won’t be able to “confront the nutters”. The left is looking for trouble; we just want to stop this abomination from going through. Daily Kos:
That’s right, I said “again.” I had called Shuler’s office a couple of days ago, outraged at the wingnut hootenannnies that I’d seen on t.v. I was clicking around the internet, trying to figure out where Shuler was going to have a public meeting. I was angry. I wanted to confront some of these nutters.
I’m a Conservative first, a Republican second and I’ll admit that Rep. Heath Shuler wasn’t my choice for congress. But he hasn’t been too terribly bad; at times he has voted with Pelosi, other times he has voted against the Administration. Heath Shuler needs to know however that his constituents want to see him, we want to voice our opinions on healthcare; pro or con.
Heath Shuler’s Office
August 8th, 2009 at 9:40 am
This will become a way for our Congressional Cowards to meet with us. I would ashamed to say I was going to do that. They will tell us they are busy. Yeah busy stuffing their pockets with money.
Being your neighbor in Tennessee wher Heath played at UT, he has become soft and can’t take the heat. Remember his first vote in the House was for Queen Pelosi. That would lost my vote right there.
We need to carry out the garbage in Congress. Our next chance is Nov. 2, 2010. Get ready cause on the 3rd, they will challenge every election results.
August 8th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Well we need 2010 to go red, because the course the Dems have taking us on is impossible to sustain for 10 more years.
August 8th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Who in their right mind would want to hold a town hall meeting if they know they will be targeted with a crowd of very angry shouting possibly violent people(there’s always a few that will go off the leash given the opportunity) that are being sent by well financed organized hostile lobbiests and anti-specisal interest forces? Their whole style will be to disrupt and use the media and scare off the honest people. So why should he go? Why should his people even want him to go? the right wing is doing everything it can to shut down discussion on health care reform, and we all know that. So why walk into an ambush? Its right on the verge of getting out of control right now as it is. How can you then say bad things about him, when your own allies are setting him up for a fall either way. A little honesty would go a long ways as would a little class. YOu know we had an election and to think you can just overthrow it thru these kind of bullying tactics is true rebellion.
August 8th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Brian, you are crazy. The fact that you have bought this orchestrated left talking point is almost hilarious. No one’s life is in danger, this is just the left’s justification for not having to face constituents. Just try to call your Senator or Rep, you can’t even get through, you get a full mailbox. People are very concerned and upset about this health-care plan, it’s not astroturfing, it’s not fake outrage, it’s real. If the Dems pass this, they are going to own it, and they’ll own the consequences. That is why there is zero chance they pass it without Republican cover. I have a feeling the GOP isn’t going to play ball and provide that cover, thus this bill will not see the light of the day. It might, possibly get a vote in the House, but the bill (as currently written) will never even see a vote in the Senate because all the moderates are scared witless to piss of their constituents. That is a good thing.
August 8th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I agree passing the Senate is going to be tough in its current form, though watering it down or dropping the public insurance option may happen squeaking it through. So then what do we get? I wouldn’t want to face an organized mob bussed in to my town hall, sorry. That’s their tactic, see? shut down the discussion. You of all people are either failing to see it, or just doing the talking points thing. I don’t know how you after immersing yourself in 3 more gradute years of reading and writing would’t be more attuned to dealing with the real issue. The real issue is the right and private business and some religious itnerests have fused at the hip to go after obama. And they will use whatever or whomever they can to “win”. Its not at all about what is best for us, except say the pro-lifers who truly believe in pro-life as a single issue. Anyways my stance is to not have federal money pay for abortion which seems a simple enough solution as well as being the right thing to do. That would take that off the docket. What about being sage and just talking reality?
August 8th, 2009 at 11:11 am
It’s funny we hear Republicans say that they do not want “faceless bureaucrats” making medical decisions but they have no problem with “private sector” “faceless bureaucrats” daily declining medical coverage and financially ruining good hard working people. And who says that the “private sector” is always right, do we forget failures like Long-Term Capital, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, AIG and Lehman Brothers. Of course the federal government will destroy heathcare by getting involved, Oh but wait, Medicare and Medicaid and our military men and women and the Senate and Congress get the best heathcare in the world, and oh, that’s right, its run by our federal government. I can understand why some may think that the federal government will fail, if you look at the past eight years as a current history, with failures like the financial meltdown and Katrina but the facts is they can and if we support them they will succeed.
How does shouting down to stop the conversation of the healthcare debate at town hall meetings, endears them to anyone. Especially when the organizations that are telling them where to go and what to do and say are Republicans political operatives, not real grassroots. How does shouting someone down or chasing them out like a lynch mob advanced the debate, it does not. So I think the American people will see through all of this and know, like the teabagger, the birthers, these lynch mobs types are just the same, people who have to resort to these tactics because they have no leadership to articulate what they real want. It’s easy to pickup a bus load of people who hate, and that’s all I been seeing, they hate and can’t debate. Too bad.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:16 am
What is really funny Paul, is how many liberals have used the exact same talking points you have just used. Which site did you get those from, Dkos or DUnderground?
August 8th, 2009 at 11:27 am
you know it seems we could very easily craft a bill ourselves that would provide the key provisions of covering preexisting conditions, portability thru jobs and the rest of life, expansion of cobra, pharmacy costs, and a coherent public option to cover uncompesated care the hosptals must eat or pass onto us, the medicare presecription donut hole, and a smarter medicaid system, malpractice reform and ower tuition costs for medical,nursing, and other health care professionals. If we just did that we would be far ahead. YOu’d still have private insurers, private drug companys, and universities to seed your research. What is so wrong with this idea?.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:32 am
What a p____ arse move.
If you can’t take the heat Heath from those that elected you, then get out of congress, or be booted out.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Politically, this makes a lot of sense for people like schuler. Figure at least half of the american people aren’t paying much attention to the health care debate. But when dem congressmen and senators switch to this claiming that their own safety is in danger, it will become big news.
So the argument then becomes ‘do you want your elected officials to be endangered?’ It doesnt matter if it’s true or not, it matters how the argument is framed. Just look at this site, there have been a half dozen posts this morning about the protesters espousing violence. I imagine on the lefty sites, this is being thrown down their gullets as if it were gospel.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:41 am
see noone really wants to discuss health care reform after all. all they wanna do is fight and win. win what? and for whom?
August 8th, 2009 at 11:54 am
“do you want your elected officials to be endangered?”
—
Actually yes I would like them to have some healthy fear of those that elected them.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:57 am
It’s crystal clear what the new meme is from the left: “We can’t possibly meet with our constituents because the wing-nuts are going to kill us” or some such tripe. Fine, don’t meet with them, be a bunch of chicken-bleeps and let’s see how many of you have a job next year.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
a lot of these poeople aren’t even constituents in the normal sense. they are cherry picked to argue and make a scene and some are paid professional pals, all under the organization of a professional pac funded by the industries involved. I don’t get it? You think he should meet with these type of folks for a shouting match? That’s classic old style union hall politics were you go in, occupy a meeting, bully and usurp it to your cause using and intimdating everybody. Its not chickeny to prevent the hostilities from happening, but more respectful to the real honest public. Nothing gets done in a shouting riot.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
In fact, I think this whole “dangerous environment” was cooked up deliberately by the left so they wouldn’t have to have town-hall meetings to discuss what is clearly a very unpopular bill. The left has created an environment that was unsafe when they started shipping in union thugs to ratchet up the tension. Who were they afraid of? That old guy who brought his kid in the wheelchair? Yeah, that guy looked pretty tough, probably best to shut these down for the rest of the summer for “safety” purposes. They pushed this right-wing crazy meme so far that they now have a convenient excuse to cancel all of their events this summer (like McCaskill did today, wench).
August 8th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Brian, that is just BS. I’m telling you, I know several people who went to the Carnahan event, none of them were paid or brought in. I won’t say there are 0 people from PACs there, but the vast majority of the outrage is real. Do you have a shred of evidence that these are “astroturfers’ outside of the fact that Pelosi and Axelrod claim they are?
August 8th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
From the Huff. Post of all places re: the Carnahan meeting:
“The nation’s largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess.”
As a result, the townhall meeting with Russ Carnahan last night had union thugs preventing ordinary citizens from entering the building where he was speaking - with only union members being let in via a side door.
Consequently, area citizens were not only denied entry, but were beaten by these thugs - several taken to the hospital.
That’s astroturfing if I’ve ever seen it.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
its interesting I remember obama’s campaign saying they would use their supporters after elected to get key bills thru, networking in the communities and web and encuraging them to write and call their congresspeople as they knew there would be huge industry oppostion to health reform. Seems now the industry has figured a way to counter it with pure noisy intimidation and fear tactics. I don’t want my country turned into some shouting match. and you guys fall for the macho ploy of basically stealing the congressmen’s town meetings and ruining it foreverbody. Its like little kids tossing the checkerboard when they aren’t winning. What ever happened to player integrity in America? Its all about winning. but winning what? and for whom?
August 8th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Bryan this is the expected response from the “left” after a week and a half of being beat up by the right. YOur just inciting it further and being disingenuous about its origins. Your character is being tested to the real facts and their sequence. stop all this cherry picking of information, its bad voodoo.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I see now what people were talking about when it comes to Brian. Good for chuckle though.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Were not protesting do to the party opposing it were protesting for our lives. People are concerned for there future and for there lives, because there taxes will go up, are deficits will skyrocket, and when they are 65 they’ll be told to take a pill rather than get surgery. So that’s why these people come to the protest with such a passion, because there love for this country and there freedom makes them have this passion in these protest.
Brian:
Just one question and that’s what are those two sisters from Maine doing with healthcare.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
#3 - “Who in their right mind would want to hold a town hall meeting if they know they will be targeted with a crowd of very angry shouting possibly violent people…”
Brian, did you liberal, leftist, losers give George Bush the same benefit of the doubt when he refused to go to the NAACP conventions for the same reasons?
August 8th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Oh! And by the way I meant Bryan McAfee
August 8th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
what monkey? bush prescreened the people who were admitted to his town halls and speeches. People who were known republican supporters. They didn’t just let in bus loads of strangers. They were very keen to root out “plants” and they got away with it without any real criticism.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
they completely closed down the area around the rnc in nyc and had a small area for demonstrators behind iron wire and scaffolding totally out of view by the conventioneers and again noone really complained.