Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Going for Strike Four | African Laughter »

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Politics Re: Re: Town Hall Smackdown

Posted by Eli Sanders on Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 2:33 PM

One Washington Congressman is preemptively surrendering to the teabaggers—who he accuses of having "Brown Shirt tactics" and "a lynch-mob mentality."

WASHINGTON — Since being elected 11 years ago, Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, has held 305 town hall meetings in sweaty high school gyms, community centers and county courthouses across his district.

But during this summer’s month-long congressional recess, he won’t be holding any in person.

Baird said his decision to scrub such constituent gatherings was partly prompted by an atmosphere of intimidation and harassment from right-wing opponents of Democratic health care reform efforts who have disrupted town hall meetings in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin.

I've been doing a brief survey of the Democrats in our Congressional delegation today. Congressman Rick Larsen still seems to be the one with the most tea-baggable schedule of public events. Meanwhile, Congressman Jim McDermott's office says he's currently set to do a tele-town-hall, a press conference, and an event in a private home—all of them appearances where it's easy to keep right-wing hecklers at bay. Congressman Jay Inslee is also getting on the tele-town-hall bandwagon (though, to update, his office points out that he'll also be doing a live, in-person town hall in Washington sometime this August). Patty Murray's office says the Senator has no town hall meetings planned for the recess. And Senator Maria Cantwell's office hasn't yet responded to a question about her recess plans.

Comments (16) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

cantwell will only be doing town halls with boeing, microsoft, amazon, the port of seattle - her constituency.

Posted by Max Solomon on August 6, 2009 at 2:36 PM

Brown Shirt assholes. Bring on the AFL-CIO guys.

Posted by oh, THAT on August 6, 2009 at 2:48 PM

I say we bring brown shirts to throw at these fuckers and yell at them to put on their damn uniforms.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on August 6, 2009 at 3:08 PM

As much as I hate the tea-bagging assholes, canceling opportunities for the public to interact with their representatives is a pretty terrible way of dealing with the issue. If they want to show up and make themselves off to be a bunch of douchecanoes, let them.

Posted by vailripper on August 6, 2009 at 3:17 PM

Dussy=Democrat + Pussy. And this froma lifelong democrat

Posted by jeez on August 6, 2009 at 3:19 PM

Brown Shirt is a smoke screen-
BULL SHIT is the operative word.
Baird is a coward pussy who refuses to hear his constituents OUTRAGE over a shitty poorly designed faux"plan" for Health Care.

Posted by you can quote me on that on August 6, 2009 at 3:20 PM

Unless they're facing credible threats of physical harm, I really don't think there's a good reason for these Reps to eschew in-person meetings in favor of what sounds like glorified conference calls. Baird, McDermott and Inslee are being huge pussies about this.

Posted by Hernandez

on August 6, 2009 at 3:57 PM

They need to throw these people out.

I'm trying to remember when I've ever seen leftist protesters allowed to shout over a meeting? I've seen lefties shout outside meetings, I've seen them do silent protests and I've seen them kicked out of congressional hearings when shouting, but just shouting and spouting and everyone sort of just takes it?

Posted by daniel23423kjlkj on August 6, 2009 at 4:04 PM

8
Danny boy-
punk Liberal brats on college campuses routinely shout down invited Conservative speakers.

Posted by eyes wide shut, eh on August 6, 2009 at 4:10 PM

@9 - So conservative speakers being paid bank at a college are the same as congressional representatives on recess discussing policy with their constituants?

What kind of fucked up world do you live in? Wait, don't answer that... I already know.

P.S> I'm sorry about your penis. It had to have been rough on you whenever it's exposed and whoever is around you points and laughs.

Posted by Donolectic on August 6, 2009 at 4:40 PM

Yeah, @9, and they get their punk asses thrown out, as they should. And as these tea-bagging douches should.

Posted by switzerblog on August 6, 2009 at 4:48 PM

Seriously, two can play at this game. If a group is disrupting a public meeting, the other attendees have every right to tell them to shut the fuck up and wait their turn to talk.

Posted by Lee on August 6, 2009 at 5:49 PM

Cantwell hasn't answered any of the e-mails I've sent regarding health care reform. I imagine she's busy sucking up to the lobbyists who have promised her a bright future in defrauding the American people.

Cantwell doesn't give a good goddamn or she'd be out making statements.

Posted by meowmeowkitty on August 6, 2009 at 7:07 PM

A lot of these right wing douchebags (pardon the redundance in using the terms right wing and douchebag in the same sentence) are being bussed in from outside. Perhaps an ID check at the door to make sure those who attend actually live in the congressperson's district would be a good start.

Posted by RainMan on August 6, 2009 at 7:08 PM

God bless these patriots speaking out for liberty! Obama, the fake president who has NEVER PRODUCED A BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND THEREFORE HAS NEVER PROVEN HE IS LEGALLY PRESIDENT will not take my economic LIBERTY! COMMUNISM MUST NOT GET A FOOTHOLD IN AMERICA! Republicans are the only ones who seem to understand the REPUBLIC is under threat!

Posted by sean r on August 7, 2009 at 9:24 AM

Backing down will teach these folks what? To keep it up.

Can't we give these folks a taste of all of the police technology and methods they've been jacking off to for the past ten or twenty years? Mandatory sentences, pepper spray, rubber bullets, hoods, waterboarding, sound weapons, not-torture...

Shouldn't these folks also get their chance to say, "Don't taze me, Bro!!" ?

Posted by CP on August 8, 2009 at 10:29 PM