Today the Star Tribune published a letter using my peace group to justify the town hall mobs.

Today I got to work and opened up a copy of the Star Tribune and found the following letter...

For years, weekly protests by left-wing extremists have been held at U.S. Rep. John Kline's local office.

Now it seems the hard-core left is shocked that, for once, the average guy is protesting against "Obamacare" at congressional town halls. It's as if the right to protest only belongs to them.

The left-wing agenda on health care, cap-and-tax and crazy spending has overreached, and the sleeping dog has finally awakened.

MICHAEL TIERNEY, BURNSVILLE

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/52617417.htm...

I am part of the group that holds the weekly peace vigil outside John Kline's office that this letter refers to. Our group is a very peaceful group that stands out on the corner with signs protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for one hour every Tuesday evening. We have tried getting town hall meetings with John Kline not to disrupt them but to have an opportunity to be able to civilly speak our thoughts to a man who is supposed to represent us. John Kline has been unwilling to hold any town hall meetings however, many of his supporters seem to think they should have the right to disrupt the town hall meetings of Democrats but they say nothing about the fact that Kline won't even meet with his constituents. Today I sent a letter to the Star Tribune in response to the attacks that were launched on my group in today's paper. I do not yet know whether or not my letter will be published, but here is what I wrote...

An August 7th letter to the editor compares our peace vigil outside of John Kline’s Burnsville office to the recent disruptions of town hall meetings by right-wing groups.

I am a part of the weekly peace vigil in Burnsville and we are not “left-wing extremists” as the letter writer states. We are a group of citizens who are concerned about the impact that violence has on our world and are trying to start a public dialog about bringing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to an end. We would like to be able to bring this dialog to a civil town hall meeting in which people are able to speak without being shouted down but John Kline does not even hold public town hall meetings. (Since 2006, Rep. Kline has substituted a computerized, robo-calling form of “tele-town hall” instead of holding actual face-to-face public meetings.)Unlike the right-wing groups that have been taking over town hall meetings and shouting people down to stifle debate our group believes in civil discourse and we would never engage in the sorts of tactics that we have seen used at recent town hall meetings. If the letter writer wants to engage in peaceful protest as our group does we will support his right to do so even if we disagree with him, but we will not stand by his attempts to use our peaceful protest to justify tactics that we would never even consider engaging in.

would have described our founding fathers.

What is really funny is that the most well known member of our group is a former FBI agent who still refers to herself as a conservative sometimes, she is on our side on most of the issues but the idea that she is a "left-wing extremist" is laughable.

to Cindy Sheehan protesting outside the Bush ranch. Are they so stupid they really can't see the difference between what she did and disrupting meetings?

I suggest the Reps stand up and tell them since they are unable to hear dissents from their own constituents (the ones who voted for them, not the Bozos on the bus), the Reps will have to assume they are for it, and vote accordingly.

Then it will be the protesters' fault.

Our protests are about exercising our free speech rights, their protests are about shutting down other people's right to free speech. They have every right to protest peacefully in the same way that people like Cindy Sheehan have done, but they do not have the right to use mobs to prevent other people from speaking.

Here is what my friend sent in an e-mail, very interesting to say the least.

Who is Michael Tierney? The name rang a bell as soon as I heard it, but I wasn't sure why. He runs a direct marketing service that targets political races. I met the guy while I was looking at options to run newspaper insert advertisements cheaply and he had a truck covered in Kline stickers. It seems that he's been a prolific letter writer for Kline in the past with other misleading pieces. It seems likely that he gets a lot of valuable business from Kline for delivering attack ads. Chances are he'll be a real thorn in the side of Dan Powers next year.

He works here:

http://www.independentdel.com /

http://www.spoke.com/info/p7ecjT9/MIKETIERNEY

I know however that at least one of my friends wrote a letter that did include these new facts.

pretending to be John Q Public and debasing the political discourse

I am consistent in my values however and I hold Democrats to the same standards that I hold Republicans. I have been critical of Obama's policy towards Afghanistan many times in the past.

I have literally been in dozens of anti-war protests since Obama took office (I average two a week most of which are small but there have been a few fairly large ones). The vast majority of the people who I protest with are consistent in their values and are not afraid to criticize people on either side of the aisle.

But a gutless coward, as well. Shame on this latter day John Kline, who besmirches the name he carries.

Countering bluster with reason. Thank you.

Your letter is wonderful

Good response-- let us know if they print it. n/t	TreasonousBastard	Aug-07-09 01:40 PM	#1
Excellent LTTE, hope it is published as a rebuttal. n/t	jody	Aug-07-09 01:41 PM	#2
"left-wing extremists?"	Echo In Light	Aug-07-09 01:42 PM	#3
I believe thats how King George	BOSSHOG	Aug-07-09 01:46 PM	#4
Yes, in this person's world everyone who opposes the war is an extremist	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 01:47 PM	#5
I've seen the Right Wing compare these town hall meetings	Contrary1	Aug-07-09 01:51 PM	#6
They really don't seem to get it...	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 02:09 PM	#7
One of my friends knows who the original letter writer is...	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 02:32 PM	#8
you should write a letter exposing this creep for what he is	Gabi Hayes	Aug-07-09 05:08 PM	#12
I had already sent my letter by the time that I learned this information	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 05:20 PM	#13
good...this is a microcosm of what's happening nationally: paid thugs	Gabi Hayes	Aug-07-09 05:30 PM	#15
Cline isn't the only supporter of the Afghanistan war. Barack Obama is also. Protesting there?	timeforpeace	Aug-07-09 04:27 PM	#9
I would be if I lived in DC, it is quite a commute from here.	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 05:02 PM	#11
Take your time. You'll still be first in line. Only Repukes get protested over the wars.	timeforpeace	Aug-07-09 05:22 PM	#14
Not true, our group will protest any politician who supports the war	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 06:02 PM	#16
You are a shining example of what peaceful protest is all about. Good job!	EmeraldCityGrl	Aug-07-09 04:31 PM	#10
So, he's not just a shame to his name	gratuitous	Aug-07-09 06:12 PM	#17
Why is John Kline anti-healthcare? n/t	ColbertWatcher	Aug-07-09 06:16 PM	#18
Well he has taken a good chunk of money from the insurance industry	Bjorn Against	Aug-07-09 07:39 PM	#19
So, he wants to profit from other people's suffering. n/t	ColbertWatcher	Aug-08-09 12:16 AM	#20
K&R. Thanks for this; another vote to let us know if they print it. -nt	nilram	Aug-08-09 04:33 PM	#21
Beautifully written.	SalmonChantedEvening	Aug-08-09 04:46 PM	#22
were you shocked to learn that you are not an average guy?	lame54	Aug-08-09 04:48 PM	#23
Yeah, and I was even more shocked to hear that the insurance lobbyists were average people	Bjorn Against	Aug-08-09 08:53 PM	#24
These people are despicable	proud2BlibKansan	Aug-08-09 08:58 PM	#25