Fight in August

[Leo 9]

August 4, 2009, 4:50 pm
Fight in August
By Eric Etheridge


Greg Sargent asked the question of the moment earlier today on his blog: “Is Obama’s vaunted political operation getting outworked by tea-baggers?”

The evidence that the correct answer is yes has been mounting of late, as Democratic Congressmen have been increasingly heckled and jeered at town hall meetings back home. This last Saturday, anti-health care protesters shouting “just say no” disrupted the Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett’s town hall meeting in Austin. On Sunday, Senator Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were booed and harangued about health care reform at a town hall in Philadelphia.

This is not how the Democrats want to spend the August recess. The question is, were they really expecting something different?

Bloggers have been busy reporting on the folks behind the August Town Hall campaign now being mounted by those who oppose health care reform. The effort has roots in the “tea party” protests that sprang up earlier this year, as well as connections to the Swift Boat players.

Last Friday, Lee Fang at Think Progress reported that “much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.”

The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress.

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http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/fight-in-august/

[villager]

1. why aren't Democrats doing the exact same thing to Republicans?

or don't they have "town halls?"

[texastoast]

2. Oh, yes, I'll be attending my town hall if my rep has the balls to do it in person

But, unlike the puke punks, I and the other activists in my county will be following protocol and acting like we have some manners and STILL get our job done.