No way to stop "The Plan"? Hot debates in town halls across nation.

[skip fox]

I can't imagine a way out of this. The Republicans have what appears to be
a perfect plan. They delayed a bill until after recess and planned to disrupt
town halls across the country. NOW they don't even have to bus anyone in. The
distruption has momentum and Fox cheerleading will keep it going all month on
its own. Conservative right wingers across country will come to these and
chime in.

What can be done? The town halls are essential. Access for the public to these
is essential. The thugs around the country know how to scream and they listen
to Rush and Hannity for their "bright observations" ("The government can't
even run Cash for Clunkers, how can anyone expect it to run health care?",
etc.)

Maybe moderates and liberals (and ordinary citizens) want to take these back?
How? That's the only way out I can see. For the normal citizens to demand
respect and a civil exchange.

But who will get this going?

Keith? . . . Rachel???

[DJ13]

1. Liberals must confront them, shout them down, show their own passion

Lets not repeat the cowardly way we handled the Brooks Bros. Riot in Florida 2000.

[Gold Metal Flake]

3. There are those on DU who say that to shout them down...

...would be to lower ourselves to their level. Non-confrontation would serve who best exactly?

[DJ13]

5. Non-confrontation would serve who best exactly?

The defenders of the insurance industry would be the only winners if we turn our backs on their tactics.

Everyone else would be the losers when we find ourselves stuck with a bad reform bill.

[skip fox]

6. But then there might only be shouting going on.

I agree with not letting them get away with this as in Florida, but . . .

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. But what?

[masuki bance]

2. Don't forget this advice-

Obama- "...I want you to argue with them and get in their face," he said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/17/politics/p185733D40.DTL&type=politics#ixzz0NLFyEzQk

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. SIG!

[skip fox]

8. That's good, but when they're positioning themselves throughout the hall

and shouting negative slogans and then all pretending to spontaneously break into applause, how does one do it?

I think they got a great plan.(Immoral as hell, but great.)

Could representatives have a list of their instructions projected on a screen and point to them as they are used?

Or even a list of phrases from Hannity and Limbaugh projected??? Then the representative can say. "Here is a list of current criticisms" and answer a number of them.

Would a disruptor use a phrase which is already projected on a screen? (And these are canned and prepared so if we can collect a number of them or these can be passed around among staff of different representatives.)

That's all I can think of: fighting bullying with information.

[ColbertWatcher]

7. "who will get this going?" I'm going to say ...

... next to no one.

[Berry Cool]

9. You expect Keith to do this?

But...but...Glenn Greenwald just told us that Keith has revealed himself as completely lacking in integrity...we can't count on him to do this.

He has only two choices:

1. Resign, out of principle, and condemn himself to a life of anonymous obscurity because he has fallen on his sword for his beliefs one too many times and no one wants to hire him anymore; or

2. Go rogue, denounce his employer GE and all its works live on MSNBC, get fired for it, and condemn himself to a life of obscurity because he has fallen on his sword for his beliefs one too many times and no one wants to hire him anymore.

Either way, we get stuck with one fewer champion to help us win health care.

[stuball111]

11. Well, They're doing a fine job on theri own

We could organize and say, show up in force hours before the meeting and clog the hall with Democrat support, but then, we could just allow them to go on making fools of themselves, and when fall comes, pass single payer and be done with it. The real pressure should be focused on the opponents like the bluedogs. While the nutbags are running around screaming their heads off, we could be focusing on the real problem. They make their own distraction.