26 Apr 11
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Dan Webster (R - FL) had a town Hall on the GOP's "Ryan" plan. It got ugly with members of the audience shouting each other down. Video at the link for all to enjoy.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-dan-webster-district-20110426,0,2749190.story
A town hall meeting held in Orlando by U.S. Rep. Dan Webster degenerated into bedlam Tuesday, with members of the crowd shouting down the freshman Republican congressman and yelling at one another.
It was the last of a series of town hall meetings Webster has hosted during Congress' spring recess, which ends Monday. While the others were civil and largely uneventful, the 300 people at Tuesday's meeting were so raucous they were scolded by a police officer to act "like grown people."
Webster tried to go over a series of charts showing growing levels of federal spending and debt, and the reason he supports the federal budget plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. But he was interrupted at every turn by shouts from his critics, including members of progressive groups such as Moveon.org and Organize Now.
Boos and shouts of "liar" were mixed with angry accusations that Ryan's plan to change Medicare would leave those now under 55 without health insurance in their retirement, calls to eliminate the tax cuts first put in place by former President Bush and the need to raise corporate taxes rather than cut entitlement programs.
Others in the crowd began yelling at Webster's critics to quiet down, at one point with the chant "Let him talk!" But the meeting frequently devolved into multiple arguments — some of them heated — between members of audience.
When one man who said he was a veteran yelled that he wanted to know why Webster was cutting Medicare and veterans' benefits, his answer came from the audience instead.
"We can't afford it, you moron!" a red-faced man screamed.
Two Orlando police officers moved to the front of the room and flanked Webster, and pleaded for decorum when the congressman could no longer be heard.
"It's not going to be solved by yelling and screaming and hollering," the officer said. "Let's conduct ourselves like grown people."
If the MoveOn.org's of the world employ a strategy of turning GOP town halls into circuses this summer by sending activists to shout speakers down (and why wouldn't they?) they will likely be met by tea partiers looking to shout back. This is going to be one hell of a campaign season folks.
26 Apr 11
Originally posted by SleepyguyThe Tea Partiers showed the way with their planned disruptions of Congressmen's town hall meetings on the subject of health care reform. Sauce for the goose.
Dan Webster (R - FL) had a town Hall on the GOP's "Ryan" plan. It got ugly with members of the audience shouting each other down. Video at the link for all to enjoy.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-dan-webster-district-20110426,0,2749190.story
[quote]A town hall meeting held in Orlando by U.S. Rep. Dan Webster degenerated into bedlam ...[text shortened]... o shout back. This is going to be one hell of a campaign season folks.
27 Apr 11
Here's another video from an Allen West town hall. Looks like the crowd had his back. Video quality kinda sucks, but it's at this link.
http://shark-tank.net/2011/04/26/allen-west-i-will-not-be-intimidated-heckler-arrested-at-townhall/
Immediately after Allen West took the stage at his Town Hall meeting on Tuesday Evening in Fort Lauderdale, several hecklers who were planted in the crowd began to jeer and interrupt his remarks, forcing West to pause several times and then continue once the crowd calmed down. Police were ultimately forced to removed one of the hecklers from the event. When the hecklers refused to stop their harassment, West stated, “You’re not going to intimidate me.”
Minutes later, a woman sitting behind West’s wife , who had been acting in a disruptive and combative manner by yelling at the Congressman and even harrassing his wife, was asked to leave and was escorted out of the event by Fort Lauderdale Police. As this unidentified woman was being removed from the proceedings, she continued her tirade and used an expletive to address a police officer, which resulted in the officer arresting the woman for trespassing.
The woman being hauled away at the end is Nicole Sandler, formerly of Air America.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/04/allen_west_town_hall_protester.html