300 Angry Patriots Jeer Rep Doggett in Austin!
UPDATE: I have updates below and a link to YouTube on Doggett's South Austin event:
Rep Doggett's Town Hall today did NOT Go According to Plan. A posting on the incident:
An angry crowd of an estimated 300 people caused Lloyd Doggett to cut short his “office hours” public appearance in Austin. When asked if he would change his vote on health care if it appeared that his constituents did not want it, he stated that he had to use his judgment and just because a few angry people come out it was no reason to change his vote.Following that he called an end to the discussion and attempted to leave 30 minutes before the published time. He was followed through the parking lot to his car by constituents chanting “just say no”, His car was blocked and he was delayed leaving.
A Doggett supporter described the incident as “a nasty crowd'
Help us show him how these constituents feel.
The next “office hours” meeting is scheduled for 4pm today at the Bastrop County Courthouse. Make your voice heard.
More reporting on it:
WHAT a good time I had today and I must admit I was on the edges and not starting all the chanting and pressuring. I figure I call his office every day so he hears from me, this time it was little old ladies on walkers and they had never done this before.Almost all the signs, no socialized medicine, keep your hands off my rights, just say no, pictures of Doggett with big X’s across the face.
There was no sound system, so he could only be heard by 5 people at a time. He was asked if this Health care was going to cover illegal alliens and he said, NO.
they started calling him a”liar” and “read the bill”.I had a copy of the bill (weighs almost 10 #’s) and they pushed me to the front but I didn’t get to question him.
There were many new “freepers” there, I think people are waking up. If he wasn’t scared when he left, he should have been.
UPDATE: Comment include a report on what happened in Bastrop: "Doggett's Bastrop fiasco went equally as bad." Protesters ended up packing the hall, and Democrats operatives ended up threatening the concerned citizens and telling them they had no right to speak during Doggett's Potemkin-village-style Town Hall.
UPDATE2 8/2/09: More first-hand reports on these events that came via email:
1. "We just returned from the Randall's 'Town Hall Meeting.' If a picture is worth a thousand words, you can see Rep. Doggett swamped by his constituents as he was trying to leave a BIG meeting--at least 100 outside Randalls. The chants were 'Just vote NO'; 'Don't vote for Doggett', etc. His car was blocked as he tried to leave and he finally got out and tried to get folks to move. His exit was having the driver back up to the exit near Brodie and spinning away ASAP. You would have enjoyed every minute. I spoke to a young lady with camera and video camera in hand who said she would take my suggestion and post it on youtube. I shall keep looking and forward the link; there were other cameras there, but I did not get to speak with the photographers after my chat with her. I also suggested that she forward the videos to the local news groups. They probably won't show them, but they must know we will not accept what is going on. Here's the first on Youtube. This looks mild considering what it escalated into. No riots, just passionate people! Look for new uploads coming. Liberals have never seen what they have been seeing for the last four weekends in Austin! (____) estimated the crowd well over 200. He should know. Last weekend he did the counting when Lloyd Dogggett spoke to his supporters and we protested across the street with signs."
2. "It was a beautiful thing at the Town Hall meeting Doggett had today at the Randall's on Brodie Lane. About 500 people were there of which 480 were against him! Many placards and very vocal people telling him he was full of bull crap. In the end he was chased out of the Randalls area and about 200 kept following him thru the parking lot shouting 'Just say NO'. IT was a beautiful thing! This was not what I expected being he keeps getting elected to office. This was something else he could not justify when he was asked about it i.e. who keeps electing you?. It was obvious he had not read the Obama health care plan. He as much said so on two occasions. The crowd went wild when he admitted that. People came prepared with pages of the plan and [they] read them verbatim to him... He would say, 'well that's not what it really means' or 'well it won't be applied that way'... etc. That was like throwing red meat to the wolves! Also, he admitted that every illegal in the county would be covered! Fights nearly broke out over that comment. Also, [he] lied about his heath care when asked. He said, 'no I would exchange my health plan for this one'. His mouth said this but his eyes were saying something else. At the end I have to admit he did stand by his far left liberal beliefs. When he ended the session he said, 'I heard what you have to say but I'm still voting for the Obama health care plan'. It was at this point he made a break for the parking lot to make a get away. However, the car he showed up in was not where he thought it was so now he had 200 people following him around the parking lot shouting, 'Just Say No' until one of his staffers got him in the right car. Again a beautiful thing. Thought you would like to know. Now what we have to do is get people out to vote. As bad as our local newspaper is they do a good job of showing my approximate neighborhood who votes. In this case for him. As one could expect the central Austin crowd are the ones who get out the vote and that area around the university. Check out his website to see a detailed look at his district. If you do, note that the vast majority of the district is rural. Perhaps its a misconception on my part to assume that just because you live out in the country some how you are conservative. Well, my commitment is to get the vote out in my neighborhood. I guess I'll be a 'yellow dog conservative'. Sure hope somebody runs against him."
3. "We outnumbered them 10-1. It didn't even last the alloted time. Doggett left the parking lot at 11:50 followed by about a 50 people chanting 'NO To HEALTH CARE'. He didn't bring a microphone, it was poorly managed, people couldn't hear, some shouting and booing when he told obvious lies. It was very interesting...I'm sure he wishes he hadn't scheduled this event."
4. "Oh man, you would have loved it!!! Doggett had his minions set up shop outside the Randalls in our neighborhood, and try to tout 'Obamacare'. He turned a deaf ear to the several hundred of us who were there, and was often drowned out by hoots and hollers. A few of the Marxist lefties were there, but this is the first time that I've seen them so outnumbered in Austin. When it was obvious that Doggett was intransigent, the crowd began chanting, 'Just say no.' We continued, and continued, and continued. He decided to leave, 50 minutes ahead of schedule, and was followed out into the parking lot by the crowd, still chanting louder and louder, until he drove off. It was wonderful!"
UPDATE 3:
Another YouTube summary of the event.
Posts
33 comments:
I have taken the handout given out by the right-wing folks there and have READ HR3200 on the pages they list. I am simply astounded at the claims vs. the reality of what is in the bill. The bill does not say what the handout says it says. The handout uses the "ACORN", saying they're going to get money- from my ACTUAL reading of HR3200, the only way ACORN will get money is if they get into the Hospice or Home Health business, which is the type of non-profit organizations to which the bill is referring.
Someone, (hmm, wonder who?)who apparently has MUCH to lose (power/money/both?) if we do actually get an out of control "health" insurance industry reined in has put together a packet of lies and these people are acting as if it is the gospel truth. I've had them ask me "Have you read THE BILL?" Until today, no one could tell me the number of the bill- of all the people I asked, only ONE (a nice lady to whom I talked about an hour afterwards) gave me the number. Since none of the others knew the number of the bill, I can only think that they had never read it, either.
What people need to do is take a long breath, sit down, google "HR3200 Health Care" and sit down with the rightie's sheet and go through the pages they list, marking the lines. I printed out those pages, marked the lines and then went back and read. Many of them you need to go back 2 or 3 pages and read the entire section to know to what they're referring, as the writer of this flier clearly either didn't do, or who intentionally is misleading folks.
It is always good to do your own research, folks! With the 'net, it truly doesn't take a lot of time. Engage that brain, see what is really in the bill and then let's have a civil discussion about policy differences, which I have no doubt exist.
I think what lies at the base of this is that these people hate President Obama and believe he is out to tear down our country- I can't even tell you how many people told me today that Obama is "a marxist" and is "trying to turn our entire country to maxism, socialism", (whatever 'ism" they could think of.
TAKE A BREATH!!! READ- then let's talk.
Doggett's Bastrop fiasco went equally as bad.
At first, he was at Bastrop City Hall to award the $200,000.00 taxpayer funded gimme for the restoration of an old city hall that doesn't even qualify under the Texas Historic Commission's rules as a historic site (the Bastrop Police Department also got a whopping $40K for a city that is rapidly growing and has a huge shortage of police officer, equipment, etc.)
Much to Doggott's (and the Bastrop County Democratic Party's) surprise, quite a few protesters showed up from a county that is deep blue.
There was a lot of backslapping from the Bastrop Historic Association, as well as the mayor. But Doggett seemed a bit unnerved by the protesters.
He then went to Kerr Community Center, once an old black protestant church to hold a "town meeting" under police escort. There were so many people there the old building was full. People came carrying their signs and were told by the Bastrop police that they could not take their signs inside the building.
After Doggett gave his "health care bill" speech, he opened up to questions by it was very obvious, after the forth person he called on, that he was only calling on those he knew to be Democrats.
One older lady had enough and shouted out "Congressman Doggett, will you accept the public plan?" A very large African American man told her to shut the hell up and she informed him she had First Amendment rights. He then told her "Either shut up or you will suffer the consequences." She asked "Are you threatening me?" He said "I told you to shut up or you will suffer the consequences". She then reported the man to the police telling the Bastrop police offer she had just been threatened and she went outside to file a complaint.
Another man yelled at Doggott something about spending all the taxpayers money which got him pushed and shoved by two Democrats, one white, one black. He filed charges against the two.
One Democrat (in a blue Bastrop County Democratic Party t-shirt), a woman, was trying to force the police to make the protesters leave. She even tried the excuse that the protesters were violating the building limits place by the fire marshall, but she didn't have any luck in getting the protesters removed.
There was lots of screaming from the blue t-shirts that people should just shut up or leave and that they didn't have any right to speak their minds. One blue t-shirt said that Doggett had come to talk to them, and not the protesters. So much for the freedom of speech.
I blame Doggett because everyone knew he was just calling on Democrats to ask questions, and the protesters wanted answers, as well.
I left early because things were really starting to get out of hand as Doggett continued to lie about what was in the bill.
One lady asked where she could find the bill on line and he referred her to his own website. You would think that a man who has been in D.C. as long as he has would know that the bill can be found at thomas.gov. but he gave her a pretty convolute answer where she could find the bill.
Not to respond to Kathi; I don't know what kind of handout you have been getting. I have never seen one. So I have done my own research on the bill, and I can tell you, the big losers are going to be senior citizens. Doggett even admitted in Bastrop that part of the money for Medicare/Medicaid is going to be directed to this bill and away from M/M. Now, maybe that doesn't worry you, but to millions of baby boomers facing having to go on M/M and only 42% of Texas doctors accepting M/M, to lower the reimbursement to doctors as this bill will, is frightening.
And if you think that Obama isn't the antithesis of everything this nation was founded on, I suggest another reading assignment for you, Rules For Radicals by Saul Alinsky. After you read that, get back to me.
Kathi, have YOU read the bill? We have pointed out at least 15 outrages with the Waxman bill, none of them are ACORN-related - taxes, mandates, restriction s on terms of care, squeezing patients, imposing rationing, putting unfunded mandates on states, taxpayer funded abortions, the list goes on ... I dont know what handout you refer to or ACORN. Check the prior Travis Monitor post on Obama's rhetoric vs reality though. And please, we know that bogus talking point about insurance companies comes from DNC central, please dont bore us with attacks on parts of the free enterprise system, the Democrats are killing off enough of our free enterprise system as it is.
Did you not see what "Kathi" wrote? Yes, she read the bill. I read the bill, too, and the handout she's talking about--which I have received via email over and over again--is a pack of lies. The citations don't even line up, someone just sat down and fabricated this out of whole cloth. I don't mind if you wingnuts express your opinions, that's the basis of free speech, but can't you do it without being duped into someone else's lies? Read the bill for yourself, and if you're too stupid to understand it, ask someone else.
I too have actually read the bill and am appalled by the lies from those who obviously have not read it. They claim it prohibits private health insurance; it does not. They claim it contains a provision for killing old people; it is a reimbursement for doctors who advise patients who want to complete a living will.
I also fail to see how disrupting a public meeting (which is being orchestrated nationwide by a right wing think tank) is going to convince your reps to vote your way. More Democrats every day are canceling their town halls because of the wingnut protesters. So you have effectively blocked ALL of their constituents from hearing their reps discuss this very important issue.
I have already called and made an appointment with my rep in his office while he is home in August. I refuse to compete with ignorant wingnuts.
Now go really read this bill and quit lying about its contents.
"Did you not see what "Kathi" wrote?"
Yes, and since it is well-known that ACORN has been funded via other means and bills, it may be a simple case of a handout talking about Stimulus or something else.
Problem is, the way I see it, is that most of the people protesting health care reform are exactly the same people who will benefit the most from this kind of change in the status quo.
The insurance companies have got us all by the short hairs and are dropping us from their coverage as soon as we become too expensive for them. That is, if we are able to get coverage at all in the first place.
We The People need to stick together in this fight, not go at each other's throats. The system as it is is not working for working people in this country. I cannot afford health insurance and I suspect many of you out there cannot, either. Too many people only have insurance because it comes as part of their job. Well, let's hope you never lose that job, because you will have a very hard time getting coverage afterwards, if at all.
Working against your own best interests, which is what I see people fighting health care reform as doing in spades, is not smart.
Do you really want things to remain as they are? I have a very hard time believing you do.
Propose an alternative if you do not like what is being proposed. For me, this bill doesn't go far enough. I want to see real single-payer insurance where everyone is covered, no matter their income or age.
I just hope my knees hold out long enough for me to reach Medicare age.
Health care should be a right, not a privilege. We all stand to benefit from a healthier America.
Here in the U.S. we have some of the worst healthcare outcomes of any developed country, and pay the most money per capita in order to achieve that dubious standing. We can do so much better. I am a healthcare provider as well as consumer, and I support a single-payer solution.
When (I think it was for first "ANONY" person) talked about reading THE BILL, it would be helpful to state to what bill you're referring. I'm personally a big fan of HR676, but it hasn't got a chance of a snowball in hell of passing.
THE BILL that I referred to in my post was HS3200, as I stated several times.
I have not read the entire bill yet, as I believe I stated in my post (if you "read" "the bill" with the same apparent lack of understanding with which you read my post, then I certainly understand why you may have so many mistaken ideas about what is in the post.) MY post had to do with a nutty handout that was being passed around (and I've received it on email, too) that I took to the bill, downloaded it, printed out the specified pages, and then tried to match up what the flier said it said and what it actually said. The two could not have been further apart. Whoever wrote the original is either truly so stupid that they didn't understand a thing they read and didn't understand how a bill reads or is a very evil person for intentionally lying about what is in it, knowing that the majority of those on the right would take it as "gospel" and never read and think for themselves. Either way, the original writer of that flier has done you- and our country, a grave disservice.
We may have policy disagreements, and that is fine, but let's disagree about what is actually IN the bill, not what someone made up.
By the way, I LOVE the way the number has grown overnight- like sea monkeys! Maybe 200 people if you REALLY stretched it, and the majority of them were misinformed about what is in the bill. They might still not like it if they knew what it really contained, but why are y'all so scared to actually know the truth. ("You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" is a favorite quote for me.:)
We The People need to stick together in this fight, not go at each other's throats."
What a foolish comment! We the people are standing up to a stupid Congress-critter who is attacking our freedom, our prosperity and our very lives!
We the people are getting screwed by the Obama administration and the tax-happy Democrats, with their stupid and destructive socialist schemes. it's time to read up on the founding fathers....
"It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the Revolution. The freemen of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle [usurpation of power] and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle. We revere this lesson too much . . . to forget it." - James Madison
" . . . nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers press upon them so fast, that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue creates pensioners, and the penshioners urge for more revenue. The people grow less steady, spirited, and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt, and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity, and frugality, become the objects of ridicule and scorn, and vanity, lusury, foppery, selfishness, meanness and downright venality swallow up the whole society." - John Adams
"I am a healthcare provider as well as consumer, and I support a single-payer solution." Why do you support denying people their rights and freedoms to do as they so choose when it comes to healthcare? What do you have against freedom?
Bullying will not be tolerated! Try shouting down a speaker in my town and you'll get a whupping.
"Bullying will not be tolerated! Try shouting down a speaker in my town and you'll get a whupping."
Irony alert!
"I read the bill, too, and the handout she's talking about--which I have received via email over and over again"
Why dont you post it here in the comments so we can know what the heck you are talking about. You had hundreds of people many with handmade signs and their own handouts. Hard to know what you are referring to.
This much is certain: Obama has been lying about what is and is not in the bill.
Top 5 ObamaCare lies:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/30/obama-health-care-reform-opinions-columnists-public-option-medicare.html
You are nothing but hypocrits and nazi lovers.
It is obvious there is mis-information on both sides. The Democrat's rhetoric is not the whole truth and many Republican's are preying on people's fears.
I will say this...Any government policy that places the government in direct competition with private industry will be a failure. The public option that Obama is promoting will end up costing taxpayers trillions of dollars without actually lowering the cost of health care.
Government does not create solutions, it only prohibits individuals from making their own decisions and punishes business owners from taking risks.
Anonymous says that any Govt. program in competition with a private program will fail and cost $billions more. A public health option may cost more on a federal level at first, but will save billions at the local level when sick or injured folks without private insurance will be able to see a doctor instead of going to the emergency room. Personally, I think govt. health care is wonderful. Without Medicare to pay for my operations, I would be broke.
What this sounds like is mob rule. So, is the future of GOP politics? What's next tar, feathers and a rail? Is this what our country has come to?
By the way, I read through the bill too and there is nothing in there related to ACORN. There is nothing in there that says "single payer". There is noting in there promoting a European style health care system.
Of course, there is no final bill yet. There are actually several bills floating around. Yet, these protesters just wanted "blood" from the first Democrat to speak in Central Texas. Apparently, the good economy in Texas allows for effectively "nut" jobs to come out of the woodwork and promote lies from Rush Limbaugh and FOX News commentators.
Get over it. The GOP lost the elections (now nearly a year go) because of their incompetence. Well, I guess Mr. Doggert may end up being replaced by another southern, myopic Republican. I guess mob rule is still alive in Texas; make people want to visit, don't it?
"Free speech" means you have the right to always and freely do nothing but shout "just say no" repeatedly so that nothing else can be said by anybody?
Wow, this whole thing is nuts! These folks that turn out to protest don't even realize how they are being manipulated by Big Pharma. If private health insurance is such a great deal for us then why are the righties so afraid of a public option. And why all the misinformation? If we all knew the truth we would be demanding single payer health care.
I am surprised that organizers of the so called patriotic protest only had a handout. They must need a few more days to make one of the classic TV ads that make up such audacious lies. They are very skilled at that.
Almost as skilled as the insurance companies that rake in their millions and billions and drive health costs through the roof. Perhaps the so called angry patriots ought to head to McAllen and get the rip off doctors there to provide better care and lower their profit margins. If they can't, then perhaps they could secede from the union and set up their own private health care with their own private insurance money.
Well, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that a lot of those "protesters" are health-insurance-company people...
"Well, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that a lot of those "protesters" are health-insurance-company people...:"
I agree, and I think that Freedom's Truth is one of their ringleaders. Wonder how much money he's made from Big Pharma already this summer.
Hope y'all just love shelling out to your insurance companies for the privilege of receiving crappy service and less and less coverage—if you can even get insurance—because that's what you're fighting for.
Angry patriot, hardly. More like angry stooges.
"Why do you support denying people their rights and freedoms to do as they so choose when it comes to healthcare? What do you have against freedom?"
I want the choice of a public option. As you say, what do you have against freedom?
How on earth could anyone become convinced that the issue of controlling healthcare costs is some sort of "infringement on our freedom," let alone a handout for illegal immigrants? Have none of the 200 people there ever had a claim denied? A loophole in their policy exploited? Been turned down for a "prexisting condition"? Offered a plan that doesn't fit their needs,but had no option for other care, unless they switched employers? Lost a house after successfully fighting cancer? Been forced into bankruptcy after a family member died of a serious, long-term illness?
The above are all real-life examples from people I have known. It is inconcievable to me that anyone thinks we should stay with our present system, but to pretend this debate is some sort of red state cheerleading session is just inexcusable!
It's just amazing how the protestors are such suckers. I guess that being played by large companies is a right enshrined in the constitution!
Everyone knows how big insurance shafted homeowners and the govt. after Katrina by not paying policyholders and shifting damages to govt. Now some fools think insurance companies are the best controllers of our health care? These companies are the same kind of greedy leeches that shafted us after Katrina making themselves rich by not living up to their obligations. Reminds me of Orwell's 1984--Doublethink--able to believe two contradictory things at the same time. They have been brainwashed by lobbyists. Rove has been using the Nazi playbook for a long time in putting Repubs in power. Next he seems to be trying anarchy.
You call these people patriots? The You Tube video posted on this blog shows one of the most un-American displays I've seen in a long time. I applaud the protesters for taking their views to the town meeting. No matter how much I disagree with them, it is their right and responsibility to voice their opinions. However, by shouting down Congressman Doggett, they denied him his First Amendment right to speak. This mob may think they were victorious, but we all lose when honest dialogue is stifled. If their ideas have merit, they have no need to keep the opposition from speaking. This scene, more reminiscent of Nazi-Germany than democratic America, sickened me.
""I am a healthcare provider as well as consumer, and I support a single-payer solution." Why do you support denying people their rights and freedoms to do as they so choose when it comes to healthcare? What do you have against freedom?"
This is the single most absurd thing I have ever read. Thank you for being such a loud psychopath, the more you scream and holler the more average people will want to disassociate themselves with the Republican party. Enjoy your irrelevance.
You right wing crackers sho know how to make democracy work. Shout down the messenger. Take over the meetings. Elections matter and you guys lost. You can't simply believe that the smarter, more honest message won out. You AH's will continue to believe all the republican trash even if it goes against your personal interest. Why don't you just secede? Id be a lot happier without a lot of ignorant Texans as part of my ocuntry.
Anti-healthcare "activists" are not the majority in the US. Vocal, yes. Majority, no.
It's time we change healthcare to:
- provide better health outcomes
- lower the cost
If you pay county taxes, you are already funding healthcare via the people flooding emergency rooms who they don't have healthcare. Simply walk through an emergency room door in any county hospital and spend an afternoon or evening to see for yourself.
Those who are willing to honestly debate will find others from the other side willing to talk with them. Those who prefer to shout us down will not.
You should support Lloyd Doggett and Obama's healthcare plan because it will be better for the US than what we have now.
Signed,
Birthers are Batty
This is completely wrong: "Government does not create solutions, it only prohibits individuals from making their own decisions and punishes business owners from taking risks."
The risk for health insurance companies is covering a person with a major illness.
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