|
Health care town hall anger rages on
Out on the health care firing line, senators and members of Congress continued to get battered by constituents angry over President Barack Obama's reform plan Wednesday -- with voters raising questions about everything from assisted suicide to coverage for illegal immigrants.Lawmakers insisted over and over that the bills in Congress would cover neither -- but their answers did nothing to tamp down the anger from Afton, Iowa, to Hagerstown, Md., to Rocky Mount, N.C. In Iowa, a self-described "dumb southern Iowa redneck" told Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, "I see nowhere in the Constitution where health care is a right. ... I want to hear it from Obama, I want to hear it from Pelosi, about how this is about 'We the people.'" In Maryland, a town hall by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin quickly devolved into shouting after one questioner ordered Cardin to "cease and desist" from considering health care legislation. Cardin's insistence that he was being fiscally responsible -- "I'm not going to vote for any bill that adds to the national debt," Cardin said -- did nothing to quiet the crowd. "That's your answer?" one man shouted. "You already did!" said another. On the outside, opponents of the legislation outnumbered supporters by about a 10-1 ratio. "Obama energized the youth just like Hitler did," said Barbara Kelly, a substance abuse counselor from Hagerstown. "He's given the country away to the elitist Obama supporters. They don't have to answer to anyone!" In North Carolina, Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield seemed to get a little tired of the frequent interruptions and shouting during a two-hour town hall Wednesday, snapping back at some in the crowd. "Read it!" one protester shouted. "How do you know I haven't read it?" the North Carolina Democrat fired back, according to the News & Observer. Butterfield also tried to correct numerous attendees who insisted that illegal immigrants would be covered under the Democratic plan. "They are not counted in this bill," Butterfield said. "I am telling you they are not in the bill." The events Wednesday seemed to continue what was seen in televised glimpses of town halls Tuesday -- constituents screaming at Specter, a fight breaking out at an event by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) -- that have left the impression of a popular uprising against the plan. The outbursts have clearly rattled the White House into taking a much sharper tack in Obama's own pitch for the idea. But advocates on both sides of the issues are trying to assess just how deep the anger truly runs -- whether 24-hour cable cameras are capturing a small but extremely vocal minority or something much bigger. And perhaps most important, all sides are trying to figure out whether Democrats -- even the ones who didn't get screamed at during their town halls, many of which were peaceable -- will have the political will to vote yes on bills in the House and Senate come fall. Posted by: Fred 2009-08-14 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=276561 |