Paul Ryan's Pay To Play Town Halls

I suppose Paul Ryan learned his lesson. After revealing the Ryan plan and the idea of making Medicare a voucher system, he got quite an earful of angry constituents at subsequent town hall meetings and realized no one as buying what he had to sell. So to alleviate that problem, Paul Ryan decided to now charge admission for his town hall meetings.

...Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and other Republican members of Congress have chosen to charge admission to their home-district appearances.

Ryan will speak September 6 to the Whitnall Park Rotary Club in Greenfield, Wisc. Admission to the event is $15 per person and includes lunch.

Ryan has no free public town hall appearances scheduled during the recess.

What a coward.

If anyone who reads this blog happens to be nearby a Ryan event in the next few weeks (maybe the September 6th event) or knows of anyone who does, and would like to continue to give Mr. Vouchercare a piece of their mind but can't afford it, please contact me. Maybe we can strike a deal and I'll try to help you pay the price of admission. I'm not a wealthy man by any means, but I don't want this chickenshit to get away with this type of tactic without some pushback.

President Obama's Weekly Address - July 9, 2011

Working Together to Meet our Fiscal Challenges

Paul Ryan's Tragic Town Hall Meeting

How soon before we don't hear about Paul Ryan anymore? If he keeps getting these kinds of receptions, he'll be treated by his Republican colleagues like a leper in a kissing booth.



Where's Bobby Jindal?

Take some damn personal responsibility!!

POSTED BY JHW22

No, you should not take responsibility for a jack-ass who asks, "Who is going to shoot President Obama?" but you should take responsibility for not telling that man, and the audience who LAUGHED at the question, that not only is the question inappropriate but also DANGEROUS AS HELL!!!

HELLO! We still have a member of Congress recovering from being SHOT IN THE HEAD. Today is the birthday of one of her staffers who died, Gabe Zimmerman. One of her other staffers returned to work on Wednesday, Pamela Simon. Political violence is real even if it's a crazy man who pulls the trigger. And it's the crazy person we should all keep in mind when violent words are spoken.

And no, a belated lame-ass statement IS NOT accepting personal responsibility for allowing a violent question to go unaddressed. We do not accept changing the subject, allowing people to laugh without being told to stop and without a significant statement AT THE TIME calling that language UNACCEPTABLE.

I think a proper way to show personal responsibility is for Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) to resign. That way the message is loud and clear -- Americans DO NOT THREATEN THE PRESIDENT.

Dumbass Quote of the Day

"Mankind, is it responsible for global warming? Well I'll tell you something. I have seen evidence on both sides of it. I'm skeptical -- I'm skeptical. And you know, I think at the at the end of this, I think we're going to need more science to prove something one way or the other. But you know - cause I've seen arguments on both sides of it that at times - like I'll watch something about man made global warming, and I go wow, that's fairly convincing. And then I'll go out and watch the other side of the argument, and I go huh, that's fairly convincing too. So, I gotta be honest with you, I don't know. And that's probably one of the reason's why I became a lawyer, and not a doctor, or an engineer, or a scientist, because I can't figure this stuff out. But I would say at this point, that has to be proven, and I'm a little skeptical about it. Thank you."

~New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a town hall meeting catering to the wingnuts.

Quote of the Day

"So the challenge, I think, for the Tea Party movement is to identify, specifically, what would you do?...It's not enough just to say get control of spending. I think it's important for you to say, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits or I'm willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits or I'm willing to see these taxes go up. What you can't do, which is what I've been hearing a lot from the other side, is we're going to control government spending, we're going to propose $4 trillion of additional tax cuts, and that magically somehow things are going to work."

~President Obama in the CNBC Town Hall meeting.

The Party of No Sympathy

Over these last few weeks while Congress has been in recess, we've seen some pretty offensive town hall meetings. Birthers and deathers, seniors who rail against a government run health care option but freak at the idea of possible changes to steamline their government run Medicare, and gun-toting 2nd Amendment activists who for some reason show up armed at health care forums have shown us the ugly, misinformed and disinformed underbelly of the Republican voter, uneducated in the ways of the current health care reform battle among many other things.

But lately, we are becoming witness to the lowest of the low. We are watching our elected officials at said town halls cater to the basest fears of their far right wingnut base and turn their backs on constituents coming to them for answers, constituents in need, people looking for help.

The first of these examples came from Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the heartless representing the heartland, when a distraught woman pleaded for help because her husband's insurance company would not cover his traumatic brain injury. Coburn's response? Call his office, but "government is not the answer." He suggested she should look to friends and neighbors as the sheeple in the audience applauded. I wonder how many of them offered to help this woman and her husband after the meeting was over?

Then came word of Kansas Republican Rep. Lynn "Great White Hope" Jenkins laughing in the face of a young mother with a 2½ year old child who can't afford health insurance when she asked what was wrong with a government run option that she could afford? Here is someone who doesn't want to be on the dole, would rather pay for her own insurance than get subsidized by the government to buy private insurance, and she is basically ignored... as the sheeple again applaud.

But I must say that the latest act of RNC Chairman Michael Steele is disgustingly reprehensible. Steele has shown over and over that in his mind, he is right and anyone who disagrees with him is a moron. It's the Emporer's New Clothes Redux. He knows not of what he speaks and proves it every time he opens his mouth. Well, this time, he not only shows his ignorance but his pompous ruthlessness as well.

Taking a question about health care reform from a student who lost her mother to cancer because she couldn't afford some of the medications, Steele took it all as a big stunt and said, "It makes for great TV. You'll probably make it tonight, enjoy it." He then turned his back on her... and the white sheeple who were bussed in and sat in the front rows of the prodominently black audience applauded.

I mean, I always thought Steele was a bit of a douchebag, but man, that is some cold-blooded shit. What is the point of having a town hall meeting when you don't care what the participants have to say? How does he justify that kind of behavior, not just as a human being, but as a representative, THE representative of the Republican National Committee? Come on, Mike, at least pretend to care. All you're doing is solidifying the notion that the GOP really doesn't give a rat's ass about the average American barely scraping by. He's just as insensitive as he is stupid.

Dave Zirin writes:

...The roots of Steele's unconscionable behavior lie in his own political bankruptcy. The nation faces a health care crisis and has no answer other than telling students, "Everyone in the country needs health care." Lately he has been running commercials telling seniors, "No cuts for Medicare," just two short years after running for senator of Maryland saying that "everything has to be on the table" - including Medicare cuts. As Ron Brownstein wrote in National Journal on Friday, "Steele's pledge this week to 'protect Medicare' might have been more convincing had it not come five months after nearly four-fifths of House Republicans voted to literally end the program as we know it for all Americans younger than 55."

It's one thing to be a fraud. That's politics as usual. But to turn your back on a young person whose mother just died of cancer is more than politics as usual. It's shocking.

UPDATE (10:30pm): Keith Olbermann gives Steele the once over.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Quote of the Day

"That's why people need to continue to go to the town halls, continue to melt the phone lines of their liberal members of Congress, and let them know, under no certain circumstances will I give the government control over my body and my health care decisions." -Michele Bachmann

Thanks for making the Pro-Choice argument, you Pro-Life twit.

The People Health Care Reform Would Help...

... have no idea as to what they are protesting against.

Here is a two minute interview with a middle aged woman, the same woman who screamed "Heil Hitler!" at an Israeli man while he was extolling the virtues of Israel's national health care system. Irony of ironies, she's wearing an "Israel Defense League" t-shirt and yelled "Heil Hitler" at an Israeli Jew.

In two minutes she personified what is wrong with these town hall windbags that haven't a clue why they're against health care reform.



1 - She doesn't want to identify herself with any group except to say that she's a lifelong Republican conservative who "believes in Biblical vows." Good job not trying to box yourself in, lady.

2 - She knows reform is needed because of escalating costs but doesn't want a government take over, as if that were the case. Will she refuse Medicare when she or her husband reaches that age?

3 - She thinks reform will "support illegal aliens." It does not.

4 - Her husband works "two and a half" jobs and HAS NO INSURANCE.

5 - She hopes Obama is voted out of office because he has the audacity to try and provide health care for Americans who can't afford it.

Barney Frank is right. There is no reasoning with these people.

More Like This, Please

This should be a training video on how to deal with misinformed, uneducated wingnuts who waste time at these town hall meetings, not knowing the definition of Fascism.

Wingnut Health Care Hypocrisy (Glenn Beck Edition)

It never ceases to amaze me how often I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at people who are in constant denial about who they truly are. People who engage in class warfare but don't realize they are fighting on the wrong side.

For the last couple of weeks, I've watched as town hall "participants" have decided that it's best for them to interrupt, heckle and outright jeer elected officials instead of listening to what they have to say and try to get some real information about something very important: their health care. Or rather, their health care insurance. They are fighting on the side of the status quo for fear of change, completely oblivious to the fact that - if it hasn't already - the status quo will bankrupt them and the country in a very short time.

Take the example of Katy Abram, the lady at the Specter town hall who didn't want our country "to be like Russia." She said her current insurance policy has a $5,000 deductible, more than what her family would normally pay in a year for health care, but now her son is in need of surgery. She's relieved that her health care is finally about to kick in, and yet she "likes" the health care that she has now. Something that is doing her no good unless it's a catastrophic situation. I do hope someone keeps in touch with her to find out if her son's illness will all of a sudden be considered a "pre-existing condition" or that they find out it isn't covered and ask her again if she still "likes" her current insurance plan. I really hope that doesn't happen to her because it happens to too many people in the US, home of the "greatest health care in the world."

But how do people like Katy get so worked up in opposition to make the system better? Where do people like Katy and all the other loud noise makers at these town halls get their misinformation from? Of course, that's a rhetorical question.

Sometime last year, I remember watching an online video that had been going around. It was a home video of Glenn Beck, perhaps from his home, laying on his living room couch and explaining the horrors he had just gone through because of a botched surgery at a particular hospital. And yet, here we are just a year later and Beck has been doing his usual shtick on his clown show, extolling the virtues of the "greatest health care in the world" in an attempt to scare the pants off of the thirty percenters who watch his show.

Now, I don't watch Glenn Beck because I value my health and I try not to be a glutton for punishment. Luckily for me, people like Jon Stewart do this for a living and put things in perspective.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

It's because of cretins like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin and her "death panels" bullshit on Facebook no less, and moronic politicians in the early stages of dementia like Chuck Grassley feeding into complete and utter lies because he knows that it'll slow things to a crawl, fire up his base and keep the insurance lobby money in his pocket that will ultimately kill true reform or water it down enough to make it meaningless.

ADDING... Joan Walsh looks into Katy Abram and finds she's a leader in the Glenn Beck 9/12 group. Bingo.

While Abram told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell that she wasn't very sophisticated about politics, and claimed not to even know her family income, in fact she's a leader of the 9/12 group, setting up its networking site on Ning, greeting new members, inviting folks to events at her home and elsewhere – and last night, after her star turn, comparing her cause to that of Martin Luther King Jr...

... late yesterday she posted this to the site, comparing herself to Martin Luther King:

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support. These past few days have been trying on my family. But the good outweighs the bad right now. The amount of emails and phone calls I have received supporting me have been amazing. There are so many good people in this country. I have hope that we will overcome.

I have a dear friend whom I went to high school with. He told me today on the phone that Martin Luther King had been marching. Someone threw a brick at his head. and yet he kept walking...

that is what we need to do...keep walking. Let us not allow these people to knock us down. We will stand up taller and speak louder. We can accomplish great things...

Clash of Cultures (It's not what you think)

posted by Armadillo Joe

via Yglesias, proof that Obama Derangement Syndrome is not just a problem for the mouth-breathing knuckledraggers in wingnut comment threads over at LGF or Town Hall, but also at America’s Shittiest Website™ by one of Teh Right's premier "intellectuals".

My friends, this is a very real phenomenon:

"Perhaps people who are busy gushing over the Obama cult today might do well to stop and think about what it would mean for their granddaughters to live under sharia law."

Words fail me.

Another Reason Why I Love President Obama

I saw this as it happened on TV. Glad someone has the video up already!

(H/T Paddy)

Update (6/12/09): Thanks, Paddy.

When Is A Town Hall Debate Not A Town Hall Debate?

When the Republican spin operatives say is isn't.

As Logan Murphy at C&L makes clear, a half hour before the debate was even over, the GOP spin doctors were already sending out e-mails disparaging the debate as not really a town hall format and therefore a disadvantage to McCain.

Yeah, that's right. They saw the writing on the wall with McCain before the gig was over and didn't blame the debater, they blamed the style of the debate. The "town hall" debate that BOTH candidates agreed to - signing off on the rules of the debate in advance - the "town hall" setting that John McCain asked Obama to weekly. The "town hall" style that would've shown the country who connects with the average American - "Joe Six-pack," if you will.

How pathetic. But in a strange way, they spin machine is right. A real town hall would've had a back and forth between the audience member who asked the question and the debater. The rules gave the debater a chance to avoid answering the question or changing the subject. Perhaps if Obama had agreed to do the town halls in the first place, he would have had this thing wrapped up a month ago.

McCain Campaign Loses Its Collective Mind

Does anyone in the McCain campaign realize that there are less than six weeks remaining until Election Day? Does anyone in the McCain campaign care? Has the McCain campaign figured out that they are in serious trouble and decided to just throw in the towel and say, "Fuck it"?

Just two days before the first of three presidential debates, John McCain has decided that a delay is in order to deal with the current financial crisis. Mr. Ten Town Hall Meetings is now trying to back out of the first scheduled debate on Friday, September 26th. I say, "What are you fuckin' kidding me?!" This from the man who just yesterday said that his vote on the largest proposed bailout in the history of the world would be "irrelevant" in the grand scheme of things. And yet, he thinks that delaying the debates and suspending his campaign is the path to take to his irrelevant vote.

Thankfully, Barack Obama isn't having any of it.

“This is exactly the time when people need to hear from the candidates... Part of the president’s job is to deal with more than one thing at once. In my mind it’s more important than ever.”

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said at a news conference in Clearwater, Fla. "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."

Exactly, Senator Obama. The clock doesn't stop ticking when there's a problem or crisis looming over you. A president needs to multitask, and if John McCain isn't able or ready to do so, then step off and let a real leader handle things.

For the McCain campaign to keep treating the American people like rubes and not think that we'd figure out a stunt like this is exactly that, a stunt designed to look as if he's putting "country first," when in fact it's an obvious political ploy, is outrageous.

When was the last time McCain suspended his campaign? Oh yeah, during the Hurricane Gustav crisis - because the Maverick had to be there in person, to stop the mighty hurricane himself and blow off the first day of the Republican National Convention. And how exactly did his presence help the citizens of Texas and the victims of Gustav? Keep searching for an answer, I'll wait...

I seriously believe that the McCain camp realizes that the only way they can even come close to pulling off a win in November (besides voter disenfranchisement and suppression and electronic voting machines) is to put out a daily distraction for the next six weeks and avoid any talk of issues, hopefully waiting out the clock until November 4th. The Palin nomination, Gustav, lipstick on a pig, sexism, the economy, you name it they'll use it to avert, avoid, distract and deceive.

And on a side note, the wingnut hacks who are calling for Republicans to vote against the bailout for all the wrong reasons have no right to use McCain's "Country First" as a slogan.


UPDATE I (10:35pm):

Camp McCain is trying to postpone the VP debate as well. We all know that they'd rather not have Palin say anything anyway, but here is the ruse.

CNN's Dana Bash reports that McCain officials are "trying to negotiate with the Obama campaign and the presidential debate commission" to change next Thursday's planned vice presidential debate into a McCain-Obama affair. The VP debate would be postponed to another date.

"That is what they are proposing," Bash reported. "[McCain officials] understand very well that both the Obama campaign and the debate commission have no intention of delaying Friday's debate, but...if there is no bailout deal by Friday, McCain has no plan to go to debate."

That's fine with me. McThuselah can stay home and pout. Obama will have 90 minutes to himself.


UPDATE II (9/25/08 12:55am):

A senior campaign official says that McCain will NOT debate -- no matter what -- if Congress hasn't reached an agreement on a bailout package.

Well of course he won't debate if there's no bailout package. Think about it. What are the chances that something would be agreed to in the next 36 hours? It's practically impossible for something this complex to be figured out by Friday afternoon. So now they can claim "Country First" and skip out on the first debate, thereby throwing the rest of the schedule in turmoil.

And seriously, did we really think McCain's false town hall debates proposal was honest? There was no way that Obama was going to acquiesce to that offer and the McCain camp knew it; and they also knew they could use it as a talking point against Obama, just as they know that a bailout plan won't be in place by debate time Friday and can use the "economic crisis" as an excuse as well.

Another pathetic attempt at distraction on the same day that we learn Rick Davis was on the lobbyist payroll for Freddie Mac until last month at $15,000 - $30,000 per month.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

The McCain Disconnect - Doesn't Know How Many Houses He Owns

[Updated below.]

When asked how many houses he owned, John McCain said, "I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

The answer from the staff: at least four. At least four? Is it five? Is it six?

Yet this is the man that claims Obama is the elitist. A man that thinks a $5 million annual salary would be considered rich and doesn't know how many homes he owns is supposed to be the candidate in touch with the common man.

Now obviously McCain was trying to avoid the question in an attempt to squirm out of the "rich, old man" mode, but only dug himself in deeper by "not being sure." And in my opinion, his staff didn't do him any favors by avoiding the question with a vague "at least four" answer. Isn't it easy enough to find out? Or did they just stop counting at four? By the way, the answer is seven. John and Cindy McCain own seven homes. Or should I say, "At least seven"? And you know what? Good for them! But don't try to weasel your way out of what you are.

It didn't take long for Barack Obama to let the public know how out of touch and disconnected John McCain really is.



And it looks like the national Republican Party isn't doing McCain any favors on the economy front either. Here's David Sirota:

WHITE HOUSE '08 - GOP CITES RICHEST COUNTY IN AMERICA AS PROOF ECONOMY IS GREAT

The Roanoke Times reports that as Barack Obama convened a discussion about unfair trade policies in economically ravaged regions of Virginia, the national Republican Party countered by citing Fairfax County as proof the economy is doing just fine. "It doesn't take a lot of courage to go to Martinsville and talk about trade," said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R) said in a Tuesday conference call arranged by McCain's campaign. "What would be courageous is to come to Fairfax County, where you have 362 foreign-owned companies and tens of thousands of employees with foreign-owned firms...and take the same stand up here."

Besides the tone deafness of holding up foreign-owned firms as proof of a solid domestic economy, Davis forgot to mention that according to Forbes magazine, Fairfax County has long been the wealthiest county in the United States - a place where the median (the median!) household income is over $100,000 a year. The county is home to many of the millionaire corporate lobbyists that have been instrumental in the passage of rigged trade deals. Davis citing Fairfax County today as proof that trade policies are working for the vast majority of the country would be like FDR citing the Rockefeller family during the Great Depression as proof that the economy was working for most Americans.

UPDATE I (10pm):

What the fuck? The McCainstream Media comes to the rescue of poor, befuddled ol' John "P.O.W" McCain and his "houses" gaffe.

– Marc Ambider, The Atlantic: “[T]he word ‘John McCain’ means a lot of different things, but rich isn’t one of them.”

No, I suppose owning seven properties worth $13 million and being married to a beer distributor heiress worth at least $100 million (we'll never know because she won't release her tax returns) who owns a private jet isn't considered rich. At least compared to their REALLY rich friends.

– Howard Kurtz, Washington Post: The “assumption” that “McCain’s personal wealth makes him insensitive to the struggling economy…is highly debatable.”

Of course! Just because he believes a $5 million annual salary is what he would consider rich is no reason to believe that he's out of touch and insensitive to the personal struggles of others.

The best damage control quote had to come form the McCain campaign's Brian Rogers:

"The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It's not as if he lives in ten houses. That's just not the case," Rogers said. "The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use."
Those four include an apartment in Arlington, a ranch in Sedona, and two condos, in California and Phoenix, he said. The others include "some investment properties and things like that."
He also added: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

Yeah, that's right. McCain's wealth is off limits because he was a P.O.W.! So what if he cheated on his first disabled wife to shack up with a sexy beer forune heiress that bankrolled his political career? He deserves it because he's a war hero!

Fucking shameless.

UPDATE II (10:40pm):

Elvis Dingeldein: "So there you have it: Either Senator McCain is too senile to remember the number of physical buildings he owns and all the expensive things inside them, or he’s too rich to give a shit. Which should come as no surprise to those that watched him defy the Cone Of Silence at Pastor Rick’s Mega-Spiritual Bargain Warehouse Evangelicathon and Corn Feed, where McCain accidentally let it slip that you can’t join his country club if you make less than $5 million a year. “He’s down-to-earth, he’s funny, he’s just like me!” gushed a woman that attends one of Warren’s Fast-Jesus Franchises because she can’t have a personal relationship with The God™ without being in a room with 22,000 other hysterical nutcases. “And Lord he’s right, $5 million a year, that’s rich! He’s so smart!”

Also read: Sam Stein: McCain Camp Plays POW Card on House Gaffe

So Much For McCain's Town Hall Meetings

When John McCain challenged Barack Obama to 10 town hall meetings, one per week, leading up to their respective conventions, I immediately turned to my colleague at work and said, "Yeah, I wonder what the composition for those audiences will be?"

Now comes word, from Fox News no less, that John McCain was a little disingenuous about the attendees at his first Fox televised Town Hall event in New York.

"...as Fox News reported, McCain's campaign misled the public about the nature of the event. The forum was "billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters," but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually "made up of invited guests and supporters," the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.

SHEPARD SMITH: "I reported at the top of this hour that the campaign had told us at Fox News that the audience would be made up of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We have now received a clarification from the campaign and I feel I should pass it along to you. The McCain campaign distributed tickets to supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, who of course is a registered Republican, and other independent groups."

Straight talk.