Right-Wing Thuggery At Democratic Events

Tea party conservatives are organizing into a campaign of disruption and intimidation to disrupt health-care forums and other Democratic events. Politico reports that disruptions are becoming quite common and Think Progress reports that the disruptions are being carefully planned:

This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity. Missing from [corporate media] reporting of these stories is the fact that many of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.

The lobbyist-run groups 'Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks,' which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to Democratic iniyitives. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democrats.

Some of the advice being dispensed to disrupt Democratic events includes:

• Be Disruptive Early And Often
  
• Try To Rattle To Not Have An Intelligent Debate
  

Chris Good at The Atlantic reports that we can expect a long August with these kinds of events:

Over August recess, conservative activist groups will mount a renewed effort to kill the dreaded ObamaCare. August will be a melee of grassroots (or Astroturfed) activity on both sides: members of Congress will be home in their districts, holding town-halls, taking feedback from constituents--in other words, they'll be more open to pressure from activist campaigns than at any other time during the year.

Think Progress: Angry right harasses Rep. Lloyd Doggett with anti-health care chants. (Updated) - Today, House members are back home to begin their month-long recess. The far right has indicated that they plan to welcome many of their representatives with large, angry throngs (“town halls gone wild”). The corporate lobbyists engineering these “grassroots” efforts have indicated their harassment strategy is to “yell,” “stand up and shout,” and “rattle” the members. Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being confronted by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls.
This past weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) was the latest victim of the right’s strategy, where protesters followed him and chanted “just say no” to health care. Watch the video:

Congressman Doggett had this to say after being cornered by Teabaggers and Birthers this past Saturday

"This mob, sent by the local Republican and Libertarian parties, did not come just to be heard, but to deny others the right to be heard. And this appears to be part of a coordinated, nationwide effort. What could be more appropriate for the "party of no" than having its stalwarts drowning out the voices of their neighbors by screaming "just say no!" Their fanatical insistence on repealing Social Security and Medicare is not just about halting health care reform but rolling back 75 years of progress. I am more committed than ever to win approval of legislation to offer more individual choice to access affordable health care. An effective public plan is essential to achieve that goal."

Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation and stands to be among the most to gain from Obama’s health care plan. “Nearly 6 million Texans, including the one in six U.S. uninsured children who live there, could get health insurance for the first time if the plan is enacted.”

MSNBC's Countdown talks about these disruptions in the following video:

Latest Republican Scare Tactic Against Healthcare Reform

In the most recent multi-million dollar PR campaign to kill off health care reform, insurance companies, special interest groups and Republicans are lying to and scaring the daylights out of senior citizens in the most appalling manner.

They are telling seniors that health care reform will literally kill them; That government agents will be sent to senior's homes to ask them how they want to die or they will be required to have five-year medical reviews that could result in death sentences, if Pres. Obama's health care reform is enacted.

Republicans in Congress are completely on board with this beyond this campaign of terror against senior citizens.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Chris Mathews talk about this so called "deather" campaign in the video below.

Where Did All the Republicans Go?

Gallup Poll Daily tracking data from the first six months of 2009 continues to show only four states with a sizable Republican advantage in party identification. As was the case in Gallup's analysis of 2008 yearly data, most states are currently Democratic in their party orientation, with the greatest number (30, including the District of Columbia) classified as solidly Democratic, with an additional 8 states leaning Democratic. Meanwhile, only four states can be considered solidly Republican -- Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Alaska, with Alabama falling into the leaning Republican category.

While the size of the Democratic advantage at the national level has shrunk in the first six months of 2009, this has been due to an increase in independent identification rather than an increase in Republican support. While the Republican Party is still able to compete in elections if they enjoy greater turnout from their supporters or greater support for its candidates from independent voters, the deck is clearly stacked in the Democratic Party's favor for now.

The mid-2009 Gallup state-by-state data continues to show a 42% to 40% Democratic Party identification to Republican Party identification in Texas.


New York Times The January 2009 Gallup poll showed Texas and large swathes of the U.S. to be competitive for Democrats.

Gallup released a report on its survey of political party affiliation by voters at the state level. The results, depicted in the map above, show that only five states have a statistically significant majority of voters who identify themselves as Republicans. The data come from interviews last year with “more than 350,000 U.S. adults as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking.”

The survey shows that Texas is no longer a solid red state and lists Texas as among the “most balanced political states” in party identification. The surveys show that Democrats in Texas now have a slight advantage in party identification, 43% to 41%, a clear reversal from the recent past.

The advance by Democrats is not accidental. Under one party Republican control, Texas ranks last or near last on virtually every issue that affects quality of life for Texas families.

Graphic: LoneStarProject.net

Republicans like Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and David Dewhurst have failed as leaders. At the same time, Democrats have reorganized politically, targeted resources carefully and nominated mainstream candidates who put ideology aside to solve problems.

Related Posts and Links:

• Papers Around The Globe Rate Bush 'Unmitigated Disaster'
  
• GOP Survey: Voters Unhappy with GOP by Republican firm Hill Research
• Center for the Study of the American Electorate final report
• Republican Brand Growing Weak In Texas
• Texas voters increasingly unhappy with GOP - DMN
• Poll's shocking SOS for Texas GOP - DMN

Scrap Obama Care For Perry Care Plan, Says Gov. Perry

Obama said last week at an AARP-hosted town hall on health care, "I got a letter the other day from a woman. She said, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'" The woman should send that letter to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The Texas Observer:

This afternoon, Rick Perry’s office released a letter the governor has sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In the letter, Perry once again threatens to invoke the “state’s rights” protections in the 10th Amendment to resist any health care reform passed by Democrats in Washington. (see Gov. Perry Threatens 10th Amendment Again To Reject Health Care Reform)

Instead of Obama-care, Perry wants the feds to approve a free-market-based plan that Texas officials pitched about 18 months ago.

Under the Perry plan, Texas would divert Medicaid money to allow uninsured Texans to shop for, and buy, health coverage from private insurers.

[...]

Perry writes in his letter to Sebelius that his plan “presents a strategic alternative to continued reliance on government-run health care programs and our already overburdened safety net systems of care.”

I have just one question: Does Perry not realize that Medicaid is a “government-run health care program”? Or that using Medicaid money to fund his plan isn’t reducing our reliance on government-funded health care at all?

(Here’s a pdf of Perry’s letter to Sebelius. And, for all the policy geeks out there, here’s a pdf of the original Texas proposal from December 2007.)

Read Insurance Industry Pushing For "Private, For Profit" Health Care Reform