Posted by
fiddler on Thursday, August 13, 2009 12:00:00 AM
Tonight I'd like to talk about astroturf, and about genuine respect.
I attended a townhall meeting in Kokomo, Indiana. It was hosted by Democratic Representative Joe Donnelly, and attended by a crowd of probably 300 - 400 people. I didn't see any media types in attendance, although one local talk radio host was present with his wife, but no camera crews and no radio crews that I could see were there. Prior to the meeting there were some tables set up with professionally printed signs supporting the President's plan. But the only ones I saw in suits were Representative Donnelly and a couple of local politicians. It being a warm August evening, just about everyone else was dressed very casually, one could even say sloppily compared to the standards of a bygone era. So much for being "too well dressed." There were a couple of printed signs exhorting people to stop Obama's Nazi health care plan, and a few other hand made signs, but nothing vulgar or rude, and no swastikas. The crowd was, by and large peaceful and respectful. No violence of any kind occurred during this townhall meeting, and while there were a fair number of jeers and boos at comments made by Donnelly, the crowd generally was pretty tame. This is Kokomo, Indiana. That's just how we are.
That being said, it was clear that in spite of the fact that that some supporters of Obamacare were present, the crowd was overwhelmingly opposed to it, even in this heavily union town. Speaker after speaker voiced concern over various aspects of the President's policies, starting with his desire to "spread the wealth" around. Saying that he worked hard for what he had, and that he didn't feel that he should have to give it to everyone else, the first speaker asked Donnelly what Congress was going to do about government spending. What he got was the first of many non-answers of the evening. "Do you think Medicare and the VA hospitals are good programs?" Donnelly asked. Right. And just what does that have to do with the price of eggs in China, Joe?
Another member of the crowd asked about "death panels," and got another evasion: that would be an opportunity for the patient and his or her doctor to cover those sensitive end of life issues when the "time was right."
Someone asked about European single payer health care systems, and Donnelly answered that he thought they were working okay. I never did get to ask my question which was more direct: I am a 51 year old woman with multiple sclerosis. The therapy I take, a weekly interferon shot which I administer myself, is very expensive at more than $1400 a month, and I am thankful that I have unsurance to pay for it. I have a friend in Belgium whose mother also has MS. Under their single payer system, because of rationing to control costs, she cannot receive this therapy. She is now in a wheelchair, where she might have been spared that fate if she'd had access to the interferon drugs available here. What guarantees can you make, Mr. Congressman, that I, as a middle-aged woman, with a chronic, incurable disease, would not be denied this therapy because it is deemed too expensive?
But then again, he probably wouldn't have answered that one either.
The most intelligent question of the evening came from a man I know because I happen to go to church with him. His comments drew strong applause from the audience. He asked the congressman that given the fact that the government had taken over banking, taken over GM, was trying to run the coal industry and the economy in general into the ground with cap and trade, and is trying to take over health care, what aspect of our lives will be left untouched? What more before we start down the road to slavery? Aaron phrased the question much more eloquently than that, but you get the idea.
Donnelly didn't even try to answer that one.