Sally --This is the moment our movement was built for. Throughout August, members of Congress are back home, where the hands they shake and the voices they hear will not belong to lobbyists, but to people like you. We didn't win last year's election together at a committee hearing in D.C. We won it on the doorsteps and the phone lines, at the softball games and the town meetings, and in every part of this great country where people gather to talk about what matters most. There are those who profit from the status quo, or see this debate as a political game, and they will stop at nothing to block reform. They are filling the airwaves and the internet with outrageous falsehoods to scare people into opposing change.
So we've got to get out there, fight lies with truth, and set the record straight.That's why Organizing for America is putting together thousands of events this month where you can reach out to neighbors, show your support, and make certain your members of Congress know that you're counting on them to act. But these canvasses, town halls, and gatherings only make a difference if you turn up to knock on doors, share your views, and show your support. So here's what I need from you:
Can you sign up to attend an event near you?
No irony here, people.
We've got them on the run!
ReplyDeleteI am encouraging all to use the email set up by the current moronic administration (flag@whitehouse.gov), intended to report "fishy" persons, as a way for those that oppose dictator barack obama's socialist health care to voice their opinions, disgust and dissatisfaction.
ReplyDeleteLet us overwhelm the terrorist administrations inbox with meaningful emails instead of those that we are asked to send, emails "tattling" on those who do not believe in or have the same views as them. What kind of person, let alone a supposed president, would want to turn the land of the free and the home of the brave against one another? I am truly ashamed to have an administration like this representing this country, and administration that preached bringing us together during his run for dictatorship, then once he is ignorantly elected, continues to do everything in his power to divide this country the quickest and best way he can.
What? Sally isn't your real name? I feel betrayed. How can I trust you anymore.
ReplyDelete*"Sally" Fan Club
Thanks for the link, Sally -- just signed up!
ReplyDeleteLooks like someone likely mixed up our email addresses and instead of a welcome call to attend a townhall, I've been getting a stream of ignorant, over-emotional, panicked wingnut screeds and warmed over comics exhorting me to violate my fellow Americans' First Amendment rights by actively disrupting gatherings and townhalls with yelling, screaming, catcalls and interruptions (though certainly not providing actual arguments for discussion). Yours for the asking.
From some of the emails I'm getting from the far-Right, you'd think the movement was all about insurgency and pouring sand in the engine of our government; blind, mindless objection to all things having to do with the current administration, from townhalls to the weight of of a staff member to what brand of beer is had; devaluing the discourse to the level of comparing the cash for clunkers program to the death and destruction of Katrina, and warming over old Vanity Fair comics.
There was a time when I could see value in cherry picking the good and rational ideas from each party, from each politician, but I'm finding a solid irrational wall of the terrible twos coming out of the Zombie Right. It's all destruction, no construction.
From the high-priced TV ads and higher-priced "liberal" news stations featuring Beck, O'Reilly, and Dobbs, to the massive amount of astroturfing, you'd almost think this scary, screeching represents more than just the fringe right. Good thing the majority of Americans aren't wasting time and effort "overwhelming" the governments inboxes, turning out to stop public gatherings with catcalls, and threatening the lives of politicians.
GoHP - The Constitution precludes Government from violating citizens' first amendment rights. Not other citizens. And arguing more loudly than other citizens, while intensely annoying and disrepectful, is not a violation of someone else's right to speak freely. And if there are, as you cite, fringe elements of Americans who adhere to a conservative political view of how the country should function, who have taken a page from the public backlash during 8 years of Bush-bashing, while I don't admire it nor practice it myself, I certainly understand it. On the other hand, there are plenty more of us who are equally as angry but who find other ways to communicate that anger. Please don't make the mistake that so many are making, especially from within the Administration and Congress, that those who are being more polite or civil do not share the same anger, resentment and mistrust of this majority government and the direction they are taking our nation as those who you call "fringe". Because if by being civil in my discourse, my concerns continue to be dismissed and not heard, I too may just raise the volume. It seems to have worked for the left who have mastered it over my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteHello Mudge, your criticism of my use of First Amendment, which would require Congress to be linked directly to the townhall disruptions, is valid. The First Amendment limits a Senator from passing laws that disrupt such meetings. But even though the Supreme Court has interpreted it more broadly than is explicit in the Constitution, applying those limitations to all 3 of the govt branches and down to the state level, including local government, the First Amendment still doesn't prohibit a Senator from hiring a thug as an agent to commit acts that would otherwise break Constitutional law. I'm wrong there.
ReplyDeleteBut even though I referred to the wrong right being violated that doesn't make this wrong right.
This isn't organized annoyance or legitimate protest with placards and slogans. This is organized incitement to riot with all civil discourse blocked and people, even a Democratic Senator, being physically bullied and assaulted by an ignorant, hired mob. I thought the use of Joe the Plumber as a representative icon was low, but what a sad, miserable place the GOP continues to muck about in.
"This particular meeting, in a way is a little bit unique," said Todd Akin, R MO. "Different people from Washington, DC, have come back to their districts and have town hall meetings, and they almost got lynched."
The audience then broke out into laughter and applause.
"I would assume you're not approving lynchings, because we don't want to do that," Akin said, putting his hand to his neck in imitation of choking, which got audience laughing some more.