Is It Going To Be A Quiet Summer, After All? Dems Scared Of Town Halls

by Glynnis MacNicol | 9:55 am, June 7th, 2010

» 13 comments

Is this is the political version of ‘fool me once’? After a bruising August last year, which saw a slew of politicians being loudly berated by angry voters, the birth of the Tea Party movement, and drove cable coverage during the normally slow summer dog days, Democrats are apparently choosing to stay home. Or at least stay within the confines of invite only parties that serve “chilled wine” and “plates of crackers.” This from today’s New York Times:

Of the 255 Democrats who make up the majority in the House, only a handful held town-hall-style forums as legislators spent last week at home in their districts.

It was no scheduling accident.

With images of overheated, finger-waving crowds still seared into their minds from the discontent of last August, many Democrats heeded the advice of party leaders and tried to avoid unscripted question-and-answer sessions. The recommendations were clear: hold events in controlled settings — a bank or credit union, for example — or tour local businesses or participate in community service projects.

And to reach thousands of constituents at a time, without the worry of being snared in an angry confrontation with voters, more lawmakers are also taking part in a fast-growing trend: the telephone town meeting, where chances are remote that a testy exchange will wind up on YouTube.

Awww! Poor put-upon politicians. Cry me a river of chilled wine! I am going to hazard a guess that this strategy will not be long-lived. I highly doubt that the Dems will be able to keep themselves in the safe telephone zone if the Republicans venture out en masse. Also worth noting: it is only June, the season of Town Halls will not truly kick into gear until August, at which point Dems will have to weigh whether the furor over their absence is easier to cope with than the furor over their presence. Of course, considering the calamitous news cycle we seem to be trapped in it’s anyone’s guess what the political stage will look like come August.

New York Times, Tea Party Movement, The State of Politics

barry

Scared of spoiled babyboomers and astro turfers is more like it.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

The entire House of Representatives is up for re-election, so though there’s no events labeled “Town Hall” at this time, there will be public events in the future and for those who fixate on transparency and franking, I don’t know how they can complain about about the lack of a campaign appearance at taxpayer expense.
AmericanCowboy

Great job Obama: America’s $13 Trillion Debt in 2012 will surpass the GDP.

What does that mean? America will owe more than our house is worth.

Obama has double the Debt and Tripled the Deficit we had under Bush, whiich was already heading in the wrong direction.

Obama is fiscally abusing America’s children. They will be the ones who have to pay for all of Obama’s wasteful spending. Now we learn Obama care will not save America money according to CBO latest report. Yet, against the will of the American people we go right on ahead with it.

Vote Republican in 2010 to pull the reins on Obama and stop his destruction of America. Vote out all Dems and Rino’s. Only vote for fiscally conservative candidates.

The Dems should be scared!!!!

F Obama!
felixw

If you wanted any proof that the Democrats are incapable of defending their tax-and-spend policies, look no further. This is the same reason why the last round of Town Hall meetings went so poorly for our legislators. The public wants to have a debate on the fundamental principles of our government, and the Democrats in Congress have proven to be totally incapable of explaining why we should spend trillions of dollars borrowed from the Chinese on 1,000-page bills that none of them have read.

By the way, this is the same reason why the liberal pundits on TV spend all their time on smears, ridicule and gotcha. They are no better prepared than the Democrat politicians to defend these spending policies that will inevitably lead to the bankruptcy of the entire nation. So they need to smear and rant and, in general, divert people’s attention from what is happening in Washington, D.C.
The Real Royal King

Actually, passion seems to be draining from both sides. In part, it is simply spent passion, but there is also a level of disillusionment with virtually everyone in power. The strident right is trying to keep it alive, but the efforts seem to be faltering. This means that the fighting is intramural, Republican on Republican, and when your opponent is fighting your opponent, why intervene?

Of course, it is very hot, very early, as well.
puck30

The Real Royal King says:
June 7, 2010 at 12:07 pm

Well, of course the far left wants this all to die off. They just want everybody to think the world is Unicorns & Moonbeams, provided of course by Mother Government.

13 trillion what???? Well little concerned citizen you shouldn’t think that high, let Mama Government give you you’re Binky & Bottle.

Oh BTW Republican on Republican? get your head out of the sand king, I got two words for ya. Blanche Lincoln. Ol’ Billy is down there right now trying to drag her ass over the finish line.
MichelleF

Way to spin it King.
felixw

The Real Royal King admits that there is “a level of disillusionment with virtually everyone in power.” But the implication is clear — let people run their own lives without so much intrusion from the Federal bureaucracy. But the RRK somehow thinks that government doesn’t work yet we need more of it.
writer

As in the case of Arlen Specter, there is no infighting among Democrats.
The Real Royal King

This means that the fighting is intramural, Republican on Republican, and when your opponent is fighting your opponent, why intervene?

—

I probably should have added: “When the weaker of your two opponents is winning, the case for non-intervention is stronger still.”
RichS

So, the real racist king thinks its best for the elected representatives in our representative Republic to avoid meeting with the citizens that they represent. The real racist kings reasons are that he doesn’t want to see the citizens explain to their representatives how dissatisfied they are with them. He covers this up with some reason that only a party hack would agree with.
writer

According to the left, there are no ‘real’ disagreements with anything democrats do. It’s all ‘astroturf’, and people who show up pretending to disagree have been put up to it by that news outlet that no one is watching.
http://none pyrope

The deficrats have everything to lose and nothing to gain. They cannot possibly defend their actions in going against the will of their constituents. Neither can the republicraps. If you’ll kindly recall, a couple of the latter were damn near boiled in oil over their rinoism last summer. They deserved it.