Obama to Campaign for Fiorina and Whitman in Los Angeles Today

(NOTE:  I'm rerunning this one from the other day.)

"WHAT!!" you say?  Obama campaigning for Republicans?

Well, the last time Obama came to Los Angeles he probably cost the Democrats thousands of votes when he tied up traffic on the West Side of LA during the absolute worst part of the day.  Some people were stuck in jams for several hours.  One woman took 2 hours to go one mile and pedestrians had to detour dozens of blocks just to cross the street.

If he doesn't take a helicopter from LAX to USC on Friday morning, this trip will probably lose the Dems more votes than it will gain:

President Barack Obama will visit Los Angeles Oct. 22 to campaign with Sen. Barbara Boxer, it was announced Monday.

``It's terrific that President Obama will be coming to California to campaign with us as we enter the home stretch,'' Boxer's campaign manager Rose Kapolczynski said today in announcing the visit.

This will be Obama's fifth trip to the Southland since taking office. His most recent visit, Aug. 16-17, caused traffic jams in the West Los Angeles area.

And why would the president need to come to Los Angeles to campaign for a liberal Democrat? Because she's in trouble, as is the entire Dem ticket nationwide. The fact that Boxer needs this desperate visit says as much about this election as anything.

Meeting the People Vol 34

The natives are getting restless:

Jim Oberstar and Chip Cravaack didn’t just face each other this morning at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Auditorium, they faced angry mobs of their opponent’s supporters.

Just seconds into the first comments by DFLer Oberstar, Cravaack supporters began to shout the long-term incumbent down with calls of "liar" and "Obama Junior."

By the time challenger Cravaack’s turn came, Oberstar supporters responded in kind.

Moderators asked for civility and respect, but the cat calls and jeering from a nearly-full auditorium continued through most of the 90-minute forum, often drowning-out candidates' answers over a faulty sound system that lacked volume.

Oberstar was cut short several times, and fell into responding to Cravaack supporters as they heckled him.

"You just don’t want to hear the facts. You don’t want to hear the truth," Oberstar tried to say.

"You don’t know the truth," a Cravaack supporter responded.

The correct line is "you can't HANDLE the truth!"

Anyone who thinks that bipartisanship will be possible on any significant issue in the future is kidding themselves.

Meeting the People Vol 33

This story about a Dem congressman in New York:

I walked with Mr. Murphy one evening for nearly three hours as he campaigned door to door in in largely Democratic, vote-rich Levittown. A boyish-looking 36, Mr. Murphy displayed the enthusiasm and earnestness of an Eagle Scout. “I’m Patrick Murphy, the local congressman,” he said to whoever answered the door. He talked about the 3,000 jobs he had saved in the district, including many “green” and high-tech jobs of the future.

The reception he got was eye-opening. The people Mr. Murphy encountered were angry, and none of them, as far as I could tell, were associated with the Tea Party movement. The very first voter he talked to that evening was a man in his mid-70s who said he had paid more than he expected for a recent hospital stay because of the health insurance reforms passed by Congress. Mr. Murphy told him he did not think that could possibly be the case and urged him to visit his district office so his staff could review the medical bills.

“Sir, I’m doing my best. I really want to help you,” he said. It got him nowhere. “I think you’re all a bunch of sewer rats in Washington,” the man told him.

There's a lot of that kind of feeling toward Democrats this year. Even incumbent Republicans aren't getting as much love as they'd like these days. Nearly all of them will win anyway, but the general mood toward Congress is pretty ugly.

Meeting the People Vol 32

It's going to be a long hot summer for Democrat congressmen:


Temper, temper...

I love Dan Riehl's description of this video:

Confronted Over ObamaCare $, Rep. Rodriqez Breaks Into Mexican Hat Dance

Meeting the People Vol 31

Right after the ObamaCare vote I suggested this:

I want every Dem congressmen to feel the wrath of the voters they betrayed in such a manner they can't possibly confuse the message this time. I want them met wherever they go - be it home, office, restaurants...wherever...by angry citizens looking for their scalp. I want them looking over their shoulders 24/7 wondering where the next shout of outrage is going to come from.

And today, a story from Instapundit:

THIS SORT OF THING SHOULD HAPPEN MORE OFTEN: Barney Frank gets a high-altitude haranguing on health care. Two women ophthalmologists, whom Frank’s partner, Jim Ready, dismissed as “bitchy” — which really set them off. Frank got an earful. As far as I’m concerned, these guys shouldn’t be able to go anywhere without getting an earful. Luckily for Ready he’s the partner of a gay Democrat, because if he were a Republican that remark would have been sexist.

Well done.

Ann Althouse disagrees.  She thinks we need more civility on airplanes.  Under most circumstances I might agree, but not when it comes to Democrat congressmen.

Meeting the People Vol 30

I haven't done one of these for a long time but with Congress on recess many members are home meeting the voters that many of them just betrayed. It's not going that well:

MANCHESTER, N.H. - If the experience of this state's two Democratic House members is any indication, the raw emotion and mistrust emanating from last summer's congressional town halls never really went away.

Instead, the unrest simmered over the ensuing months only to return to a boil when Rep. Carol Shea-Porter and Rep. Paul Hodes, who is running for U.S. Senate, returned home to meet with their constituents here during the first week of the Easter recess.

Their public events provided a bracing reminder to Democrats that the political pivot from health care to economic and financial issues is going to be much more arduous than they expected.

At a senior center in Manchester Wednesday, one woman turned away when Hodes offered his outstretched hand for an introduction.

"I don't want to shake your hand. You voted for health care, so just go," snapped Carmen Guimond, as she refocused on her lunch of roast beef and mashed potatoes and waved him on.

When Hodes decided to stay at the table and launch a defense of what's considered to be one of the more popular provisions of the law -- closing the "donut hole," a gap in prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients -- she challenged whether he had read the entire bill and dismissed his explanation.

"Two hundred and forty dollars in the first year. That's all it is," she said, referring to the initial subsidy. "That's not much."

"And over time, by 2020, it closes the donut hole," Hodes explained.

"We'll all be dead by then," she deadpanned.

Well, maybe things will go the way Colorado Democrat Betsy Markey thinks it will go (from Campaign Spot):

A jaw-dropping statement from one of the members of Pelosi's Suicide Squad, Betsy Markey of Colorado:

Markey, 53, said she does not think the vote [for health care] puts her in any greater jeopardy and said the issue could fade by November.

I'm tempted to unleash a John McEnroe-esque "You can not be serious!" tantrum.

No, Miss Markey, it's not going away.

Ben Nelson Meets the Voters

It wasn't just the pizza that was hot in Omaha:

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about Nelson’s decisive vote in favor of the Senate’s health care bill.

Other customers started booing. A woman yelled, “Get him the hell out of here!” And the Nelsons and their dining companions beat a hasty retreat.

“It was definitely a scene in there,” said Tom Lewis, a 41-year-old dentist and registered Republican who witnessed the incident. A second witness confirmed the incident to POLITICO.

It’s a new experience for Nelson.

Nelson may be the next one to retire before his seat comes up for election again in 2012. I'm not sure he's going to want to spend much time with the voters in Nebraska.

Independents Running Towards GOP

Here's the graph from Gallup that has to scare Democrats the most:

From a 1 point GOP advantage to a 22 point advantage in just 4 months.

Gee, what else went on during those four months? How about Tea Party protests, rowdy Democrat Town Hall meetings on health care, plunging employment numbers...

Democrats cannot survive in the majority with those numbers.

Meeting the People Vol 29

I haven't done one of these for awhile, but the angry town hall meetings have not stopped just because summer is over:

Rep. Steve Israel gamely tried to explain the proposed health care reform Monday night, but was often shouted down during his town hall-style meeting at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood.

Israel (D-Huntington) at one point pleaded with those in the crowd yelling at him to "stop calling me a liar and listen." Judging by the ever-increasing decibel level, he did not win over many converts.

Shouts of -- "Stop printing money," "We don't care what you think," and "You're a moron" -- permeated the 90-minute session, which drew far more than the 450 people who filled Van Nostrand Theatre. Scores more were not allowed inside after a Suffolk fire marshal closed the doors.

People opposing the proposed health care reform outnumbered those in favor, though both sides strove to outshout each other during the question-and-answer period.

Any Democrat who thinks the opposition to Obamacare will just fade away is dreaming.

Meeting the People Vol 28

From the heart of liberal-land, Sonoma County, CA:

Just outside the entrance to the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Hall was an older, bearded guy carrying a sign that read, "Love one another."

If he was trying to get a message across, it appeared to be lost on the crowd--estimated to be over 1,000--inside the hall where people screamed, jeered, cheered and spoke passionately about the highly contested issue of health care.

The main hall, an overflow room and a lobby were packed to the rafters with people carrying signs. Security and police officers were peppered through-out the crowd.

Marin and Sonoma Representative Lynn Woolsey bowing to pressure by constituents, both for and against the proposed health care reform bill, finally scheduled a long awaited town hall meeting on Monday evening.

The two hours set aside weren't nearly enough time to hear everyone who wanted to speak their mind.

But many did get a chance to have their voices heard.

(click photos to enlarge, more at bottom of story)

Inside there appeared to be as many supporters of the government plan as opponents and when Woolsey took the stage, the cheers were as loud as the jeers.

As Woolsey gave her opening remarks about the plan, she was frequently interrupted by laughs and boos from about half the crowd.

"I believe the best way to provide high quality health care is through a single payer system," said Woolsey.

That pronouncement was rewarded with a chorus of shouts including "No more lies!" One woman shouted "What crap!"

Woolsey went on to say that a public plan "would bring down the cost of care" and that was greeted with nearly deafening booing.

Having spent a fair amount of time in Sonoma County where my daughter is in college, this kind of opposition to a liberal political idea is pretty amazing. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Prius with an Obama sticker on it. And the fact they keep sending a near-communist like Woolsey back to Congress tells you how far left that area is.

Meeting the People Vol 27

Even being Majority Leader isn't enough to avoid angry constitutents:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) ran into a tough crowd Tuesday night, as hundreds opposed to Democratic healthcare proposals booed, jeered and screamed at their Congressman and one other.

Fifteen hundred people – the limit set by local authorities -- filled the gymnasium of North Point High School during Hoyer’s first healthcare town hall meeting of the recess.

The crowd appeared divided between those supportive of Hoyer’s push for a health insurance overhaul and those ready to loudly voice their opposition.

The result was a volatile mix of anxious and edgy people, most of whom waited in line for up to three hours to enter the school after waiting a month for a chance to speak to their Congressman.

Nerves were quickly worn raw after introductory remarks from the moderator, a 25-minute speech by Hoyer and individual introductions and remarks from five additional panelists that took up a total of 45 minutes.

Hoyer entered to a thunderous mix of applause and boos as competing interests fought to make their voices heard the loudest.

The crowd remained in relative order during Hoyer’s remarks, interrupting on only a few occasions with various boos and cheers in response to hot-button phrases such as “end of life care,” “illegal immigrants” and “pubic option.”

But, at the conclusion of Hoyer’s planned speech, when five panelists were introduced and asked to give their own remarks, the crowd turned on its congressman, erupting angrily at having to continue to wait for their chance to ask questions.

“We don’t want to hear this!,” a man’s voice rose above the crowd “Get to the questions!”

A chant of “We want questions! We want questions!” soon broke out, despite pleas from the moderator to set a better example for the children in attendance.

Hoyer aides soon began scurrying about as, at a few points, it seemed like the organizers were about to lose control.

A brief scuffle in the rear of the gymnasium sent sheriff's deputies running up the bleachers to escort at least one person from the gymnasium.

As a trickle of people started to leave in apparent disgust, a woman in the front row began shouting back at the rowdy audience, calling them disrespectful.

The remarks of a small business owner who addressed the crowd might as well have been elevator music as the crowd grew even more restless, and the catcalls grew louder, more frequent, and more colorful.

“Too much bulls--,” a man huffed while storming out.

So, did Steny Hoyer's people plan to have such a raucus meeting? Nope. They tried to stack the deck in favor of Obamacare:

On top of that, the Maryland chapter of Health Care for America Now, had counted on filling 1,300 of the 1,500 seats with health reform supporters. Matthew Weinstein, the Maryland chapter director, said before the meeting began that he estimated a thousand supporters had showed up.

“Back in the beginning of the month, the opposition was really outnumbering us,” Weinstein said. “That inspired the backlash from the silent majority of Americans who’ve been for healthcare all along.”

After the meeting, he insisted the majority supporting healthcare outnumbered those opposed to reform.

“This is about what I expected,” Weinstein said as the meeting wrapped up shortly after 9 p.m. “The opponents are a very vocal minority.”

And yet, despite trying to fill the hall with Obamacare supporters the opposition clearly dominated the meeting. Why? Because the opponents aren't faking it. Their outrage is real, not manufactured to promote some political cause.

People who really mean what they say will always outperform a bunch of shills.

Health Care Quote of the Day

Actually, I'm revisiting a quote by Nancy Pelosi from July 24th:

“I’m not afraid of August,” Pelosi said. “It’s a month.”

So, what happened in August? Town hall meetings were turned into anti-Obamacare confrontations, other congressmen went into hiding, Obama's approval numbers dropped like a stone, approval for Obamacare dropped like a stone, liberal experts started predicting losses in 2010 of as many as 50 seats, and the face of socialized medicine, Ted Kennedy, no longer needs health care.

Well Nan, now that August is over how do you feel about it now?

If Dems Won't Hold Town Halls Their GOP Challengers Will

Good tactic:

Republican challengers across the country have found a new way of capitalizing on the roiling emotions surrounding congressional health care town hall meetings.

Driven by intense voter interest in the topic, the almost-certain promise of media coverage and the opportunity to upstage incumbent Democrats, GOP candidates in state after state are holding their own health care town halls — and reveling in the subsequent publicity bonanza.

The health care events are proving to be a boon for those seeking to oust incumbents, delivering the most precious of political commodities — voter attention and local press coverage.

Florida Republican Allen West, who is running against Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.), said his Deerfield Beach town hall meeting earlier this month drew several hundred local residents, many of whom stayed long after the 90-minute session ended to chat with him.

Just as important, the event was the subject of extensive media coverage and was streamed live on a local news website.

“We made the 11 o'clock news,” said West.

“I just think that if you’re a smart candidate right now, you should be getting out there and getting in front of the people,” he said. “If you’re not doing that, you’re putting yourself behind the eight ball.”

Part of being a "representative" is being available to your constituents. If incumbent Dems won't make themselves available, the voters will be more inclined to look for someone who will.

"Is This America?" "It Ain't No More, Okay?"

That enlightening exchange can be found during this confrontation between an anti-Obamacare protester and a black police officer:

Running From the People Vol 8

From New Hampshire:

Members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation are under fire today from the editorial pages of the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader and the liberal Portsmouth Herald. At issue is the fact that the Granite State’s representatives, specifically Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, are not holding town hall meetings on health care reform with their constituents this August recess but instead partying with liberal bloggers and holding a smattering of so-called tele-town hall meetings—essentially controlled conference calls in which constituents are tellingly kept on "listen only mode."

Let's see if the voters remember their names when next year's election comes around.

Running From the People Vol 7

From Ohio:

A local football coach is sleeping outside Congressman Zack Space's Zanesville Office and says he won't leave until Space holds a public meeting.

Dave Daubenmire of Pass The Salt Ministries and coach at Fairfield Christian Academy in Lancaster, says he's wants Congressman Space to hold a meeting in Licking, Knox or Muskingum County so that his constituents of the 18th district can ask questions about his policies.

"They are putting a burden of debt upon our grandchildren, kids that aren't even born yet and I think if Zack Space is going to represent the people of the 18th district he ought to have the courage to tell us why they're doing it, what his policies are and where he stands so we can figure out if he is for us or against us," says Daubenmire.

Congressman Space's chief of staff Stuart Chapman says that in the midst of outreach to tens of thousands of people this month the Congressman went out of his way to meet with Daubenmire, but he says Daubenmire does not want a meeting he just wants to grandstand.

Even if he never gets his town hall meeting he's made his point.

Meeting the People Vol 26

From South-Central L.A. where federal welfare dollars go to die:

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said she would refuse to vote for a healthcare reform package that did not include a provision for creating a government-run medical insurance plan that would compete with private insurers -- a statement that drew loud cheers Saturday at a town hall meeting at Los Angeles Southwest College.

The statement appeared to illustrate hardening lines in the battle over healthcare reform in Congress. Waters voiced dismay with comments made by White House officials last week that have been widely perceived as backing down from the so-called public option.

"President Obama has been trying to reach across the aisle" to win a compromise with Republicans, Waters said. "It is not going to happen."

Then Waters made a public appeal to Obama.

"The people of this country elected you and gave you a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate... Yes, we know that you are a nice man, that you want to work with the opposite side of the aisle. But there comes a time when you need to drop that and move forward," Waters said. "We're saying to you, Mr. President, 'Be tough. Use everything that you've got. Do what you have to do. And we have your back...' "

"Not only are we going to do everything we can to organize and put pressure on the senators -- some of whom are Neanderthals -- we're going to say to the president, 'We want you to use every weapon in your basket in order to get those senators to do what they should be doing,' " Waters said.

Yeah, calling Senators neanderthals will certainly persuade them to come over to the Obamacare bandwagon.

Meeting the People Vol 26

Things can get a little raucous at GOP meetings as well:

Republican Congressman Wally Herger held a health care town hall meeting Aug. 18 at Simpson University in Redding, where a partisan crowd of over 2,000 people loudly cheered Herger’s position that a public option was “unacceptable.”

Although Herger called several times for the audience to “respect each other’s opinions,” those opposed to president Obama’s health care were greeted with cheers while the few in favor were interrupted with catcalls.

Herger did not hold back on his opinion of the health care plan and the administration’s appointment of “czars” to head various departments and task forces.

“Our democracy has never been threatened as much as it is today,” Herger said to a loud standing ovation.

Although there were not the kind of disruptions that have been reported at Democratic representative’s town hall meetings, an altercation in the back of the auditorium resulted in Redding police having to intervene and hustle two people out of the room. Police reported that a woman is alleged to have clawed a man’s face in repose to his having pushed her while arguing over the health care plan. The investigation continues.

Will clawing a face be covered under Obamacare?

Running From the People Vol 5

A report from Evan Coyne Maloney in New York:

Last week, I called the office of Jerrold Nadler, my congressman, to see if he would be holding any constituent meetings on health care.

Today, I got a recorded call from Congressman Nadler inviting me to participate in a “live telephone town hall” at 8PM this evening. The call came in at 7:35PM.

Of course, this timing left constituents with a mere 25 minutes warning. (I didn’t even get a chance to listen to the voicemail until the “town hall” was long over.)

I’m sure the short notice caused many folks to miss the opportunity to question their congressman directly. Perhaps that was by design.

A cynical political observer might conclude that Congressman Nadler wanted as few people calling as possible.

Meeting the People Vol 25

From Florida:

Acknowledging his amazement at the crowds gathered to debate health care at his town halls, Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Florida, faced three large gatherings on Monday with many questioners voicing skepticism about the proposals being debated in Washington.

"Never have I had this attendance … that is a good thing," Boyd said as he started his third event of the day.

Boyd, in his seventh term, represents a conservative area in northern Florida. A fiscal conservative, he is part of the group of House Democrats known as the Blue Dogs.

At the first event of the day in Cross City, he held up a copy of the bill passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee and embraced by the congressional leadership.

"I cannot support this bill in the version it is in now," he said. "We can do better. We can make it better."

He emphasized to the skeptical crowds that he will work to reduce quickly-rising medical costs; that any bill must not add to the deficit; and that Blue Dogs like himself fought to delay consideration by the full House of Representatives to allow members to hear directly from constituents during the August recess.

When a questioner, Ray Evans, said he believed the President wants to do too much at once and asked whether Boyd would "be willing to scrap everything" and start over to do pursue reform more incrementally, the congressman responded: "I think that is an excellent idea … we may end up there."

The biggest risk to Obamacare right now it a bill will be passed by the House and die in the Senate. That would effectively kill it for this congressional term.

I hate to give the administration advice, but the smartest thing they could do now is scrap the whole enchilada, take a deep breath, and don't even look at again until January. Trying to do something in an election year will be difficult, but trying to do it now will be impossible. The issue is way too hot.