An extremely proud report of a successful town hall meeting with one who's in Sarah's cross hairs [View All]

[Mira]

Town hall today with our other Congress Person: Mel Watt, NC 12th District. An eloquent and elegant man who makes me proud to be a Democrat.

http://www.watt.house.gov/


In the last weeks I've been to town hall meetings with Virginia Foxx, and with Richard Burr.
I had to report about the one with Mrs. Foxx here on DU as some may remember. I was forced to out of disgust. She touched my jacket and now it's at the cleaners.
And Richard Burr was so slick, so non-descript, so slyly smooth, I could not be bothered to show pictures and make a report.

But here I want you to see a prince of a man. A congressman who spoke for 45 min.+ about the financial situation in the country, the just passed HRC bill, education, and the importance of the census.
He was clear, prepared, thoroughly informed, and warm yet firm.

We had a front row of agitator wannabes - and about 150 general population attendees. Mr. Watt spoke with sadness about the fact it was the first time ever he had to have security for a town hall meeting. There was a cop in every corner, and a number more in the entrance hall.
He took many questions, answered them with clarity and unhurriedly, expressed some personal frustration with the slowness with which the Senate handles bills sent to them by the house, and says the Senate is holding up decisions on about 300 of them right now.

When a man stood up, holding a map of the US in his hands showing the cross hair locations of the people Sarah Palin has chosen to "target", he asked Mr. Watt how he responds to such a dangerous call for potential violence.
Mr. Watt pointed to the police in the corners and said:"that is what I must do, not because I want to, but because it is prudent, and I don't want to take any chances".

He then said he appreciated the lack of agitation in the audience, and that he knew full well the people in the front row were there to disrupt, but he counted on everything staying civil.

Finally, on that subject, he said that last week when the spitting and name calling occurred his mother called his wife and asked:

"I'm just checking, are you sure my baby is OK?"


Such is the state in the life of this Congressman, my fellow Democrats.
He had had, I was told by a staffer of his, an incredibly tough, loud and verbally abusive town hall meeting in the county this afternoon.

And this is where he came from, when he sat down on a step, as he was being introduced to us.



A shot of his giving the almost hour long excellent presentation about the state of the Union as he sees it.
Where Richard Burr had been slick and smelly for about 10 minutes before taking some questions, this man Mel Watt was serious, committed, and forthcoming.



A staffer, a foe from the aforementioned front row, and a cop in the back



Talking to a constituent



Throwing in the entrance of the school where this took place, Atkins High School in Winston-Salem North Carolina, one of America's National Register of Historic Places, was dedicated on April 2, 1931 as a facility for “Negro children”.