Merkley hits the trifecta at Madras town hall: Teabaggers, Birthers and Deathers.
If I were to read this Bend Bulletin story about Jeff Merkley's Sunday town hall meeting in Madras, I'd probably think it was a benign, polite affair with a few tough questions from a receptive audience.
Apparently, this was not the case. Not even close.
I'd began receiving email tips Sunday evening and into Monday morning that the event had been infiltrated by teabaggers, in an effort to disrupt in the way they've been doing around the country.
Based a memo revealed last Friday by Think Progress, the teabaggers were handed their marching orders and told to:
Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”
Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early."
Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”
Apparently these folks know exactly how to take marching orders, because it would appear that's what they did.
I spoke on Monday with Melissa Shapiro, a resident of Madras who attended the town hall. Melissa said that the turnout to the event was huge, much larger than anything she'd seen in previous Madras political meetings. Melissa said at first the questions were run of the mill, but quickly descended into right wing fringe land: "Why aren't we closing our borders?" "Why does Obama have so many 'czars' and do we have to pay them"? "And why are the czars making policy?" Melissa said the same guy who asked about the "czars" also asked Merkley questions about Obama's citizenship.
Oh yes, teabagging birthers. You just can't make this stuff up.
Shapiro told me that neither she or her friend recognized more than 10 of the attendees. I'd heard this same report from other sources, which indicates that these teabagging folks were bussed in from elsewhere. This Deschutes County teabagger website seems to indicate that a good portion of these folks, and their organizing, wasn't done in Madras.
Melissa said that she was concerned that if she'd spoken up she'd have been boo-d or shouted down. "If I'd have challenged one of the people who were there to disrupt, I felt it could have turned violent," she said. "I felt cheated because I couldn't ask my questions".
Melissa also told me that she spoke with Colby Marshall from Rep. Walden's office to encourage them to denounce what had taken place. Marshall told Shapiro that Walden had suffered this type of attack at his town halls - Walden holds town halls...? That's news - but that they'd never seen anything like what happened to Jeff Merkley. Marshall told Shapiro that it was the most extraordinary town hall he'd seen in his years in politics. That tells me that it was a pretty nasty effort by the bussed in teabagger/birther/deathers.
Whether or not Walden will actually condemn this mess remains to be seen. I suspect he won't have the courage, but one hopes somehow he can rise above.
Melissa also mentioned another person who was there as a part of the coordinated effort to be disruptive. This woman would be known as a teabagging birther-deather. "Deathers" is the new shorthand for people who believe health care reform is actually a socialist plot to get old people to off themselves to save money. This woman, according to Melissa, read what she claimed to be a copy of HR 3200 , the health care reform bill just out of the House Energy & Commerce Cmte. But Melissa says it was basically a running commentary/rant about how the bill is a way to kill old folks to save money. This woman also had comments about illegal immigrants having access to health care.
The woman also segued into a talk about how Hitler also tried to off the disabled and old people. She articulated a concern about the fact that she, as a Christian, is disturbed and scared because President Obama is bringing about the "end of days".
Certainly people are allowed to ask whatever they like at a town hall and that's not necessarily disruptive, even if some of us think it's whacked.
However, Shapiro also recounted what happened when a person not affiliated with the coordinated disruptor group tried to ask a question about cap and trade, "They started yelling at her and disrupting what she was saying." When Merkley tried to answer people would, "moan and disrupt any kind of policy-level discussion" and were met with loud noises and attempts to drown people out.
continued>>>
http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/08/merkley-hits-the-trifecta-at-madras-town-hall-teabaggers-birthers-and-deathers.html
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