Last summer, credentialed reporters were arrested. "Free speech zones" were everywhere you could ...

[Bozita]

... find a politician.

Remember Denver?. Remember Minneapolis/St. Paul? Remember Amy Goodman?

Those with longer memories will never forget New York City in '04. Remember the bicyclists?

And today, in congressional districts which elected Democrats, we have townhall meetings which are nothing short of total chaos.

They're bold. They got their asses kicked in November.

Yet they are controlling the dialogue.

They're winning. THEY'RE FUCKING WINNING.

Kerry waited a couple of weeks to address this bullshit. Too fucking late.

And now, the Democratic Party response is ???

[FrenchieCat]

1. The media is the one giving the crazies who lost the microphones.....

Yet you want to continue to blame the Dems.

IT ain't them...it's the corporate media!

Wake up and smell the coffee.

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it,
did the tree really fall?

What you are talking about is more of that.

[stuball111]

4. Tke a chill pill and stay away from Fox.

they are not winning... far from it. Repub supports is still dropping.

[JDPriestly]

8. Democrats need to have police officers ready to respond.

The people who are protesting need to be videographed at every meeting. These are not people who would normally risk being arrested. They are just being riled up by professional rabble rousers. Most of the people protesting have no clue about health care reform. Half of them are on Medicare -- a government program yet they are screaming that they don't want a government program. They are being used. If the police are present, they will tone down.

I know we all have free speech rights, but I personally am not one to participate in free-for-all demonstrations. And neither are these emboldened loudmouths. Many of them are quite elderly. If they see police uniforms, they will protest, but not get out of hand.

[babylonsister]

2. Last year? Not so much. Four years later, the public was embraced

by Obama and vice versa. And he won. So what are you going on about?

And 'they' are not 'fucking winning'.

Get over yourself.

[annm4peace]

3. Agree..

[wroberts189]

5. Give them a taste of their own medicine I say.

To quote a favorite Disney movie about pirates..

GIVE THEM NO QUARTER

Copy gw's playbook and lock them out of events (even just based on a bumper sticker) and into the "free speech zones" they made impossibly possible. Let them fight it down in court if they dare ... we win either way.

Worked for them.

[JDPriestly]

9. No just have a police presence in the meetings.

It is not necessary to prevent people from exercising their right to free speech as long as they are not extremely disruptive. If they really get out of control, then and only then should the police step in.

[wroberts189]

10. Why should outsiders be allowed to bus into MY town meeting?

But besides I think police are a good idea as well.

[sakabatou]

6. I can hardly remember those things unfortunately.

[K8-EEE]

7. Unrec-ing because they are totally NOT winning. The townhall thing is

a disaster for the GOP and so is are the birther crazies.

[Echo In Light]

11. Even more frightening yet to contemplate is why/how their rhetoric is so effective w/Americans

[ensho]

12. I'm still seriously angry over the neo con's free speech zones

not forgotten nor forgiven

[Echo In Light]

13. Two 15 yr old girls dressed as trees arrested for being on wrong side of road

In a city not far from us, Bushco had set up at a park, and the 'free speech zone' was of course a few blocks back along a very bust road for that area. Two 15 yr old girls/environmentalists dressed as trees, protesting Bushco, were arrested for standing on the wrong side of that road. No shit.