Should Democrats quit the town halls next week?

[Cant trust em]

It seems like these are just a forum for the anti-health care people to air their grievances. All this does is put us on the defensive. We spend all of our time putting out fires and not any time building up the plan. All of the media coverage is about democrats getting beaten up.

I think that to regain control of the debate we need to get out of this format. Democrats need to go back to delivering their message from the top down. Maybe just do press conferences or something else. These town halls are not working to our advantage.

[snooper2]

1. no

not at all...fuck the 20%er's-

[KittyWampus]

2. they should be showing up at the Charity Health Clinics and holding meetings there.

[Cant trust em]

4. That is a damn good idea. It would instantly set a context for the debate.

I like it.

[sabrina 1]

16. Excellent idea!

Isn't there going to be one soon in California? Love that suggestion. America, needing charity from organizations that normally spend their time in 3rd world countries. If I were holding a Town Hall Meeting I would have footage of those clinics to show people. Don't know why they don't.

[scheming daemons]

3. Nope.... I think they're playing to our favor with independents and thinking Republicans

[Berry Cool]

5. Yeah, right, stifle dissent and just dictate. Would you have approved of that if it were Bush

saying the same thing? "Let's have all the Republican congresscritters stop holding public town halls where people speak out against the policy we want. We need to deliver the message from the top down."

No.

The problem is not with dissent; it is with allowing the dissenters to take control so that no reasonable discussion is possible.

However, when the person in question runs the event in a civil fashion and doesn't allow dissenters to take control, it works fine. Marcia Fudge is one example; Sherrod Brown is another.

[Cant trust em]

7. I think we've had them for two weeks. People have had an opportunity to speak up. nt

[sabrina 1]

9. The media doesn't report on those, they only report

on the screamers and yellers and not even truthfully as was demonstrated by the way they reported on the woman whose sign was ripped out of her hands by a rightwing lunatic. She ended up being portrayed as a disrupter.

The internal memo found from CNBC shows conclusively that the media is only looking for 'exciting' events to cover.

Also, polls are showing that Independents are beginning to be swayed by these 'Americans, angry over policies that will effect their livlihoods and healthcare'. That's all that's coming across in the media, and I believe it from talking to people I know who are only following the story on TV. Over and over I've had to tell them these are organized disruptions and not just ordinary citizens.

So, imo, the platform should be taken away from them but not the discussion. There are many other ways to educate the public without death-threatening morons screaming everyone down.

At this point the only value of these meetings is to allow the craziest people in the country to be heard. I have yet to hear, when these meetings are covered on Television, any viewpoint other than theirs.

As for those who have managed to control the screamers and have a civil debate, no one even knows about them, thanks to the media.

I would agree to continue them if we had a media that we could depend on to report truthfully on what they are all about, but we don't. At this point, they only serve the Healthcare industry's thugs useful idiots looking for any way to oppose Obama. I see no benefit to us at all in them.

[sabrina 1]

11. And neither one of those meetings was covered

by the media, where a majority of Americans get their 'news'. What was covered was the woman being hauled away after her sign was stolen from her by one of these thug. She was presented as the disrupter. Or the Glenn Beck supporter who was presented as a nice, stay-at-home mom who was just angry about how the 'government' was going to steal her childrens' future.

And it is that coverage that is helping the Healthcare industries to sway people who are not informed and start to believe the lies being told. I've already met some of them in real life, ordinary people who really don't understand the facts and are beginning to relate to these people.

It isn't good strategy to continue doing something that is not in your interests to do. Two weeks of media coverage has had an effect and that was the goal of the disrupters. Now it's our turn to turn the tables on them, to take away their microphones, and change the debate by coming up with a way, before it's too late, to start countering the lies they've telling and to expose them for what they are.

Obama needs to get on TV every day and sell his program. There's not much the screamers can do to stop him. He is the best person to convince the American people that no reform will be a disaster for this country. No one could do it better. But everytime I turn on the 'news', all I see are the screamers. They've had their chance, now it's Obama's turn to step up to the mike and do what he does best.

[tabatha]

6. Hold them in churches.

[SteveM]

8. I think the GOP far-right is way ahead of you on that one...

In fact, they expect the Democrats to cave. Frankly, every Democrat can hole-up in a bomb-shelter, and the far-right will keep on coming until they break Obama. And they will continue after that.

They are in it for keeps. They are serious. Any means necessary. Any.

[frylock]

10. no..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4013859

[sabrina 1]

12. I wouldn't call it quitting if they end these

Town Hall meetings, I would call it changing tactics. Only people like Sarah Palin quit.

They could, eg, invite a few of the liars we've seen on TV, to debate, point by point, one on one, with an informed member of Congress on television. We know their talking points now, so it should not be difficult at all to wipe the floor with any one of them.

Footage of the third world triage camps, and tent cities, left to us by George Bush should be presented to the 'challengers' and they should be asked about the tens of thousands of Americans who are dying because of this 'national security crisis' caused by the Healthcare system.

Let them explain why they are not screaming for an end to such socialist programs as Social Security, Medicare and the most of all, The Military. Force them show their ignorance by asking them if they know how much taxes the military costs and point out that their 'no taxes' policies would probably weaken the military they claim to support so much.

Let the audience see how illogical they are by otoh demanding a 'strong miliatry' eg, while on the other, refusing to pay for it.

There is just so much that can be done to undermine these idiots, but continuing to give them control over the debate on Television is not the way to do it, imo. So, yes, change tactics now and leave them scrambling in the dirt. They've been planning THEIR tactics for weeks.

[grytpype]

13. Yes, town halls now are just theaters for right-wing freaks to get on TV.

Shut them down, shut down the freak show.

[backscatter712]

14. Oh fuck, no!

If we stay home, we forfeit the field to the screamers.

Sure they're shouting down everyone, but we've got to make it clear that we won't be bullied. That means we have to stand up to them, and if reasoned debate is drowned out and all else fails, SCREAM BACK!

[AntiFascist]

15. The town hall meetings are becoming an all too convenient excuse...

for the Democrats to cave in or compromise on the issues.

All they have to do is change the format of the meetings to one where participants from both sides get a chance to speak or ask questions one at a time. If anyone gets disruptive in this type of format then they can get thrown out. Why is this so hard?

Otherwise, it becomes high drama for the media and the Democrats, as always, appear helpless.

[Berry Cool]

17. Some of you don't get it, do you? Do you know what the headlines will be if town halls shut down?

Internal New Republican Talking Point: "Dems Shut Down Town Halls! Yea!! We Wore 'Em Down!! We Win!!"

External New Republican Talking Point: "We find it very unfortunate that the Democrat Party obviously pays only lip service to the First Amendment and every American's right to speak their mind, but it's obvious that by deciding to shut down these town halls, they are sending all of America the message that they only want to hear from those who agree with them. I hope the voters remember this in 2010. Obviously, with the Democrats, it's their way or the highway. Whereas, we are the party that encourages dissent and discussion of the issues at hand before rushing to judgment and trying to cram something unwanted down the American people's throats."

[JimWis]

18. No. They are finding ways to make them better, and the majority

of folks who show up are not the trouble makers and deserve a good conversation.