Contrary to Steele’s Claim, State GOP Are Actively Promoting Town Hall Mobs
Contrary to Steele’s Claim, State GOP Are Actively Promoting Town Hall Mobs
Yesterday in an conference call that ThinkProgress took part in, GOP Chairman Michael Steele told reporters that neither the national Republican party nor any state Republican parties are promoting town hall disruptions:
STEELE: I had nothing to do with that, I did not encourage that. And we’re not encouraging people to be angry I mean to the point of being nasty and brutish and ugly. That’s not what this is about. There’s no upside for the Republican Party or the people involved to do that. Now some people, you know, that’s how they express their frustration, that’s how they express their frustration. But that’s not something deliberately coordinated by me or any one state party.
Unfortunately, Steele’s statement isn’t true. This past weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) was harassed by right-wing protesters who refused to have a civil dialogue with the Congressman. The front page of the official website of the Texas Republican Party prominently features and endorses the incident. The website headline reads, “Doggett Fields Softballs“:
If you click on the picture, it links to a video of the incident, which is hosted by the Texas Republican Party’s official YouTube account, txgoptv. At the conclusion of the video, the words “Produced by the Republican Party of Texas” pop up alongside a legal disclaimer that proclaims the video was paid for the by the Republican Party of Texas.
The Texas GOP’s endorsement of these tactics joins remarks by Sen. John Coryn (R-TX) that the “fear” and “anger” of Americans over health care reform present “real opportunities” for the Republican Party.
The Texas GOP isn’t alone in encouraging the mob protests, though. On a blog post titled “Here’s to Mob Rule,” Connecticut GOP chairman Chris Healy yesterday listed off the times and locations of several health care town halls. In the post he wrote that “one perrson’s [sic] mob is another person’s concerned’s citizen’s group” and remarked that if members of Congress “get upset because people are shouting at them, maybe they should listen.”
ThinkProgress has contacted the both the Texas and Connecticut Republican parties for comment, but we have yet to recieve a response.
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Hmmmm… looks like Steele has become nothing more than the ‘face’ of the GOP while the ‘real work’ is done by the good ol’ boys….
August 6th, 2009 at 4:05 pmREPUBLICANS:
America is watching you. You are NOT going to get away with hijacking our democracy again.
Stop this. Now. Before it’s too late.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:06 pmGuess it’s asking way too much to insist that one of the few remaining Connecticut Republics be able to spell. Nice of him to openly endorse mob rule. That should go over well in the ‘burbs.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:07 pmThe modern conservative movement is over. They have no new ideas. The demographics are moving against them. They’re reduced to nothing but obstruction, misinformation, distortion and violence. Most of them don’t realize this yet.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:07 pmThe Rethuglic party’s plausible deniability is not very plausible now, is it?
August 6th, 2009 at 4:11 pmEither Michael Steele’s pants are on fire, or it’s true that he has absolutely no power within his party. Either way, he looks bad.
Michael’s party is raging out of control (or is tightly within the control of other forces). Michael is supposedly the chairman of this party. Instead of proclaiming his impotence, he’d do better if he at least made an attempt to rein in the mob.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:12 pm.
LIE-CHEAT-STEELE
The “NEW” G(no)P!
.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:13 pmI plan to stand up to any sort of mob that tries to run over our Representative’s town-hall meeting. If they start to show out incoherently, I plan to ask, in the choicest words possible, that they take their protests outside.
Wait…it’s being held in a supermarket parking lot?
Crap.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:14 pmCan we go back to that conversation brought up by Governor Perry a few months back about Texas succeeding from the union?
How fast could something like that happen? Will they lose their representatives and senators in Washington?
Where can I donate?
August 6th, 2009 at 4:15 pm…[Chris Healy] remarked that if members of Congress “get upset because people are shouting at them, maybe they should listen.”
___________________________________________________________
Why listen to a programmed automaton whose only purpose is to disrupt? If somebody at a town hall meeting wanted to voice an objection but was willing to engage in mature respectful debate, that would be different.
But these mobs want only one thing, and that’s to shut the meeting down. They aren’t deserving of courtesy or respect.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:18 pmDo they still sell stink bombs?
August 6th, 2009 at 4:18 pmSome clever left winger needs to infiltrate these nuts, and get them to spill the beans about who’s behind their actions and where they are getting bussed in from. Get them on tape shooting their mouth off and get it on the news. I can’t believe we just sit back and let it happen.
We’ve talked this issue to death. Do something dramatic or just roll over and let the wing nuts win again…
At the very least, every one of us to do write a letter to the editor supporting health care. Call your local Rep and Senator to demand support of the bill.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:19 pmWell I see there really is no one running the GOP.
So guess they need to bring in the Clowns in there little c-street clown y car and they all can pray to the alter of greed and call it religion.
either way i just wish they would just stop and get there heads out of there Ass, I mean Jesus H tap Dancing Christ he would be rolling his eyes and wanting to commit harm unto them.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:23 pmtexasrick
Some clever left winger needs to infiltrate these nuts, and get them to spill the beans about who’s behind their actions and where they are getting bussed in from. Get them on tape shooting their mouth off and get it on the news. I can’t believe we just sit back and let it happen.
Well should at lease start to let them know they are being filmed and recorded and maybe even show them there car licsens plates and smile as you say we know who you are and were you live now.
if they com eon a bus get the bus number company and call your state DOT mention that people on th ebus was tossing thing sout the windows.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pmWatched a video today in which the angry manufactured mob claimed Obama want’s single payer and that it’s in the bill. The more the Democrat congressman denied that as absolutely false the more they yelled and called him a liar.
Do any of these people have brains or are they just illerate and only believe what Faux tells them?
August 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pmtexasrick says
I think you will find that most of the posters here do just that. I for one have a list of media contacts, local and national politicians, etc. phone, email, fax, etc. That I use weekly at least. Most of mine are specific to my state and local reps, including state reps, etc.
I sign and distribute petitions and flyers regularly.
Most here are involved is what I’m trying to say.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pmtexasrick, I gave you a vote up for energy though.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:32 pm…if members of Congress “get upset because people are shouting at them, maybe they should listen.”
The best way to deal with this is to get hold of one member from a shouting crowd and stick a microphone in front of him/her. Then we will see how incoherent they are!
It will also be great comedy material.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:33 pmPansies playing with fire. This will bite their butts, for sure.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:34 pmThat’s the best idea I’ve heard for dealing with these guys. I would love to see one of them try to explain what they are trying to say.
I’m passing this idea on if you don’t mind.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:42 pmRules don’t apply to the “new chosen.” Even when they act like possessed demons.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/21/c_street/
Americans will give up on politics, just like many have on investing. The quality is so poor.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:48 pmAs Patrick Starr said on SpongeBob, “Liar, Liar, Plants for Hire.”
August 6th, 2009 at 4:52 pmstateofthedivision
doom….gloom….the end is neigh.
do you have a sign that you wear on the streets?
August 6th, 2009 at 4:59 pmThere were a couple of ‘concerned citizens’ (and others criminally complacent) that blew up the federal building in OKC. That’s where this bs is heading. A mob is a mob, inherently counter-productive.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:59 pm#16 Fred,
Great I’m glad to hear it. Together we can fire up the masses!
Thanks
August 6th, 2009 at 5:12 pmHERE IS THE CONTACT INFORMATION INCLUDING A TOLL FREE NUMBER FOR FREEDOM WORKS….LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO AMERICA
601 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, North
August 6th, 2009 at 5:22 pmBuilding, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004
Phone: 202.783.3870 Fax: 202.942.7649
Toll Free: 1.888.564.6273
Unfortunately, Steele’s statement isn’t true.
Well, what do expect, he’s a republican, they are all liars.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:35 pmMichael Steele’s statements are never true.
Not to his own party members, his opposition, or the media.
Michael Steele appears to be totally full of lies……
And creamy white filling.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:41 pmRepublicanz don’t do politics. they obstruct politics. They know they are toast, so now they are happy to simply sabotage politics. will America realise this simple thing?
August 6th, 2009 at 6:17 pmWould the following sum up the right’s views on speech?
White people shouting down representatives, senators, and their fellow residents = free speech.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:19 pmBlack people shouting down a cop for insinuating they don’t belong in their own home = disorderly conduct.
There is a difference between voicing your opinion at a town hall meeting in a civil, mutually respectful manner and disrupting a discussion to scream, rant, and rave with no interest in hearing a meaningful response.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:31 pmThe majority of those in attendance at these local civic events came to listen and ask questions, and the rude, juvenile conduct of the interlopers (many of whom were bussed in from out of the area by insurance industry lobbyists) is only serving to convince most Americans that the GOP is only interested in sabotaging the reform process.
Thanks for reporting this … I for one will continue to monitor these lunatics and send “fishy” information received through rumors, chain e-mails and casual conversations to a White House e-mail ‘Flag@Whitehouse.Gov’, Snitch Line. This kind of discussion is intolerable. They are not entitled to an opinion. The republicans LOST the election and should have no say in our democratic process.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:16 pmBLUEPRINT THAT TODAY’S REPUBLICAN PARTY IS FOLLOWING RELIGIOUSLY……
“Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. (…) All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. (…) The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses. The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another. (…) The great majority of a nation is so feminine in its character and outlook that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is not complex, but simple and consistent. It is not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood.” – Adolph Hitler from Mein Kampf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_propaganda
August 6th, 2009 at 8:36 pm“ThinkProgress has contacted the both the Texas and Connecticut Republican parties for comment, but we have yet to recieve a response.”
TP, I hate to nitpick, but you guys gave us a preview pane, maybe you could use your own?
August 6th, 2009 at 8:44 pmNinerFan says:
The modern conservative movement is over. They have no new ideas. The demographics are moving against them. They’re reduced to nothing but obstruction, misinformation, distortion and violence. Most of them don’t realize this yet.
While I love your optimism, I fear that the conservative movement will never be over if there are stupid, mindless, easily-manipulated people who will slit their own throats willingly for the conservative movement’s class warfare…
August 7th, 2009 at 2:31 amWhere is the DNC in all of these? Dems need some good leadership that will stand tall to all these stupidity. I guess they are right when they said that Dems are weak.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:54 amMost of the right-wing protesters are old, which is encouraging–but they are now the face of the health care controversy. We desperately need to mount some peaceful, hopeful, optimistic, generous marches around major cities supporting the Administration, to show that the best do not “lack all conviction,” as Krugman, quoting Yeats, pointed out today. The Obama network is in place thanks to the election and needs to be mobilized to show off–dare I say it–the real America.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:01 amSeniors who vote for Republicans will no longer receive Medicare in order to support their party’s lack of support for socialized medecine.
The Republican party would like to thank these older citizens for no longer being a burden to their country.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:29 amMichael Steele said, “There’s no upside for the Republican Party or the people involved to do that.” . . . . Everyone knows that if real health care reform passes, things will improve for many Americans, and they will see the big difference it makes in their lives and finances. That would be the end of the Republicans for a long time, and they know it. THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO LET OBAMA / DEMS IMPROVE HEALTH CARE. It will kill them, and they know it, so they will fight to the death before they give it up. Lie? of course. Incite mob riot? Sure, why not? Bring down the country? All the better! Just get Obama’s ratings down any way they can. – - – - – And for those of you who think they are already gone – they are NOT. They are VERY dangerous.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:05 am