Unhinged Conservative Mobs Closing Down Discussion of Health-Care Reform
Angry teabaggers and other opponents of health care reform are heckling members of Congress at their town hall meetings back home in an effort to sway the debate and drown out reform supporters.
This weekend, a group of teabaggers showed up at a town hall in Philadelphia with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. They shouted and booed to drown out remarks from both officials and questions from the audience. The Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots reportedly brought 40 people.
Malkin Calls Right-Wing Tea Party Movement A ‘Counter-Insurgency’
The term “counter-insurgencies” does reveal the mentality of conservatives in opposition to Obama. Like Bill Kristol has said, the right wing is bluntly stating that it is going “for the kill.” Malkin has previously declare her hope that Obama fails.
As ThinkProgress has documented, these tea parties may indeed be “counter-insurgencies,” but they are hardly “grassroots” movements. Corporate lobbyists — led by Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks and Tim Phillips’ Americans for Prosperity organizations — have staffed and funded these gatherings. (They are doing so again.) The Fox News network, including Malkin’s frequent appearances, has taken the lead in publicizing and promoting the events among its right-wing base.
The tea-partiers have already proved that they can create a “townhalls-gone-wild” effect and are willing to demonstrate the violent qualities of an insurgency. Recently, Republican congressman Mike Castle (R-DE) faced down angry right activists who hijacked a townhall gathering by spouting crazy conspiracy theories. Right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D) in New York and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety. And anti-health care protesters hung an effigy of Rep. Frank Kratovil (D) in Maryland.
