Tonight I attended a Town Hall meeting held by my representative, Lynn Woolsey. She was finally compelled to hold it I think due to a certain amount of clamor by those who didn’t feel her previous "telephone town hall" was sufficient to sate their need for ...what? noise, mob power...I don’t really know.
Having heard stories here on Kos of other Town Hall fiascos I felt I had to be there to support her...and Medicare 4 All. So this past weekend I helped make signs for others to hold ...then went home to make more for myself.
My best sign said: " Love Thy Neighbor" in red, with a red heart on each side and under that it said "MediCare 4 All" in blue with the CARE underlined in red. I did not take pictures (and wouldn’t know how to attach them here if I did) so use your imagination!
I carpooled to the meeting with three other people ...who I did not know prior to this. Most of the attendees in this fairly progressive and educated corner of the world were supporters of: A Public Option or Medicare 4 All. But sadly the loudest and the rudest were the ones talking about socialism and booing a lot.
The Veteran’s Memorial Hall in the sleepy egg capital of the world, Petaluma, has a seating capacity in the main room of 600-900 with room for another 300+ in an adjoining room. The place was packed with people with more flowing over out the doors. From my perspective the entire scene of some 1000+? people boiled down to 2 kinds: the lovers and the haters. The lovers had signs about caring and love, the haters did not. Instead their signs had things about socialism, government takeover, tea and koolaid, Marxism, Castro, and other such Fox inspired rhetoric. The libertarians were there with a petition to audit the Feds, and there were conspiracy theorists dispensing their own choice materials. The scary ones were big men with loud angry voices ...and I could never determine what made them so angry. It was amazing to hear them booing sick people offering their opinions at the microphone. But then I must admit I booed one of them back when they said something derogatory about President Obama. Sigh...mob rule is contagious.
Lynn is one of the most progressive representatives in congress, but she does not have Obama’s oratory gifts. Lots of hesitations...but that is how she always speaks. Some of the others with me thought she looked nervous, but I did not get that impression at all. She appeared much as I’ve seen her in other settings and appeared poised and in control. She even got in a couple of zingers that of course I can’t remember...being a bit on the aged side myself.
My carpool left shortly before the end of the meeting....to avoid the crowds. Two of our group said they had felt physically afraid at times in that raucous setting. (With people who appear near the edge of sanity & control....so different from their previous experiences with other mass audiences like football games and concerts. )
None of the others in my carpool seemed to realize that most of this sickness has been spawned by Fox...I kept trying to tell them, but it seemed like such a foreign concept to them ...I don’t think they believed me. Glad I went, just to represent sanity if nothing else.