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Republican Rep. Joe Barton (TX-06) held a town hall over the weekend in the tiny town of Frost, Texas—an hour from his more populous base in Arlington. While everyone congratulated Rep. Barton for having the guts to hold a town hall while so many of his fellow congressmen are shirking constituent gatherings, he did lose his cool. In the clip below a man is asking Rep. Barton to work with Rep. Jackie Speier to pass the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which “strengthens the abilities of the federal government, states, law enforcement, and service providers to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.” Rep. Barton said he voted against it because he believed it was a states’ rights issue. Needless to say, the crowd disagreed. From The Dallas Morning News:
“It’s violence against women, that’s a national issue,” one attendee can be heard yelling. “That is an issue that impacts everyone everywhere, not only in this country but everywhere.”
After trying unsuccessfully to speak over the dissenters, Barton eventually lost his cool.
“You,” he said, pointing to a man in the audience. “You, sir, shut up.”
Watch and then jump below to read a self-described “liberal” Barton constituent who attended the town hall, defend Rep. Barton.
Rep. Barton didn’t exactly apologize for the comment on MSNBC this afternoon. He took the news appearance to further explain why he thinks violence against women is a state issue:
Facebook commenter Kirk Lee’s reaction on Rep. Barton's Facebook page:
Yes, I did. I went expecting to be a "liberal" among a majority of "conservatives". I would say there were more "liberals" in attendance. Rep. Barton clearly explained before he started that there were ground rules to be followed. The same rules he has always used for town halls. As I remember, no cursing, no yelling, no violence or you would be removed. We were there to discuss issues with him, not to debate other attendees. It was permissible to applaud for other speakers, but not to boo other speakers. IMHO, these rules were acceptable and were intended to maintain decorum for a diverse group of people with widely different opinions. There were times that it appeared that he was under siege and to his credit he stood and answered all questions as best he could. The "shut up" came when a gentleman asked a question, crowd didn't like the answer, and he was trying to shout over a chorus of boos. I believe Rep. Barton was embarrassed by it and it was not representative of his attitude as a whole. I know if I had been in his shoes I would have said much worse. FYI, I did not vote for him, don't intend to vote for him but this should not be a "gotcha" moment to used against him as representative of how his town hall went.
Fair enough. Nevertheless, Rep. Barton probably could’ve handled it better. It’s never a good idea to tell your employer to shut up. And for the love of Texas, just vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act already.