I posted this information in my local newspaper forum. I will copy it here as well.
I will add ... the lack of notification before this event sure seems like somebody is trying to hide something.
So, at 7:30 I see the three paragraph report on the front page of The Telegraph web site. I made a comment about time and addresses. By ten minutes to 8:00 .... I could no longer find the article on the front page of the Telegraph. I had to go to the Disqus web site, and 'Jump To' my comment, in order to find the article. Why it is almost as if someone doesn't want citizens to know Senator Gregg is going to be holding a "public" forum (and yes, those are intentional scare quotes).
So, I jump on my scooter ... and off to Salem I go. I arrive at the Senior Center just moments after 9:00 AM. Lots of cars in the parking lot, one sign being held by the door; a young lady of the progressive bent, I would guess.
I walk into the conference room Where the Senator is making some remarks. It appears he has just begun. In attendance, there are perhaps 110 - 120 people. Of those, I would guess that at least 20 were with news organizations; several reports taking notes or typing in laptops, a half a dozen big video cameras, a half a dozen still photographers with the big monster lenses (not your normal home camera), and four or five holding recording microphones under the public address system speaker. Additionally, in this group, I would guess there were a half a dozen aides of the Senator present. Standing directly in front of me, were two young ladies in business attire ~ one whose crackberry went off regularly throughout the program.
Of the people not receiving wages in the room, the vast majority were in the over 65 crowd. I guess you could expect that ~ being held in the senior center ~ being held with short notice. There were a few folks in their mid-twenties, perhaps (it is getting more difficult for me to tell).
Senator Gregg laid out what seemed to be pretty standard Republican fare in his opening remarks. He said, over and over and over, about he is working on a bi-partisan commission to blah, blah, blah. Those following this know that, in the Senate, right now, the only conversation that matters is taking place in Senator Backus' Finance Committee. Senator Gregg subtly spent a good deal of time tearing down the Dodd / Kennedy proposal. (Senator Kennedy is the Chair of the relevant committee, but with his illness, Senator Dodd is running the show. It seems Senator Gregg ~ who was the Chair of this committee when the Republican's ruled the Senate, is a bit bitter about having been demoted.)
Then came the questions ... I did not take notes, so these are the points that I remember, as I remember them, with my interpretation ~ take it as you will.
One lady railed against 30 million Illegal Aliens. The house erupted in the largest round of applause of the hour. Obviously ~ these folks watch Lou Dobbs. To his credit, Senator Gregg put some facts into the air. 46 million uninsured - of which 5 million are undocumented immigrants. (One person in through crowd spoke loudly that they are people. Ahhh, human rights ~ human behavior; who could expect such a thing from America). Anyhow, the Senator cut that 46 million uninsured down to about 20 million to be able to claim it is manageable. The 20 million are those working at jobs that don't, and won't provide insurance. Apparently, of the uninsured ~ less than 50% deserve to be insured. How he made those other 26 million disappear ~ well, he never explained that.
The head of AARP in New Hampshire asked about medicare benefits being cut. Senator Gregg, to scare the hell out of the seniors, started his response with the current plans talk about cutting 300 billion or more from Medicare. And then he said that those cuts would not come from individual benefits, but they are cuts targeted at hospitals and doctors. This was a common refrain ~ programs targeting doctors, which is going to cause doctors to quit practice. bugga bugga.
One scared older woman, with orange hair spoke. She stated she currently had coverage with Blue Cross and that it was very expensive, and if the plans were put into place, would she be in danger of losing her plan, or would the prices for her plan come down. At this point, Senator Gregg jumped into the deep end of the scare-the-hell-out-of-them pool. Our Senator replied, "Under the Obama plan, there is a good chance you will lose your coverage." My first thought was BULL **** !!!!. One young lady spoke loudly, "That's a lie." or maybe it was "that's not true." I know I was saying at the same time, sotto voce, "define 'good chance'". The Senator continued by saying he did not know if her premiums would become less expensive.
There is no other way to say it ... Senator Gregg was willfully deceitful with that answer. Of course, because we don't know what he means, specifically, with the words "good chance". Hey, I bought a ticket ~ I have a good chance to will PowerBall this weekend. Well ~ I have an equal chance to every other person who has purchased a ticket. What do you mean, Senator?
Is it a 30% chance this woman will lose her Blue Cross health care coverage if the Obama proposal becomes law? Is it a 70% chance? A 3% chance? .3%
Hey Senator ~ what is the "chance" that she will lose her Blue Cross coverage is the Republican Party, and Senator Grassley, obstruct any progress at all in the Senate?
I don't want to describe Senator Gregg's words as a lie. But they certainly are not truthful.
One other comment from the floor ~ was the fear mongering over 'rationing' and how England and Canada don't provide care for their citizens. Well, this older gentleman was pretty angry about rationing ~ and he walked into the argument of 'pulling the plug'. I'm not sure he used those words. Nor did he use the words 'Death Panels' ... but, here again, our senior citizen crowd exploded in support of the charge. I'm pretty certain an older gentleman sitting behind me (and I was near the back of the room) said "pull the plug". Obviously, FOX NEWS is on in the Senior Center common room. These folks have had the **** scared out of them. In a rather mean moment, I wanted to say that the questioner, unfortunately, wouldn't know a fact or a truth, if he tripped over it.
After the meeting ~ it was scheduled for 45 minutes (officially), but went for an hour ~ it took about 15 minutes for the room to clear. The Senator talking to reporters and attendees. Blah, Blah, Blah.
One older gentleman asked me what I thought ~ I said there is a deficit of factual knowledge in the room. He went on to blame ABC, NBC, et al. I said, well, actually, that's not the problem. The problem is Fox News. I explained that according to the Rassmussen Poll released yesterday, (or the day before) Fox News viewers have more certainty of the facts they believe ~ while simultaneously believing facts that are demonstrably not true. And it is a wide gap.
There is a certain amount of incorrect understanding of facts from all news sources. But Fox News has the highest level of incorrect understanding ~ and Fox viewers are more certain of their beliefs.
As example:
Will the health care proposals under discussion pay for terminating a pregnancy?
Factual Answer : NO
approximately 75 % of Fox viewers believe the answer is Yes.
approximately 40 % of CNN viewers believe the answer is Yes.
So ... a significant portion of all viewers KNOW the wrong answer. And that's sad. But, that 35% gap is significant.
I did not even attempt to ask a question, but I did prepare one as a rode over:
Senator, I am not near the age where I qualify for Medicare, so help me out if I get anything wrong here. But, as I understand it, under Medicare, our seniors can go to any doctor they choose, and seek the services they need. The doctor then submits a bill for the services rendered to a single payer ~ the Medicare program ~ the Federal Government. If this system is so inefficient, and causing so much damage to our country, should it be cut .... or, if it is not inefficient, but rather a good manner to deliver health care, why not expand it to cover those who are not now covered, such as guys my age, without insurance?