It was BULLSHIT!
If you really need more than the simple synopsis, it's below the fold.
As some of you know I eagerly anticipated the opportunity to confront my Congressman, Paul Ryan, and ask him a poignant question. After soliciting the assistance of this community and getting some incredibly helpful feedback, I decided in the end to ask a modified version of my original question:
Mr. Ryan, you voted for a good deal of the deficit we currently have in the form of the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich, 2 Wars, Medicare Part D, the TARP bailout of the big banks, and a second round of tax cuts for the rich. Why should I pay for what YOU VOTED FOR by sacrificing the Medicare Insurance I'VE PAID FOR with my tax dollars since I started working at the age of 16?
That was the plan....
I was one of the last people to be let in, but I found a single chair in the front row between two "younger looking" (30's/40's) fellows. I mentioned to the guy to my left that I'd put the median age of the capacity crowd at around 60. He agreed and said he had just come from the previous town hall where he was unable to get in. The guy to my right brought up that Ryan had been boo'd last week. The guy on my left said that he hoped Mr. Ryan was able to speak his piece uninterrupted. I realized I was "surrounded."
Ryan started out with an approximately 10 minute Powerpoint presentation that consisted of a bunch of bullshit and lies. After mentioning in passing that our debt at the end of WWII was over 100% of GDP he proceeded to show graphs again and again showing debt as a percentage of GDP since around 1960 and projected into the future. Never once did he mention that he voted for this very deficit he decries.
For the record, I don't claim to be any kind of videographer, so I don't want to hear any complaints about the quality. It was taken with a handheld Canon Coolpix and if you see any shaking it was likely due to anger and frustration.
I'm told quite often that I have anger issues. My standard reply is that there has been plenty to be angry about in this country for well over 10 years. As I sat there yesterday listening to Paul Ryan spout his bullshit it took every fiber of my being to control that anger, maintain an even keel, bite my tongue and not let on. After all, it would all be worth it when I got to ask my question. My camera wasn't rolling when the first guy started asking his question. He started by saying he too was from Janesville (out-of-towner) and that he wanted to give Mr. Ryan a chance to redeem himself or answer for his vote for TARP. Then he said that he was going to read the rest of his question from a teleprompter (piece of paper) like Obama.
It was at this point I realized that I was seeing a planted questioner spewing right wing talking points trying to drive the narrative of the whole "show." I lept (probably too quickly) from my chair in the front row and moved to the side of the room. I fumbled with my camera and still managed to get a great deal of the guy's question.
Let me ask you a question... Could you have stood there and listened to that crap without screaming your head off? I thought I was about to explode I'd heard enough bullshit. I turned off my camera and raised my hand to hopefully be the next one called on to ask a question. I wasn't. The next question was from an overweight guy in the back of the room who said he was 55 and his wife was 54 and asked how this was going to effect them. Ryan answered that if his budget were enacted today nothing would change for him, and his wife would be able to get a government plan just like Ryan's...
I had seen enough. I had heard enough. I know bullshit when I smell it. I realized that there was no way in hell Paul Ryan was going to call on me to ask a question. I had already shown my hand by leaving my seat. I left quietly and walked home dejected. Total failure to accomplish my goal. I'm not very used to that...
Updated by PvtJarHead at Wed Apr 27, 2011 at 01:01 PM CDT
Thanks for the reclist everyone! I forgot to mention that the room the meeting was in is the same one used for voting in my town... The same room I voted for Barack Obama in in 2008... The same room I voted for Russ Feingold in in 2010... The same room I voted for JoAnne Kloppenburg in on the 5th of this month... It was pretty hard to watch Ryan sully it.
I found this interview of Paul Ryan by CBS that was apparently done after the town hall I was at.