(x-posted at
TexasKAOS, mofos!)
Last night Joe Barton (R-Exxon Mobil) made his obligatory one hour per year appearance here in Arlington, TX. I showed up at the meeting intending to ask Smoky Joe why he wouldn't give
David Harris the courtesy of a public debate of the issues, but instead I spent my hour listening to some of the most vitriolic bullshit I've heard in years.
I can't find a report on the Star-Telegram website even though they had a reporter in attendance, so I guess it's up to me to tell yall what went down.
(warning: there is quite a bit of profanity in this post. don't click through if you can't deal with the f word. also, if you are offended by the slang term 'blue hairs' as referring to old people, don't bother clicking through)
The meeting was well attended. I took a head count right before the meeting began and counted 84 heads. About 20 or so more filtered in after it started. I would guess that at least half of them were retirees. There was more blue and grey hair in that room than I'd seen in a long time. I was hoping that they'd come to give Joe hell for that medicare donut hole, but, well, you'll just have to read on.
Joe began by introducing wife #2 - you know he traded in for a younger model about two years ago - and his 11 month old son. The retirees in the audience ooed and aahed while I sat in the front row rolling my eyes and wondering how Joe's first wife feels about being tossed aside. As a side note, the official bio on Joe's campaign site still says he's married to Terri, and talks lovingly of their three children and grandchildren. Funny though, wifey #2 and little Jack Barton are featured in July's "Barton Backer" newsletter. And another funny note, at the bottom of the newsletter it shows a picture of Joe and his son riding in the parade, then says he was greeted by wellwishers and applause. Uhhh... nope. I was at the parade and I heckled him as he coasted by. I shouted "Shame on you, Barton!" It felt good. But back to the story...
Barton then spent about 10 minutes going over the results of the survey he sent out to the district earlier this summer. He proudly declared that a whopping 2000 people returned the survey (FYI, there's about 100K registered voters in the district). Then he presented some misinformation about the Iraq war, energy policy (remember, Joe is PROUD of the Cheney energy bill), and some other stuff that I don't remember right now because by the time he was done talking about energy I had a thermonuclear reaction going off in my head.
He then opened the floor to questions. The first two people to stand up tried to make good points but did a piss poor job of framing their issues. The first lady tried to confront Joe on his contributions from big oil, and the next lady tried to make a point about the unfairness of convicted drug offenders being cut off from government aid while sex offenders can still draw benefits.
Then things got interesting. A Korean war vet confronted Joe about him being the only representative from North Texas who hadn't signed on in support of the Korean war vets getting an official charter. Now, it is news to me that they aren't officially recognised like the vets from all our other wars (which totally pisses me off), and I thought the gentleman spoke passionately. Joe dodged the question, saying he can't sign on to everything that comes by his office. He then said "I didn't know I hadn't signed it" and that "I may sign it"... didn't really give an official answer but it seemed to pacify all the blue hairs in the audience, who applauded when he said he might sign it. sigh
Shortly thereafter a very angry democrat confronted Joe about his unwavering support for the war. Joe pulled out all the talking points: fight them over there, Iraq + Al Quaeda = 911, blah blah blah. Same old bullshit. And to my extreme distress, about 60% of the room was loudly applauding these talking points. But the man was persistent. He said that Joe was obligated to give the issues of the day a fair hearing and fair public debate. Then the man pointed out that Joe's opponent was in the audience and asked Joe why he wouldn't debate Dave.
Now, unlike the last time when Joe called Dave "the guy in the Army costume", this time Joe gave a few platitudes about how he respected Dave, how Dave is a decorated war veteran, and how he didn't feel the need to debate him. Why? Because - as Joe put it - he doesn't feel the need to debate Dave until Dave "raises the level of his campaign" and creates the need for a debate. In other words, Joe's cutting and running from a real debate about the issues. He doesn't feel the need to debate Dave because god forbid we give the voters of the 6th congressional district a real choice in November. It was so condescending that I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit. It was just sickening.
Now while this was going on, something interesting happened. There was a scraggly looking, mid forties-ish dude sitting on the far right of the auditorium in a yellow shirt. He was applauding Joe's war propoganda pretty loudly. But he was sitting right in front of a bunch of people who were applauding the older gentleman who was confronting Joe about the war. I am not sure what happened, but the guy in the yellow shirt turned around and looked at a youngish (I'm guessing 30 or so) guy with a shaved head. "Fuck you!" he yelled, and the shaved headed guy flipped the dude the bird. The shaved headed guy did not say anything; just put his hand up and gave the guy the one finger salute. Mr. Brownshirt Yellowshirt kept glaring at him. I don't think very many people heard the exchange. I just happened to hear it because I was sitting in the front row and could hear everything behind me. As Barton moved on to the next question, the police came into the room and removed the Mr. Shaved Head guy! Yep, the anti-war guy, who was sitting peacefully in his seat and not continuing the confrontation, got escorted out. Barton made a show about not thinking the guy was doing anything worth his ejection, but Mr. Shaved Head was like, "No that's fine, if they feel they have to remove me I will go." He left without a fight.
And Mr. Asshole, the guy in the yellow shirt, who was obviously a Barton cheerleader, and who started the confrontation by yelling "Fuck you!" was left sitting in his seat, untouched by the police.
The next question was also interesting. A very old gentleman talked about how he'd been voting Republican for twenty years and now that the GOP controlled all branches of government, he was disappointed. The size of government was growing, etc etc. He sounded like an old school conservative. You know what Joe said? He blamed Harry Reid, "that liberal Senate Majority Minority leader"!!! Yep, he said it's Harry Reid's fault that the GOP - who again controls all three branches of our government - can't get anything done. I don't know if that fooled the older guy, but that's just what Joe said. How fucking delusional! If Harry Reid is a liberal Democrat then I've got pigs flying out of my ass.
But anyway, we're now down to 20 minutes to go and I haven't gotten a question in. I honestly couldn't think of anything to ask him, and didn't want to at that point because all he was doing was talking in circles. But what transpired in the last twenty minutes chilled me to my bones. A lady stood up and claimed to be a social worker who'd lived in Arlington for her entire life. Then she proceeded to go on a rant about how she was tired of serving Mexican criminals, and whined about how "Arlington's changed". Her entire point was that she hates Mexicans and wants Arlington to go back to being a bastion of working class and upper middle class white folks. Cause you know, those Mexicans, they're just dragging us all down to their level, and they're using up all our social services. That hose beast just proved my point: Republicans are missing the empathy gene. And my god, the tone in her voice when she said "Arlington's changed" made me sick. Like what the fuck does she want? For us to go back to the "glory days" of Ozzie and Harriet when black people drank from separate water fountains?
And what was even sicker was turning around in my seat (I was up front, remember) and seeing all the old people applauding her loudly. Some cheered. Even some people that I KNEW WERE DEMOCRATS were loudly applauding.
Joe jumped up on his high horse and basically agreed with her. The next lady to speak was a black lady who appeared to be in her early to mid thirties. She told a story about how she took one of her relatives to the emergency room for care, and how she had to wait forever because the doctors were serving Mexicans. Joe jumped on this - he even said "this isn't a planted question" - and then talked about how there was a bill recently passed in the house that would allow hospitals to deny medical care to non-citizens. Joe said that if they didn't have a life threatening injury, the illegal immigrants could be refused care, and that the policy was not "inhumane". So my eyes are now popping out of my head here, and yet another thermo reaction is going off in my brain, because about 70% of the room is loudly applauding and cheering this policy. I was sitting there wondering what a "non life threatening" situation would be. Would it be the flu? A broken limb? Measles? I mean my god, can you imagine walking into an emergency room with a broken hand and being told, "Well, it's not life threating, BYE!!"
Fuck me, man. No empathy gene whatsoever. The black lady speaks up again and applauds this new program, then asks how someone can prove their citizenship. Never mind this dumb bitch probably took her older relative to the emergency room because he doesn't have health care. Oh no, it's not the gaping hole in our health care system that's the problem - it's the goddamn Mexicans. Joe says that we should have a national ID card with our fingerprints on it. And guess what? The old fuckers and the Minutemen (yes, Minutemen!) who were sitting in the back row cheered again! Hello Big Brother, why don't you just put a fucking RFID chip in my ass and bar code tattoo on the back of my neck and get it over with?
Only a few of us were bold enough to shout "No!" to the ID card idea, then Joe said it wouldn't be mandatory. Then he talked glowingly about how he gets his retina scanned at the DC airport so he gets to skip the security line, and talks about how wonderful it would be if there was a database of our retinas which could be used for identity verification! And guess what? Yes, more applause from the bigoted, Mexican hating fuckers in the audience.
By this point, my husband had gotten up and left the room. I guess he was done, but you'll have to ask him (maybe he'll drop by and comment later). I was damn near done and feeling like instead of a town hall meeting, I'd gotten my directions mixed up and ended up at a KKK Rally.
Joe closed the meeting to raucous applause from many in the room. Some people started walking towards him to lick his ass, I guess, and I cut up there and looked him in the eye and said, "You know, you really should do this more than once a year." He said, "Well I do! I'm down here all the time." I said, "Not for public meetings like this. One hour per year is not good enough for your Arlington constituents." Then I walked away, because I desperately needed a cigarette or a beer or a fuckin xanax to calm my nerves.
What a fucking entitled asshole! I can't express my disgust for Barton without cursing like my sailor father. I just really feel so depressed after that meeting. Barton is a rubberstamp for the Bush administration, and he sits on the committee that oversees about 60% of ALL LEGISLATION in the US House. And for some godforsaken reason, the national bloggers decided to dump a shitload of resources into a SAFE DEMOCRATIC SENATE SEAT instead of taking on Barton. Nevermind that Barton helped shove the medicare D "reform" plan, the Cheney energy plan, the FAIR credit act, estate tax repeal, and many other horrible peices of legislation through his committee and onto the House floor. Nevermind that everything he touches in that committee effects the air we breathe and the water we drink, the amount we pay at the pump, and our fiscal "health". Oh no, instead, people dumped assloads of money at Joe Fucking Lieberman.
No, I am not a Lieberman fan. Not in the least. I think he's a Bush enabler of the highest order and he is a pox on our party. But he votes with us 95% of the time and I will bet money he is going to get re-elected. That race is just sucking wind and resources out of hundreds of races nationwide that could be used to take back the House and Senate and put a check on those dangerous warmongering assholes in the White House. Joe Barton votes with us ZERO PERCENT OF THE TIME. And while Dave is getting some great support down in the rural parts of the district and amongst the urban grassroots, it seems that the national folks (both party institutions and bloggers) have given up on this race. They've abandoned the residents of the 6th congressional district and decided it's not worth fighting for.
Well fuck yall. The 50 state strategy isn't going to work unless you're willing to put your money and resources into truly fighting that fight on every level. It won't work unless you're willing to take on even the most powerful Republicans. Guys like John Laesch and David Harris are doing the work of God and they can't even get a bone thrown their way.
I'm just fucking disgusted by this situation and feeling very helpless right now. Once again I'm feeling abandoned by my party, abandoned by my so-called allies, and generally depressed as hell. Something has gotta give, and after last night I am even more hopeless. I live in a district full of racist, close-minded, war mongering assholes.
On days like this I just want to give up and move the fuck out of here and into a blue state where sane people live.
/rant off
For clarification purposes, Joe Barton is the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Go check out the committee webpage and you'll see that everything this guy touches effects every American citizen. Then realise why I'm so pissed off at this race not getting any traction. Also, for clarification, the part I never wanted to write was the Lieberman part. I love Ned Lamont; I think he's great. I think that the Connecticut bloggers are amazing. But I am so pissed off over that race sucking all the wind out of the room. I didn't want to be the one to call everyone out, but my anger has got the best of me today and my friends say that I have a tendency to say what other people would only dare to think. Take it for what it's worth, I guess. And hey, at least I got the highest compliment ever, which was a recommend from Hunter. Thanks, brother.
update: steve gilliard has posted a response to me on his site which is definitely worth a read. steve and i are friendly. he is one of my blogging heros, and i respect him so much. meeting him in 04 was one of the hilights of my trip to nyc to protest the GOP convention. i am grateful that he gave this post the response it deserved. he was civil, respectful, and forthright. and i'm sure he wrote that way knowing that i blog from the heart and don't hold anything back. i sincerely thank him for his imput.
i've got a response to him over at my site. if you want to read it, please feel free to. i am no shrinking violet and i can handle it.
also, i accidentally typed "majority" leader reid and i've corrected it. perhaps that was subliminal wishful thinking on my part. my apologies for any confusion that caused.
and one more thing: um... i don't know why, but the comments system on my site is broken. this just happened in the last thirty minutes or so. did yall "kos" me??? seriously though, i am going to try to fix it real fast, but if i can't get it done quickly it'll have to wait till the morning. ok, it looks like they are working again. my web host fixed it late last night apparently. feel free to take this over there.