I have at least two problems with those in this article bemoaning the confrontations of Senator Mitch McConnell in public. First up, is WHAS radio show host Terry Meiners:
WHAS radio show host Terry Meiners expressed that concern on Twitter in the aftermath of McConnell's first encounter with protesters. He said people have the right to tell politicians they stink under the First Amendment but when one heckler went too far by saying they knew the senator's home address.
"If they live on an island that's great, but if they live in a neighborhood with anyone within earshot of their home then there's disruption and discomfort to other folks who lived there before the luminary moved in," Meiners said in an interview. "There's just a sensibility that goes with that, I think.”
Why does that statement from Meiners piss me off? Meiners and Ron Clay used to do be DJ’s at a local rock and roll station called WLRS in the late 70’s. Their time slot got converted in a morning show called “The Show with No Name.” And Meiners and Clay did what they considered to be comedy skits in the 80’s.
One of their skits had a character called “Trubba Man.” It was supposed to be a riff on Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man.” And Trubba Man was supposedly a black man who couldn’t speak proper English.
Next up, Meiners and Clay had a skit called “Fagnet.” Once again, a take off of gay sex and men with the background being two gay detectives in the same vein as the old show “Dragnet.” Stuff about how you could tell if a gay man was a virgin by the way he farted. High class stuff like that.
You get the gist.
Then, there is this bit from Josh Holmes, Mitch McConnell’s former chief of staff during his 2014 campaign:
Holmes was blunt: town halls don't present McConnell with a constructive dialogue. He said open forums would be packed with activists who are more interested in making a point than productive conversation.
“I totally reject the idea that people in Kentucky feel like they can't have a voice with him,” Holmes said. "They respond to every piece of mail, every phone call, he's in every corner of the state. The accessibility of McConnell is really underappreciated by his critics."
During the latest ACA repeal vote, I actually went down to McConnell’s office in Louisville. Naturally, McConnell wasn’t there, but I wanted to give my view and tell them about how I had gotten Medicaid because of the ACA. I did not qualify for health insurance before the Medicaid expansion, so I wanted to let McConnell know that the ACA did not throw me into unemployment or ruin my life as he repeatedly claims happens in KY. One of his minions took down my information, and I also repeated that I had called his office to let him know about the positive impact the ACA had on my life. And I know I was not the only one to say this to McConnell.
However, McConnell continued to repeat his lies about the ACA during the congressional debate and when giving statements to the media. All McConnell “heard” from his constituents was how awful the ACA is. Nothing good was ever reported to him.
Yeah, I’m going to be civil to McConnell if I ever see him gorging himself at dinner.
