The event was planed for the meeting room in our town hall, then I guess at the last minute switched to the American Legion Hall right down the road ( Honeoye Falls is not a big place.. I mean , bigger than Mendon, but some houses are bigger then Mendon..) We saw the sign as we drove into town. A long line to get into the building awaited us.
After maybe, twenty minuets of waiting in line to get in, it was obvious to the Congressman's powers that be that even this, the largest hall in the town would not be big enough. So, out into the yard we spill. There is a covered BBQ area behind the building, and we gathered around there. We got there about half an hour early, and people just kept on coming. VERY obvious as to who the anti reform people were from the get go. There were loud before Congressman Massa even arrived. Really , and I found this very odd, it was sort of a FOX News turrets sort of thing. They would just shout out some talking point.There was this one woman, in full doctor drag, her white coat and stethoscope around her neck,.. with the current Time magazine with President Obama on the cover in a doctors coat " I am a real doctor, this clown is only playing one!"... over and over just to no one.
It seemed to me that for the most part... the " anti" crowd all knew one another. When the event was going to be indoors the Congressman's people were trying to get a list of everyone there, and check Id's of people coming in. Once it moved outside, this was impossible, but it set the crazies off.... asking for Id's makes their tin foil hats show.
Congressman Massa arrived and with all the changes there was no sound system at the start. He just yelled till they got the system hooked up. He is a very straight forward honest guy. He started off by saying that EVERYONE would be heard.. and that we must treat each other with respect. For the most part we held to this. Almost everyone that spoke against health care reform was very scripted, some just grabbing the mike and reading their K Street /Insurance Company factoids off their sheets. The people for it seems less scripted. The "doctor" in the white coat spoke, saying there just would not be enough doctors to see everyone. Lots of folks saying how we will be FORCED to do this or that , FORCED to kill grandma and make Sissy have an abortion.. on and on.
The feeling of the crowd was at times not pleasant. This is just a guess, these paunchy just off the 18th hole GOPers probably are not that happy about the marriage equality thing either. There is NO DOUBT that they are angry... but , it really seemed to me to be a "blanket anger" and not so much lasered on health care. There was almost as many random shouts about the "bailouts" and " the deficit" as health care. One of the very first men that spoke said " I don't think this is even an important issue at all, I do not know ANYONE that does not have health insurance...." The poor sad trod upon upper middle class straight white man in America. How heavy his burden is....light a candle.
Our Doctor spoke... he is more left than left, and just said that the overall quality of health care needed to be addressed , as well as general access. There were some very loud boo's at times, but PLENTY of yea's and claps. Truth does not really matter to the angry set... facts that do not match what they have on their pages are not real facts. We did not stay to the very end, it was getting darker and darker...
As I was leaving I yelled out to no one, in the manner of the protesters : " AND HE WAS BORN IN KENYA!!"
"BULLSHIT" , yelled the guy, about my age in front of me...
" Just kidding , I swear..... ", he smiled....
Overall, our angeries' were well behaved, they seems to VERY much enjoy their 15 seconds of fame. I mean they pretty much lost every election they could last go around, so this is blowing off some steam for them. Not so much in other places. This is from
Political discourse as soccer hooligans..
1 comment:
Great post Kyle. I enjoyed reading this. I agree, for alot of folks, healthcare reform just finally tipped over the scales (they have had it with govt intervention, bailouts, ect. ect.). I was talking to my Dad on the phone last night and we were having a spirited debate on healthcare reform. He is one of those white man republicans you referred to in your post. He agrees with me that some things need to be improved, changed, fixed regarding healthcare. He is very pissed off about the bailouts, Pelosi, Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, etc.....Fun debate last night over beers and cigars.
Post a Comment