Post by xtra on Aug 28, 2009 13:50:18 GMT -6
Liberatarian Insider at the Obama Town Hall Meeting in Grand Junction
From: Debbie Schum <smudgesticks@juno.com>
> Subject: here's what happened
> To: "'LIBERTARIAN PARTY OPINIONS'" <lpct-opinions@dld2000..com>
> Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 2:27 AM
>
> I’ve had lots of questions about what happened inside the “town hall” meeting. Here you go…
>
> I was inside the school. Approximately 95% of the others there were adoring, genuflecting liberals. From a “random lottery” of tickets (wink, wink). I only got in because a friend gave me a ticket. And both of us were told we couldn’t bring in:
>
> Cameras
>
> Water bottles or cups
>
> Pens or pencils
>
> Purses or bags
>
> Signs
>
>
> But when we got in, the obvious liberals were taking pictures of everything, writing notes and small signs with their pens that they got out of their purses, and swigging water or soda out of bottles and cups. My friend Denise (who gave me the ticket) is on chemotherapy and has dry mouth problems from it. But if she needed a sip of water, she had to go all the way around the room and out into the hall to the water cooler…EACH time. We were ushered to seats in the very back. Once inside, we were not allowed to leave and then return (to the car in the parking lot).
>
> Since I was in the very back, up against the rope cordoning off the press from the rest of us, several reporters approached me to ask questions. Some volunteer person from Paonia (she told me she was from Paonia) would fly over there and snarl at them and say they weren’t allowed to talk to any one in the audience (even hours before the president showed up). This caused many arguments between her and me. It also made journalists angry and determined, and I of course agreed to every interview. Some were conducted over her yelling, and some immediately following the event.
> Hundreds of people who had tickets were not allowed in. Once Denise and I were in, we noticed all the front row chairs were empty and no one was allowed to sit there. Also, there were seats up on the stage that were empty. Just before the event, they filled. We later learned that the Salazar brothers, Udall, Bennet, and Ritter were given tickets to pass out (oh, probably randomly, right?) and those seats were reserved for those people. Pre-empting the other ticket holders who were left standing outside.
>
> When the dog and pony show finally began, it seemed like a game show. Obama came out almost twirling, with his arms out for applause (which he certainly got…it almost reminded me of those old film clips of Beatles concerts). Then he talked, and talked, and talked….and talked. Finally he took 6 questions which he didn’t really answer. The answers had the quality of being rehearsed. They kind of went with the questions, as if the same questions basically are being asked all around the country, so he has these pat answers. Only one was even remotely “tough”, and it was actually more humorous (as well as unexpected). The young man was from the Boulder college (CU), so we all expected it to be liberal fawning. But he challenged the president to “an Oxford style debate”, and then asked him how private insurance could possibly compete against government insurance, since government insurance clearly would have several unfair advantages. Obama laughed and joked about the “chutzpah” of someone who would challenge him to an Oxford style debate, and then slid around the question by talking about UPS and FedEx.
> Then it was over, but we had to wait for a half hour after Elvis left the building before we were allowed to leave. During that time, I was the most accessible person for the press, simply because of where I was. This landed me the interview on CNN, and with several other news outlets.
>
> In a few instances, Obama was actually honest about a few things. He said that Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare account for 70% of the federal budget (think about that when you’re outraged about the billions in pork that account for ONLY around 1% of the money flying around!). He also admitted there isn’t enough money to pay for Medicaid/Medicare, and that some of the subsidies (yes, he used that word) for that would have to be cut no matter what. Meaning those of you on M/M that are paying $100 per month out of your social security or whatever, and perhaps another $150 for supplemental (and still doing co-pay, of course) will be paying a lot more. He also admitted that the “public option” in the proposal is NOT “free”. That the government will be selling insurance (with some unfair advantages, of course. Beyond no need to make profit or regulatory costs---but also a nice little caveat that if for any reason you wind up on the “public option”—and there are several instances where they can sign you up without your consent—you are no longer allowed to EVER switch to private insurance. He didn’t talk about this, of course, but it’s in there).
>
> No one questioned the “mandate” part of it, or raised the issue of why we can’t just look at why health care costs so much (a big part of why is because of insurance practices) and focus on that, narrowing the insurance part of it down considerably. The questions were not should we have government health care or not, but what KIND of government health care. I felt immensely frustrated that while so many realize insurance has made a real mess of health care, no one seemed to realize how much of that insurance mess is government mandated (like all those stupid things about what insurance has to cover—and you have to pay for—like birth control pills, pregnancy check-ups, breast reduction surgery…when you’re a man. Or prostate check ups, etc, when you’re a woman. The kind of crap the government will be cutting out of their own plan).
> There was also no mention that, as usual, the federal employees are exempt from their own impractical crappiness.
> Debbie Schum
Debbie on CNN
www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=DyHYVizifhA&feature=player_embedded
From: Debbie Schum <smudgesticks@juno.com>
> Subject: here's what happened
> To: "'LIBERTARIAN PARTY OPINIONS'" <lpct-opinions@dld2000..com>
> Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 2:27 AM
>
> I’ve had lots of questions about what happened inside the “town hall” meeting. Here you go…
>
> I was inside the school. Approximately 95% of the others there were adoring, genuflecting liberals. From a “random lottery” of tickets (wink, wink). I only got in because a friend gave me a ticket. And both of us were told we couldn’t bring in:
>
> Cameras
>
> Water bottles or cups
>
> Pens or pencils
>
> Purses or bags
>
> Signs
>
>
> But when we got in, the obvious liberals were taking pictures of everything, writing notes and small signs with their pens that they got out of their purses, and swigging water or soda out of bottles and cups. My friend Denise (who gave me the ticket) is on chemotherapy and has dry mouth problems from it. But if she needed a sip of water, she had to go all the way around the room and out into the hall to the water cooler…EACH time. We were ushered to seats in the very back. Once inside, we were not allowed to leave and then return (to the car in the parking lot).
>
> Since I was in the very back, up against the rope cordoning off the press from the rest of us, several reporters approached me to ask questions. Some volunteer person from Paonia (she told me she was from Paonia) would fly over there and snarl at them and say they weren’t allowed to talk to any one in the audience (even hours before the president showed up). This caused many arguments between her and me. It also made journalists angry and determined, and I of course agreed to every interview. Some were conducted over her yelling, and some immediately following the event.
> Hundreds of people who had tickets were not allowed in. Once Denise and I were in, we noticed all the front row chairs were empty and no one was allowed to sit there. Also, there were seats up on the stage that were empty. Just before the event, they filled. We later learned that the Salazar brothers, Udall, Bennet, and Ritter were given tickets to pass out (oh, probably randomly, right?) and those seats were reserved for those people. Pre-empting the other ticket holders who were left standing outside.
>
> When the dog and pony show finally began, it seemed like a game show. Obama came out almost twirling, with his arms out for applause (which he certainly got…it almost reminded me of those old film clips of Beatles concerts). Then he talked, and talked, and talked….and talked. Finally he took 6 questions which he didn’t really answer. The answers had the quality of being rehearsed. They kind of went with the questions, as if the same questions basically are being asked all around the country, so he has these pat answers. Only one was even remotely “tough”, and it was actually more humorous (as well as unexpected). The young man was from the Boulder college (CU), so we all expected it to be liberal fawning. But he challenged the president to “an Oxford style debate”, and then asked him how private insurance could possibly compete against government insurance, since government insurance clearly would have several unfair advantages. Obama laughed and joked about the “chutzpah” of someone who would challenge him to an Oxford style debate, and then slid around the question by talking about UPS and FedEx.
> Then it was over, but we had to wait for a half hour after Elvis left the building before we were allowed to leave. During that time, I was the most accessible person for the press, simply because of where I was. This landed me the interview on CNN, and with several other news outlets.
>
> In a few instances, Obama was actually honest about a few things. He said that Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare account for 70% of the federal budget (think about that when you’re outraged about the billions in pork that account for ONLY around 1% of the money flying around!). He also admitted there isn’t enough money to pay for Medicaid/Medicare, and that some of the subsidies (yes, he used that word) for that would have to be cut no matter what. Meaning those of you on M/M that are paying $100 per month out of your social security or whatever, and perhaps another $150 for supplemental (and still doing co-pay, of course) will be paying a lot more. He also admitted that the “public option” in the proposal is NOT “free”. That the government will be selling insurance (with some unfair advantages, of course. Beyond no need to make profit or regulatory costs---but also a nice little caveat that if for any reason you wind up on the “public option”—and there are several instances where they can sign you up without your consent—you are no longer allowed to EVER switch to private insurance. He didn’t talk about this, of course, but it’s in there).
>
> No one questioned the “mandate” part of it, or raised the issue of why we can’t just look at why health care costs so much (a big part of why is because of insurance practices) and focus on that, narrowing the insurance part of it down considerably. The questions were not should we have government health care or not, but what KIND of government health care. I felt immensely frustrated that while so many realize insurance has made a real mess of health care, no one seemed to realize how much of that insurance mess is government mandated (like all those stupid things about what insurance has to cover—and you have to pay for—like birth control pills, pregnancy check-ups, breast reduction surgery…when you’re a man. Or prostate check ups, etc, when you’re a woman. The kind of crap the government will be cutting out of their own plan).
> There was also no mention that, as usual, the federal employees are exempt from their own impractical crappiness.
> Debbie Schum
Debbie on CNN
www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=DyHYVizifhA&feature=player_embedded