This is what we are up against

Recently a leaked memo has been the subject of much conversation. This memo:

Unfortunately it doesn't look too good here, but follow this link to see it better if you would like. The front page is pretty harmless, actually. It's the subsequent content that shows how disgusting the anti-health care reform people are. It's best supplemented with a number of videos on youtube, but Rachel Maddow has a great summation of it all here:

It was a surprise to find out this crap is going on in my own town of syracuse. This is the tactic of the opponents of health care reform: when a man stands up to ask his elected representative a question about the single payer system, another man stands up and tells him to sit down and shut his mouth. That is their strategy. Regardless of how you feel about the reform, this is not the way policies are supposed to be discussed. To think that there is a body at work spreading this strategy as helpful hints is repulsive.

As usual, the spin is coming from the right wing clowns. So far I have heard the alternate reality version from the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity. Hannity tells his audience that representatives are being held responsibly for their socialist agenda. Limbaugh tells his minions how the people are starting to rise up against this awful plan that is planning the death of the elderly. And Beck, who I was able to catch on the radio on the way to work after being held up by both an accident and a dead battery, describes the scene as "real Americans" not standing for this.

Beck, I have a particular problem with. He must be particularly upset about health reform as it has caused him to liken our government to a monarchy. You see, when your "side" loses the election by a significant margin and you don't like what the winning party is doing, it means that their policies are not supported by the people. He seriously said that the antics of the people fucking around in the Town Hall meetings were the actions of "real Americans" who were upset that Washington politicians were doing things they didn't want them to do. Is he retarded? Possibly. The man is certainly unstable. There are a number of videos out there with him (fake) crying because he just loves his country so much. He also went on about how the government is using the cash for clunkers program to seize your computer. That is a lie, and the lie has already been refuted, but that doesn't stop him from repeating it for all of his idiot listeners to get worked up in a lather about it.

Michelle Malkin has also been running her dirty hooker mouth about how wonderful this grassroots movement is. Why do all of these right wing tools completely ignore the fact that the proof is out there that there is nothing grassroots about it. Does it give the idiots that actually go to these town hall meetings to fug it up a warm and fuzzy feeling to think that they are part of something like that? Do they have any idea that they are tools? I don't know. But judging by the lady waving a bible in the video I can only guess that these participants were produced from a questionable gene pool. It's right up there with the lady in the birther video who suggests that everyone stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't remember where I read it, maybe facebook, but someone said that scene reminded me of a scene during National Lampoon Christmas Vacation where the old lady stands for the pledge at dinner. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only grassroots movement I want to be part of:




Yeah!

Where was I... oh yeah, here's my real problem. The purpose of these Town Hall Meetings is to spread information and answer questions in such a way that the public can understand what it is that the people we elect are trying to do. Most of us are smart enough to understand when those people doing the explaining are lying out there ass or being evasive. We can use that information and combine it with whatever we are able to dig up on the internet or at the library or whatever the case may be to come to a rational conclusion about legislation. That is part of the democratic process. We can then cast our vote depending on who we think has the country's best interests in mind. So what I don't understand is why these people think that this harassment and disruption is good for the country.

These are the first people to preach about the Constitution, our forefathers, the Declaration of Independence, patriotism, and calling Democrats/Liberals such things as nazis and fascists. And yet their contributions to the democratic process consists of bullying and harassment? How does that make sense? You would have to be a complete moron to come to that conclusion. If this legislation is so bad, why are they afraid of the people getting a chance to learn about it? Wouldn't you think that asking intelligent questions and hearing the details would derail the effort if it is that horrible? What are they afraid of?

That is the key question. What are they afraid of, indeed. The far-right wing pundits and politicians have been using fear as their main motivation tool for most of my politically involved life. The peak of this was when Bush told us that if we didn't vote for him we were going to get nuked. Fear is extremely useful when used the right way, and it is being used expertly right now in the health care debate. A local radio guy, Jim Reith, took the time to read the bill and answer questions on it a couple weeks ago, and it only proved to emphasise the amount of ignorance out there. He calmly listened to lie after lie and found the appropriate page of the legislation and set it right. No, the new system would not kill off the elderly. No, you would not be forced to take this insurance if you change jobs. No, you would not be denied because the government does not decide what help you can have. The listeners would get angry because Sean Hannity told them otherwise, and would hang up. Reith is not a liberal commie, by the way. He's as middle of the road as you can get.

So, it comes down to fear and the manipulators who spread the fear. I just hope that the people can be intelligent enough to know that they can make decisions for themselves. All they have to do is shut out the noise.

Update: And the spin continues. Hannity last night led off his radio show gushing about how "proud" and "inspired" he was about these great patriots shouting down elected representatives and bullying town hall attendees in to silence. That man is a disgusting piece of work. He's actually hoping to promote this activity. The irony comes with his scathing discussion of speculated anonymously reported bully tactics used by Rahm Emanuel.

Also, my hometown area (Utica) once again made the news. Michael Arcuri and Steny Hoyer were there speaking about a high speed rail system they are trying to implement when a bunch of rednecks, dubbed the Fort Stanwix "Patriots", started yelling at them about health care. Now, I may not have been present at the time that Fort Stanwix was in full operation but I visited it once in elementary school and at no point did they mention how they successfully fought off socialized health care or anything of that sort. Perhaps my Mohawk Valley history is lacking. Here's the video. The Utica stuff is at about 3:00.

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