town hall meeting

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Rifle-Toting Protester Part of Staged Radio Interview

(Newser) - An anti-reform protester who showed up near President Obama's town hall event in Phoenix with a semiautomatic assault rifle did so as part of a staged radio event, reports Talking Points Memo. The man who conducted the seemingly random interview with the gun-toting "Chris" is conservative talk radio host...

Right-Wing Crazy Is All-American
 Right-Wing Crazy 
 Is All-American 
OPINION
Aug 16, 2009 8:23 AM CDT

Right-Wing Crazy Is All-American

Birthers, tea parties—it's nothing new

(Newser) - With the left back in power, we’re seeing right-wing "crazies"—the “birthers, tea-partiers, town hall hecklers”—getting louder. But that’s nothing new, writes Rick Perlstein in the Washington Post. In America, “the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy, and elites...

Obama Gets Personal, Cites Grandmother's Death

(Newser) - Now it's personal. President Barack Obama invoked his own anguish over the death of his grandmother as he challenged the notion that Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health care would include so-called death panels. "I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it's like to watch...

Friendly Crowd Does Obama No Favors at Town Hall

(Newser) - President Obama was plainly itching for the chance to confront health reform critics at his town hall event in Montana yesterday but he was let down by a friendly audience that failed to ask enough tough questions, Michael D. Shear writes in the Washington Post. The president was only put...

Obama Denounces Media's Focus on Health Care Protests

'TV loves a ruckus,' he says

(Newser) - President Obama today denounced the media's emphasis on angry protesters at health care town halls, the AP reports. "TV loves a ruckus," he said. Trying to sell his overhaul plan amid an increasingly noisy and partisan debate, Obama told a crowd of about 1,300 in Montana: "...

These Kooks Aren't Fooling Anyone
 These Kooks 
 Aren't Fooling Anyone 
OPINION
Aug 14, 2009 12:49 PM CDT

These Kooks Aren't Fooling Anyone

(Newser) - The “wild-eyed rants” reverberating through town hall meetings are pretty amusing. But do Republicans “really think the country is dopey enough to mistake microwave mobs staging Potemkin village protests” for actual American rage, asks Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe. “If so, they’re delusional.” These...

Health-Care Protesters Winning Sympathy: Poll

34% 'more sympathetic' to protesters, 21% less

(Newser) - Town-hall protesters have succeeded in making some Americans “more sympathetic” to their health care views, a USA Today/Gallup poll finds. Of 1,000 adults surveyed, 34% say they’re now more sympathetic of the protesters’ stance, while 21% say they’re less. Among independents, that grows to a 2-to-1...

Grassley Feeds Fire of Death Panel Claims

(Newser) - Put Sen. Chuck Grassley in the fear-the-death-panels camp. Asked today at a town hall meeting to debunk that line of attack, Grassley did precisely the opposite, reports the Iowa Independent. "You have every right to fear," said Grassley—who, by the way, is one of three Republicans negotiating...

Cops Bust 2nd Obama Protester With a Gun

Man arrested before NH town hall; gun was unlicensed, loaded

(Newser) - A protester arrested ahead of President Obama’s town hall yesterday had an unlicensed loaded gun, police say. Richard Young, 62, was discovered inside Portsmouth High School several hours before Obama arrived. He was carrying a pocket knife; police found the gun in his car. He has been charged with...

Gun-Toting Obama Protester Is a Birther

Secessionist group included among his MySpace friends

(Newser) - William Kostric, the man who showed up to protest at Obama’s town hall meeting yesterday with a loaded gun strapped to his leg, told Chris Matthews that he wasn’t affiliated with birther groups. But a web user by the same name has left a digital trail that proves...

GOP Sen. Slams Prez's Town Hall 'Shout-Out'

Says he 'vehemently opposes' Congressional measures

(Newser) - At yesterday's town hall, President Obama cited health care reform backing from a Republican senator—giving a shout-out to Georgia's Johnny Isakson—and the lawmaker is none too pleased, Politico reports. Obama said Isakson sponsored voluntary end-of-life counseling measures, prompting Isakson’s office to assert that he “vehemently opposes...

'Absolutely Nuts' Birthers Fueling Town Hall Wig Outs: Gov

(Newser) - Birther "crazies" are fueling ugly confrontations at town hall meetings about health care reform, complains Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. “The birthers are a perfect slice of people who have lost their rationality" whose "obsession is hurting the Democratic process," he said on Hardball yesterday. The so-called...

Gun-Toting Protester at Obama Event Unrepentant

Tells Chris Matthews it's no big deal

(Newser) - The man who showed up at President Obama's town hall today with a gun defended his right to do just that when grilled by Chris Matthews on his show tonight, reports the Huffington Post. When Matthews asked why he showed up with a weapon strapped to his leg, William Kostric...

Ambinder: Town Halls Backfiring on Conservatives

(Newser) - Only a week ago, it seemed that conservatives had all the momentum in the fight against health care reform. Now, it's clear "they ramped up too quickly," writes Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic. The first town hall activists were "itching for a fight," and "the...

Guy Waiting for Obama Had a Gun? Yep, and It's Legal

(Newser) - Byron Crawford had to do a double-take today when he saw a report on MSNBC about a guy with a gun strapped to his leg among the crowd to see Obama in New Hampshire. Seems it was OK because the guy was on private property at a church next door....

Obama Takes On Rationing, 'Death Panel' Rumors
 Obama Takes On Rationing,  
 'Death Panel' Rumors 
health care town hall
Aug 11, 2009 1:21 PM CDT

Obama Takes On Rationing, 'Death Panel' Rumors

(Newser) - Barack Obama took the stage in New Hampshire today to set the record straight about Democratic health care reform efforts. Though the crowd was all applause, Obama took on the raucous protests that have characterized recent town halls. “Let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations,...

Specter Breaks Up Fight at Town Hall, Gets Yelled At

(Newser) - Arlen Specter got a taste of health care rage at a town hall event today, where a reform opponent got so angry that another attendee tried to physically remove him from the event. Specter descended from the stage to try to break up the confrontation, telling the man to leave...

Friends, Foes Line Up for Obama Town Hall

(Newser) - Roughly 100 supporters and about half as many protesters have already lined up along the road outside Portsmouth High School in New Hampshire, where Barack Obama will hold a health care town hall meeting at 1pm today, the AP reports. About 70% of the 1,800 tickets were distributed by...

Calm Down at Town Halls: Palin
 Calm Down at Town Halls: Palin 
Aug 10, 2009 9:01 AM CDT

Calm Down at Town Halls: Palin

(Newser) - Sarah Palin urged supporters to show restraint at town hall meetings, arguing that disruptive protests were giving Democrats ammunition. “There are many disturbing details in the current bill that Washington is trying to rush through Congress,” she said on Facebook yesterday, but we must “not get sidetracked...

No Rules in Place at 'Town Halls'

(Newser) - With health care town hall meetings around the country turning into shouting matches and even brawls, you might be wondering if there are any rules governing these things. But there aren’t, explains Christopher Beam of Salon. Political town halls are just informal gatherings, with no set format on who...

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