Democrats Targeting Republican Town Halls For Protests
During the summer of 2009 Democrats were confronted at home in their districts by angry town hall protesters. The Democrats tried to suggest that the protesters were little more than political operatives organized by Republicans and Republican interests.
Of course, that wasn’t true. It was an example of a national citizen uprising against something they opposed (but were ultimately saddled with anyway).
But now Democrats are trying to turn the tables, and what’s ironic is that they’re actually doing what they falsely accused Republicans of doing which is astroturfing the protests:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has 20 Republican-held Congressional districts in its sights this week, hitting voters with automated phone calls denouncing the House Republican plan to revamp the nation’s Medicare program, and arming those who want them with signs to protest at town hall meetings across the country.
A Web site sponsored by the campaign committee lists town hall meetings scheduled to be held by Republicans, mostly freshmen, during the week. The group encourages voters to show up — as many did during the Easter recess — to protest or ask pointed questions of the members about their plan for Medicare, which would convert the program into one that subsidizes future retirees in private insurance plans.
By focusing on town hall meetings and the automated phone calls, Democrats are particularly hopeful that they will be able to spook members in districts with lots of older voters, like Florida and even Arizona, where Republicans are in firm control through much of the state. But the committee’s focus is in districts where both President Obama and Senator John Kerry, the party’s nominee in 2004, prevailed in their White House runs.
To be sure, the same media folks who questioned the legitimacy of the 2009 town hall protests will cover these Democrat-organized protests with a much different tone. Whereas the earlier town hall protests were nothing more than political operatives throwing tantrums, these Democrat protests will be of course be characterized as concerned citizens speaking out against Republican policy.
Double standards are great, aren’t they?
Tags: democrats, election 2012, town hall protests
