CNN Commentary: No wonder voters are angry
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Lou Zickar’s interesting commentary at CNN provides a down-to-earth, fair and balanced, view of what’s going on in the town hall meetings across the country. Focusing on the Sen. Arlen Specter’s town hall event held in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday of this past week, he says there’s little wonder voters are angry:
[W]hat surprised me the most was not the attitude that area residents displayed toward Specter. It was, rather, the attitude he displayed toward them.I’ve been to many political events over the years — from rallies in Pennsylvania to town halls in Texas. But I’ve never been to one where a politician addressed people by a number and not their name. And yet that is exactly what Specter did. People had to take a number if they wanted to ask a question. When their turn was up, he called out the number instead of recognizing them by name.
At a time when many Americans are concerned that the federal government is going to take over the nation’s health care system and turn it into one big DMV where people have to stand in line to see a doctor, Specter unwittingly played right into their fears. In doing so, he also gave his Democratic opponent a ready-made tag line in the primary next year: “I’m Joe Sestak — you’ll never be a number to me.”
Truth be told, it’s a tag line that would also work for his probable opponent in the general election, Republican Pat Toomey, should both of them make it that far. For the fact of the matter is, even though the American people have strikingly different views on what government should do, most, if not all, Americans believe that government should be on their side.
Read it all …
Senator Arlen Spector is not alone in the way he treats his constituents in town halls. Democrats across the country have slammed and insulted protesters to the point of there now being a backfire as they enter into a mode of self destruction and loss of credibility.
As Legal Insurrection noted at Hot Air a few days ago, things are not looking up for the Dems:
While the Democrats are not done for, they are done. It’s not just sinking poll numbers for Obama, it’s sinking credibility for the Democratic leadership team and agenda.Credibility once lost, is almost impossible to regain. George Bush’s credibility never recovered from the failure to find WMD in Iraq, notwithstanding all the explanations (e.g., all the intelligence agencies got it wrong, etc.). The Democratic agenda never will recover from the stimulus fiasco, Obama’s long weekend in February, and the Democratic leadership reaction to health care protests.
To which I add, especially “the Democratic leadership reaction to health care protests.”
Related: Interesting video showing anger at Democrats via protestors at a Republican’s town hall.
