Protestors confront politicians at town halls megathread

[vote for pedro]

When these lefty rentamob types talk about "hoping to have a chance to express their concerns" what they mean is that instead of asking questions to hear what his answer would be they wanted to take up as much time as they ranting at and hectoring him.  Now the Congressman is a big boy and he has to expect to put up with a certain amount of that as part of his job.

Calling all the people who show up and get angry/ask tough questions fake/rented/whatever isn't really accurate. I'm sure lots of activists do troll around, but if you think people aren't worried about the healthcare debate, among other things, you're kidding yourself. Not everyone is cool with the conservative/Trump agenda.

However he also has to have consideration for constituents of his who have come to hear what he has to say on a variety of issues and not have to put up with spending half the time there not hearing what he has to say but listening to hectoring predicable rants from assorted lefties wanting to speak their brains to a captive audience. Trott was perfectly correct to keep these people from disrupting the meeting.

The point of this was to question whether he was actually doing what you just said. You're deferring completely to Trott, as if everything he did was genuine and ok. Activists going there to disrupt may be wrong, but so is having a Town Hall where the only people there are people you hand picked to throw you softball questions in an attempt to make it look like you had a calm, meaningful town hall, when in reality all you did was stage a mock TH.

I'm not sure that's exactly what Trott did, but he did seem to heavily manage this. To act like he was hearing the real concerns of all his constituents here is probably a stretch.

So checking a list and only allowing in actual registered voters from his district is somehow a bad thing?  I'm glad the paid protesters were left out in the cold.

They let in this deranged loon in the pussy hat.  The audience got to listen to her insane screaming through the whole event.  She has never voted for him and never will. 

[vote for pedro]

I'm glad the paid protesters were left out in the cold.

You think everyone protesting at these places is paid? Really? I don't get why it is so hard to believe that there are a ton of people out there legitimately annoyed by Trump's ascent to the White House. It's the same reason donations to a constellation of groups like the ACLU, PP, etc, have spiked. It's the same reason the Democratic Party has seen a surge of volunteers and contributions at the local level. America has always had a history of activism.

She has never voted for him and never will.  

I get not wanting to let in someone who may only be there to disrupt and get him to slip-up, but what does not voting for him have to do with anything? These are Representatives of people in their district, not just Republicans in their district. They should be representing everyone, not just people who they can squeeze a vote out of.

No, I'm sure they aren't all paid. 


1) Your dailykos article claimed that the townhall was 'staged' and implied only hardcore supporters of the congressman were allowed in.   This woman is not a supporter of the congressman in any way, shape, or form.  But she lives in the district and was allowed in.

2) It's a strong Republican district.  Your dailykos calls it "one of the worst Republican Gerrymanders on earth" or something.  He isn't going to get re-elected trying to make this woman happy. 

[vote for pedro]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/850387892144918530

I see Costello figured out how to have a townhall where there can't be any embarrassing footage.

Surely you have the resources to get fake ID for your traveling agitators.   And I doubt they will take away your cell phones.

[vote for pedro]

The point is to stress that the protestors are not a representative cross section of society but consist of that section of the population that actively are attracted to and enjoy taking part in these kind of protests..... Furthermore these kind of people are very much a minority and will rarely act spontaniously.

I'm sorry, while it may be true in places that the protesters are unrepresentative of the district or a minority, that's a completely different claim from saying they are "fake" or "paid" and represent absolutely no one in the district. It's the latter the Republicans are claiming. But there are liberal Democrats in Chaffetz's and Joe Wilson's districts and at least a handful of deplorables in Jose Serrano's.... and it sure does seem in places like Arkansas there are people who aren't partisan Democrats who are angry as hell about losing their healthcare.

Strawman arguments are so annoying.

Less than a month ago when Dave Trott only allowed in protesters from his own district, there was crying and wailing about those poor protesters who had traveled so far being left out in the cold, and claims that the townhall was fake or staged for not allowing the travelers in.   

When the Missouri congressman announces they would be checking addresses, there are cries of "fascist thugs."

You admit in some places the protesters are unrepresentative of the district or a minority ?  I'm gonna say nearly everywhere this is the case.  If the average voter in a district has an extreme conservative or left wing viewpoint, the odds are extremely low that they have a congressional representative from the opposite party. 

[vote for pedro]

You admit in some places the protesters are unrepresentative of the district or a minority ?  I'm gonna say nearly everywhere this is the case.  If the average voter in a district has an extreme conservative or left wing viewpoint, the odds are extremely low that they have a congressional representative from the opposite party.  

That makes no sense—the part about the odds being extremely low that a political minority would have a representative of the opposite party. All but the strongest Republican districts have a sizable Democratic-voting population in them. The worst gerrymanders include significant Democratic populations in every Republican district in order to "crack" the population. Of course there is a significant if not dominant number of far-left *and* mainstream left voters in all of these districts.

And let's not forget, some of these town halls are hosted by Senators who represent an entire state!

Again, we're talking about "paid" or "fake" protesters. It's a strawman to refer to anything other than that claim.

Again with the strawman.  I never said there weren't any democrats in a republican's district.  I said the odds are that those with extreme left wing views are very likely in the minority if they live in a republican congressman's district.  Same goes for a "Tea Party" protester at a democrat congressman's town hall.

"in the minority": ie.  Very likely to have unrepresentative views from the average voter / majority of voters in the district.

[vote for pedro]

And let's not forget, some of these town halls are hosted by Senators who represent an entire state!

Again, we're talking about "paid" or "fake" protesters. It's a strawman to refer to anything other than that claim.

I addressed the out of district protesters being kept out of townhalls in Michigan and Missouri.  A move I applaud, your side seemed upset by it.

On the topic of Senators, answer me this:  Illinois has two democrat senators.  If every single republican voter in Illinois had contacted both Illinois Senators and urged them to vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch, do you think they would have changed their vote?  That's a very large percentage of their constituents, still a minority though.  What do you think?

[vote for pedro]

And let's not forget, some of these town halls are hosted by Senators who represent an entire state!

Again, we're talking about "paid" or "fake" protesters. It's a strawman to refer to anything other than that claim.

I addressed the out of district protesters being kept out of townhalls in Michigan and Missouri.  A move I applaud, your side seemed upset by it.

On the topic of Senators, answer me this:  Illinois has two democrat senators.  If every single republican voter in Illinois had contacted both Illinois Senators and urged them to vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch, do you think they would have changed their vote?  That's a very large percentage of their constituents, still a minority though.  What do you think?

Nope.  The majority of their constituents wouldn't vote for them if they did that.  And look what happened to Alan Dixon for voting for an arch-conservative Republican with no business being on the SC.

Thank you.  I agree 100%.  Politicians don't get re-elected trying to please people who are unlikely to vote for them anyway.

[vote for pedro]

You need to defend the paid protesters instead of trying to deny them:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/26/so-what-if-protesters-are-paid/?wpisrc=nl_everything&wpmm=1

You must be logged in to read this quote.