# Disrupting Town Hall Meetings **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176 "2009-08-03T16:17:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/21 "2009-08-04T02:48:49Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Until that happy day comes along, the cops need to do their job and bust a few winger heads. > That’ll settle the hooligans down big time. What kind of “wingers”? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/22 "2009-08-04T03:02:14Z")
[quote=“Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager, post:18, topic:505176”] > [@Hyperelastic](#): > > What kind of “wingers”? The **right** ones, naturally. If Dick Armey and friends wanna play hardball, lets play hardball. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/23 "2009-08-04T03:09:19Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You too? Oh my god, so do I!!! Me, too!!! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/24 "2009-08-04T03:12:35Z")
So did I, until just recently! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/25 "2009-08-04T06:13:33Z")
Apparently this astroturf campaign is busing a small group of insurance industry employees from Town Hall to Town Hall. Presumably one can make a rouge’s gallery of the contents of the bus and treat them to the same “Free Speech Zone” technique that was used for all protesters at any Bush rally. Or, at the very least, cordon them into one area to foil their current technique of getting the majority to the front of the room and the rest evenly dispersed around the room. A nice big poster with photographs of all of them as a backdrop to the speaker would work as well. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/26 "2009-08-04T16:39:12Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Apparently this astroturf campaign is busing a small group of insurance industry employees from Town Hall to Town Hall. Dick Durbin’s blathering is not a cite. I find it incredibly arrogant to assume that because someone disagrees with you, that they are automatically in the pocket of some Big Bad Industry. Is it too hard to fathom that some people are happy with their health insurance/choose not to insure themselves for whatever reason and do not want a gov’t that cannot run Medicare, Medicaid, the US Postal Service, or even Cash for Clunkers getting their slimy hands between them and their doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/27 "2009-08-04T16:44:43Z")
The Postal Service? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/28 "2009-08-04T16:47:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The Postal Service? Really? She’s just reading her script. Don’t try to confuse her! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/29 "2009-08-04T17:00:14Z")
There was a big pickup truck in front of me today with “why are you going to let the gov’t run your health insurance when they can’t run anything else efficiently?”, or words to that effect, scrawled across the back window in car chalk. At the time I was thinking, “well, the USPS will take a letter 4700 miles from my house to Honolulu for 44 cents, and the CIA then can remotely blow up the recipient with a Predator drone. That’s pretty damn efficient.” ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/30 "2009-08-04T17:00:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The Postal Service? Really? They’ve been running a deficit lately due to the increase in people using email and the like. Don’t think that’s really the gov’ts fault though. And Medicare seems pretty well run, while Medicaid is managed by the States. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/31 "2009-08-04T17:04:12Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > And Medicare seems pretty well run, while Medicaid is managed by the States. People seem to forget that an enormous portion of the cost of Medicaid is the vast administrative and investigation cost of determining eligibility. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/32 "2009-08-04T17:28:52Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Well, nothing wrong with encouraging people to go to open forums to express their desent. The last bullet point is the only one that seems over-the-line, yelling out out of turn and attempting to disrupt seems pretty dickish. That’s exactly why these people are on my shit list. Of _course_ we want open discussion. Of _course_ dissent is a good thing. But when they drown out the opposing views with their carrying on (usually wrapped in a flag with a bible on top for good measure), I want to just smack the snot out of them. It’s censorship. Fuck that and fuck them. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/33 "2009-08-04T17:49:13Z")
If they’re admitting they need to inflate their numbers and avoid an intelligent debate, they are acknowledging upfront they don’t have any kind of serious case. Overall I don’t think public discourse has to be civil at all times. There’s a place for protesting and making a racket. But if you can’t win unless you stop the other guy from talking at all, you essentially suck. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/34 "2009-08-04T18:04:36Z")
I think it would be a wonderful expression of freedom of speech to take photographs of each of the bus riders and print them on a hand-out to distribute to everyone coming into the two hall with “Insurance Shill” at the top. I’m following the money here, and one side is paying, by their own admission, 1.4 million a day, the trail is not that difficult to identify. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/35 "2009-08-04T18:16:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If they’re admitting they need to inflate their numbers and avoid an intelligent debate, they are acknowledging upfront they don’t have any kind of serious case. Well, no matter what your numbers are, you always want to inflate them. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/36 "2009-08-04T18:25:18Z")
Excuse me, gotta move this soap box in here. Might want to avail yourself of some cotton for your ears, I’m all fired up, and might get just a bit loud. Brothers and sisters, pals and gals, its all about Big Money. Big Money is threatened, and will do anything, say anything, tell any lie, to save itself. Your health, your children’s health, their children’s health doesn’t mean diddly-squat to them. How many times do you have to hear about some chickenshit insurance company functionary screwing the bejeezus out of some poor schmuck before it becomes clear that this is an ongoing criminal enterprise? If they didn’t pull shit like that, could they make a respectable profit? I don’t know, but if they can’t perform their function within the bounds of common decency, then what damned good are they? If they can’t get along without screwing people, fuck 'em! FUCK THEM! Because if that’s the case, then I don’t want to hear any more bullshit about how government isn’t efficient, we should leave it to the kindly instincts of business men. I’d rather leave my children to be baby-sat by jackals. This is efficiency? No, this is murder by actuarial table. If these people aren’t atheists, they should consider the comfort to be offered therein. Will this put them out of business? Why, because it provides what they cannot or will not provide? Then Crimea River. They had their chance, had it and screwed it, over and over again. If they can do the job decently and respectfully, then they are criminal for refusing to do so. If they can’t, they are criminal for insisting on keeping a job they cannot perform. Either way, fuck 'em in the ass, give 'em a couple of bucks, and you’re more generous than they deserve. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/37 "2009-08-04T18:34:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > But if you can’t win unless you stop the other guy from talking at all, you essentially suck. New sig line. Too bad some around here don’t appreciate the wisdom of this statement. 😛 The sad part about the people who shout things down is that they’d be really upset if someone THEY wanted to listen to had the same thing done. It’s only “ok” if it’s done to someone who’s views you dislike. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/38 "2009-08-04T18:47:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > At the time I was thinking, “well, the USPS will take a letter 4700 miles from my house to Honolulu for 44 cents, and the CIA then can remotely blow up the recipient with a Predator drone. That’s pretty damn efficient.” Remind me not to give you my address. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/39 "2009-08-04T18:55:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > But if you can’t win unless you stop the other guy from talking at all, you essentially suck. I’ve been thinking about this, and you’re right, if the only way you can win is by stopping the other guy from talking, you do suck. But on the other hand, you’ve won. So, is it better to say, “I’m not going to use these tactics”, and lose, or use them and win? And is it really realistic to think that somebody isn’t going to use desperate tactics to win? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176/40 "2009-08-04T19:02:22Z")
You pose an excellent question, one I am pleased to say I can answer without hesitation and be assured of perfect honesty! I don’t know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disrupting-town-hall-meetings/505176.md?page=3)