Town Halls: What's Really Happening

The following (below in boldface) is from my friend Elyse, who attended two town halls in New Jersey's 9th CD (congressional district). Where is it? If you're a fan of NY Giants and NY Jets football, it includes the area around the Meadowlands pro football stadium. Or if you're a fan of The Sopranos, well, you have a good image of the place, right down to Lodi, NJ, home of the fictitious "Bada Bing" strip club. The area used to be home to pig farms, gas stations, and abandoned buildings. Its smell was . . . not pleasant.

The congressman there is Steven Rothman, who votes 100% liberal and apparently is an enthusiastic participant in NJ's infamous "politics of corruption." Elyse's description of the town halls is below in boldface. Cong. Rothman, like most Democrats in the House, is totally unaware that his cluelessness is producing an explosive situation in the U.S. as his actions, along with those of other leftists, are making our country disappear as if it had all been a dream. The Rothmans of the world believe that it's all fine and good if they extract money from the relative few to buy votes from the many who sit as if they were baby birds waiting for "mom" to put worms in their mouth.s

Elyse says:

I went to two town hall meetings yesterday done in my district by Steve Rothman, have two more today. Some of the things I noticed were:

- No muscle in evidence in the afternoon session (mostly seniors) in Wallington. Crowd was civil and almost cordial (heavily Democratic town) Seniors were pretty well informed however he cut them off at the knees when they started talking about provisions in the bill by saying nobody knows what the final bill looks like because there are 3 versions that came out of committee. HR 3200 is listed on dozens of congressmen's websites however I couldn't find it on his. No one asked him why the bills that are out of committee are not available for public view.

- Muscle in evidence last night but a bit more discreet than we've seen nationwide - no identifying shirts etc. at the town hall in Palisades Park. Several people commented about the large menacing man in the meeting room itself (I could not get closer than the hallway) who would glower if the people seated didn't voice their approval. Actually told Michele from the NJ Tea Party organization that he would eject her if she didn't keep it down.

- We were unable to ask spontaneous questions - if you wanted to speak you had to fill out a form that Rothman's staff was passing through the crowd (SRO) giving your name, address, phone, email address and the question you would like to ask. There were 4 "plants" in Wallington and at least 8 last night, called on strictly for their favorable comments.

-The Congressman's remarks were even keeled until the last 20 minutes or so when the blame game started going. The debt is Bush's fault yadda yadda [or "Bada Bing, Bada Bing?"]. No opportunity for rebuttal. You got your two minutes and that was it. Stupidly drew the comparison that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid technically were and are unconstitutional but so what???? Unreal. I couldn't believe he made such a dopey comment.

Bashed Reagan for giving amnesty to 5 million illegals besides! As if there were no objections to that action then. It was one of the biggest gaffes of Reagan's Presidency. Think he's a little desperate?

- The little Obamabot girls, those kids that answered the $11-15 an hour Craigslist ads carrying small signs that said Thank you Mr. President for Healthcare Reform...almost threw up. When I asked the one young lady if she knew what the bill was about she had absolutely NO CLUE. Just making a little extra money before school starts, how utterly capitalistic of her ;)

All in all the attendees for these town halls come prepared and angry. Very angry. I was impressed to see all age groups actively engaged, talking to their neighbors and being very clear that they do NOT want what these idiots are selling. Many did their homework, brought with them facts and were well spoken. Expect that as information regarding the parental rights built into the bill that we do have access to comes out today that the questions will get much much tougher.

Two more town halls today, this afternoon in Englewood Cliffs and tonight in Rutherford. Rutherford should be interesting, that is the hometown of my friend Vince who ran against Rothman this past election ;)Elyse