Stopping the right wing town hall blitzkrieg
Want to know where the next Brooks Brothers riot will be? Consult your RedState calendar.
One of these days, the left is going to figure out that you can’t beat something with nothing. The right may be crazy, they may be devious, corporate funded liars, dupes, rubes or damned near evil, but they are also organized — especially when they position themselves as the opposition. Don’t be fooled by the 2008 campaign. The problem there was that the hardcore base didn’t like John McCain. But now that they’re in their element — fighting for the elongation of corporate power — they are back in their stride, unleashing their two-tiered army of astroturf “activists” and the dumbass, trailer trash podunks they’ve convinced to help them destroy middle class America for the financial benefit of corporations.
So what should the Democrats do about the “rocking the town halls” phenomenon? First, figure out where they’re going to be. RedState.com and other winger sites are planning their assaults in advance, posting the dates of “your” / meaning Democrats’ / town hall meetings. (The RedStaters’ Herr Erick Von Erickson is getting creative these days, even practicing posting his thoughts in the original German…)
Democrats should send contingents to those town halls as well, armed with the details of the corporate antagonists’ strategy, and with a plan of their own. Remember what the organizing memo of the wingers says:
Organize for Success
* Alert people in the district to watch for the first announcement of a Town Hall — there may be as little as a week’s notice. Have a central person advised so that the alert can be distributed to as many potential supporters as possible.
* The organizer should go to www.projectvotesmart.org and obtain the Rep’s voting record. It can be copied, pasted into Word, cleaned up, highlighted and readied for distribution.
* Questions should be prepared. Most pols are pros at deflecting off-the-cuff questions. The questions should contain facts and numbers (which are embarrassing and damning to the Rep and his voting record). They can run up to five sentences or so — you will not be cut off at that length. The questions should put the Rep on the defensive and demand a specific answer. Also, anticipate the evasive, deflective answer and be prepared with a quick follow-up. The questions should personalize the Rep, e.g. why did YOU vote for a budget that immediately carried with it a $1.7 trillion deficit? Use the Alinsky playbook of which the Left is so fond: freeze it, attack it, personalize it and polarize it. You only need to distribute five or six well constructed questions. There are some questions attached here which apply to most any Democrat that is supporting the Socialist agenda.
* The voting record and questions and any relevant articles which would place the Congressperson on the defensive should be distributed to all indicating a willingness to attend. People should be asked to meet in the parking lot of the hall a half hour before the scheduled start.
* Should you seek visibility for your group voicing opposition to the Rep’s voting record and agenda, you could schedule a press conference 20 minutes before the Town Hall is scheduled to begin. Write and distribute a press release to local newspapers and TV. Have someone available to read a prepared statement and answer questions. We actually issued the press release and were prepared for the conference. However, the media were following Himes and did show up until the Town Hall started. We distributed the statement to some of the people arriving at the hall. Copies of both the press release and our statement are attached here.
Meet and Deploy
* The team should meet outside the hall with voting record and questions distributed. Everyone should be asked to use one of the questions or a similar one that boxes in the Rep. The team should also be advised to spread out inside the hall but should try to get seats in the front half. The Rep will inevitably start picking people toward the front.
* The use of protest signs outside is an option if people bring them. However, those without signs should go in the hall early enough to get good seats. Those wanting the Rep to see the signs will end up entering the hall at the last minute and will likely end up in the back with less chance to be picked for a question. Do not bring the signs into the hall if you want any chance to be picked for a question.
Inside the Hall
* Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda in Washington. They need to leave the hall with some doubts about their agenda. The other objective is to illustrate for the balance of the audience that the national leadership is acting against our founders’ principles which are on other side of the debate — and show them that there are a lot of solid citizens in the district who oppose the socialist approach to the nation’s challenges. We want the independent thinkers to leave the hall with doubts about the Democrat solutions continually proposed by the national leadership.
* You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation. Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early. If he blames Bush for something or offers other excuses — call him on it, yell back and have someone else follow-up with a shout-out. Don’t carry on and make a scene — just short intermittent shout outs. The purpose is to make him uneasy early on and set the tone for the hall as clearly informal, and free-wheeling. It will also embolden others who agree with us to call out and challenge with tough questions. The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.
* When the formal Q&A session begins get all your hands up and keep them up — be persistent throughout the entire session. Keep body language neutral and look positive to improve chances of being selected. When called on, ask a specific prepared question that puts the onus on him to answer. It can be a long question including lots of statistics/facts. You will not be interrupted from reading a solid question. If you ramble on too long without a focus, you will be stopped. After the Rep answers, or more likely diverts or dodges, be prepared with a follow-up — take the initiative and you will be able to follow-up. The balance of the group should applaud when the question is asked, further putting the Rep on the defensive. If the Rep tries a particularly odious diversion, someone from the group should yell out to answer the question. These tactics will clearly rattle the Rep and illustrate some degree of his ineptness to the balance of the audience.
In Summary
When the session ends, those who asked effective questions should seek out any press remaining in the hall, providing their names for attribution — you may be quoted in the press article. If the gameplan above is implemented the resulting impact will likely be:
* A Rep and his staff set back on their heels, recognizing that people in their district can see past the charade and are angry at the socialist agenda, infringement of our liberties, and profilgate spending. After a couple of these sessions one of the weaker ones may consider swaying from the party voting line.
* Audience members expecting business-as-usual go home recognizing that many of their neighbors oppose the agenda, see the dire financial impact, and see a Rep exposed to some degree as a charlatan, and put on the defensive.
* Articles appearing in the local press will amplify the above points to the local community, rather than being puff pieces for the local Representative. Two local articles about the Himes Town Hall are also attached.
This is nothing more than organizing 101, and Democrats should by now, be well versed in such organizing themselves. More importantly, these people are explicit in their goal: to create the impression that there is opposition to healthcare reform — not to advance a reform agenda of their own. And they’re Bushies, whose larger goal is to restore the Bush-Cheney economic policies that so enriched about 4 percent of this country at the expense of everyone else. Hell, who do you think is funding all of this?
It’s not enough for Democrats to go on MSNBC and assure us that “people will see through” the screaming and yelling. Most Americans don’t watch cable news, nor do they closely follow the issues. And most Americans despise their insurance companies, and desire reform. The wingers aren’t interested in what most Americans want. Their goal is to preserve the status quo on behalf of the corporations they shill for. Period. If Democrats don’t get that, and don’t have a clue what to do about it, the only thing that’s certain is that we’ll spend another 60 years at the mercy of the insurance industry.
UPDATE: Healthcare for America Now, a pro-reform group, releases its own set of instructions for shutting down the insurance industry’s hired brownshirts. TPM reproduces the full document here. Connect with HCAN here.
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3 Responses to “Stopping the right wing town hall blitzkrieg”
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Nobody is preventing anyone on the Left from attending town hall meetings….the Left is excellent at organizing as well, see the 2008 election day where everyone got their “text message”. That fact that 20 somethings aren’t as motivated or dare I say competent to get down into the meat of real politics and not just the personality cult of an election campaign is their dysfunction and problem, not others. That being said, the extent of organizing at these meetings is overdone.
As far as the Democrats being opposed to corporate power, that is a stretch. Much more often than not, an expansion of Federal power/authority enhances corporate power as well. Obama is all about “public/private partnerships”, also known as Corporatism. Do you believe “corporate power” is opposed to Cap and Trade?? Who do you think will be making the money on the trades??
As far as health care, to say that we will replace a multiplicity of rationing bodies for one rationing body is not a change. To replace that kind of rationing with federal rationing is at best just as bad. It is Federal Legislation back in the late 60’s and early 70s that created the modern health insurance scam that is the real culprit. It was Nixon’s HMO Act in 1972 that was the FEDERAL ACT that created the corporate power you see in health care today. There has not been a “free market” in medicine since at least 1930, if ever. To argue against a “free market” as so many on the Left do, is to argue against a corpse and a ghost.
The Democrats AND Republicans are bankrupt of ideas and have an incestuous relationship with corporate power. Republicans holding town hall meetings right now are getting jeered and booed off the stage as well. There is REAL rage in a large part of the public, and it is all about Federal and Corporate power amalgamation. The two are working together to aggrandize themselves.
You make some good points, John, but two quick things:
First: Democrats are not all that good at organizing. The GOP out-organized Democrats on the ground in every election since 1980. The difference is that in 1992, the country wanted to be rid of George Bush, plus Clinton was a southerner and so was able to carry some southern states in 1996 (not to mention the Perot effect); and in 1996, most Americans were happy with the Clinton economy. The one Democratic national candidate who was a great organizer was Barack Obama. David Plouffe and David Axelrod are phenomenal at it. Unfortunately, without a presidential campaign, or even a coherent healthcare message, to rally around, it’s not working for Plouffe anymore.
Second: yes, both sides are married to corporate power. The difference is that the Democrats’ corporate lackeydom is tempered by their even greater reliance on organized labor. Republicans have nothing standing between them and a total, slavish devotion to big corporations. Plus, Republicans tend to be more authoritarian, and so its easier to create a mass of followers. Right wingers WANT to follow. Left wingers tend to resist authority.
Ich bein ein Red Stater.