As we continue to monitor what Democrats plan to do about the angry groups showing up to their town-hall meetings, here's a memo from Health Care for America Now!, the gigantic coalition of progressive interest groups backing President Obama's health care reform effort, on how to fight back against the angry conservatives that have been showing up to Democratic town-hall meetings.
We know what the White House/DNC strategy is for the town-hall mayhem: ridicule the angry conservatives. Accuse them of Astroturfing, being organized by DC-based groups like FreedomWorks, or of working on behalf of the health insurance industry. Point out the more outlandish things done and said by the angry conservatives (like hanging a member of Congress in effigy).
That's a national-level media strategy, but it's not a ground
game. And that's where HCAN's memo comes in: it's essentially a
four-page handbook on hand-to-hand activist combat in the new battlefield of heated town-halls
that's emerged this August.
It means the liberal activist network has turned its attention to the
town-hall problem. Until now, liberals have focused on turning out
members for phone banking, visits to congressional offices,
canvasses, leaflets at churches and worksites, and rallies--a different
battleground entirely. (HCAN makes up
roughly half of the liberal activist effort on health care, along with
Organizing for America.) But now that town-hall confrontations have
dominated discussion of health care this week--and, if unchecked, may
continue to dominate discussion for the rest of August--HCAN is
addressing it with a turnout effort of its own.
One critical suggestion from the memo: "Bring more people than the other side has." That is something that's been missing from these YouTube videos--liberal activists making their voices heard, as well.
HCAN suggests its activists interrupt the conservatives when they get
disruptive--and organize people in the group ahead of time who feel comfortable doing
so. Say things like, "I want to hear the Representative speak. He's the one voting on the bill. Representative, how will this
bill help people who already have insurance at work?"
The memo warns not to get into shouting matches with conservatives, but rather
to keep raising the suggested questions. It does recommend liberals
"demonstrate that we are the majority by chanting."
It also recommends coordinating the event with the member of Congress
ahead of time to agree on a format for the town-hall and address
concerns, selecting a strong moderator to keep the discussion
disciplined, establish ground rules for conduct, and "assign marshals
to take care of moving the crowd, keeping people organized and orderly,
and acting as security should any need arise to ask noisy or disruptive
protesters to leave."
Other guidelines: inoculate yourself and your volunteers by knowing
what to expect from the conservatives, get there earlier, coordinate
with the member of Congress's office, talk to reporters, follow up with
the lawmaker one-on-one.
Read the full memo here.
UPDATE: Here's the full memo, embedded via Scribd:
Obama had the best ground game ever during the campaign. The Dems need to get back into campaign mode and get their activists out there in force. A mega-rally with Obama would be a nice capstone for the August recess.
http://www.wiserthanthecrowd.com/2009/08/mad-as-hatters.html
[Insert Lord of the Flies allusions here]
Meanwhile, if any Obama opponents want to do things in a smart, effective, grown-up, and honorable way, engage your brains and start asking tough, adversarial questions designed to point out specific flaws in your opponents' policies, statements, and actions. And, try and be a team player: just because you want the ego boost of asking a question doesn't mean you should. Consider finding someone who's familiar with asking questions - such as a trial lawyer - to be the one who asks the actual question.
Outlandish things like hanging someone in effigy, AND, threatening the life of an elected official.
Republicans are going to find that any opposition to health insurance reform will now be seen as belonging to the angry mob running around threatening people's lives. Heckuva strategy!
They keep walking into the Obama man's traps....why?
As an independent, I would suggest that the first step the progressives should consider is asking the tough, adversarial questions of those who are putting the health-care proposals together, fully vetting them rather than accepting them uncritically, which they appears to be their modus operandi over the last few months. Doing so would put them in a much better position when their opponents ask the same sort of questions.
Dear Mr. Williams,
Yes, progressives do need to be prepared to respond thoughtfully to thoughtful critique. Yet history seems to show that political discourse is rarely thoughtful.
Would you attend one of these 'townhall' meetings? I would not. I am not undemocratic. Or at least I do not think I am. It is just that I do not think much democracy takes place at these meetings. Only the extremists from either side show up.
On the other hand, without knowing anything about each other, possibly from opposite ends of the Earth, we can in this digital age reach out and share a brief, thoughtful exchange on a critically important topic such as healthcare reform.
It seems to me that the Internet is enabling a new era. Sure, extremist views are enabled as much as moderate views. Yet extremist views are easier to ignore on the Internet than in a public townhall meeting.
And the end result is that you and I and others who listen and think more thoughtfully are beginning to connect.
So, take heart. Thoughtful progressives do exist.
I think your bias is showing:
"Democratic town-hall meetings"
[emphasis mine]
Town-hall meetings are for all the people and are not just the domain of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is not a synonym for the people, though your phrasing suggests that you unconsciously equate the two. It is a faction with its own powerful interests to protect and therefore one the people should approach skeptically, or do you suppose Democrats like Chris Dodd are impartial actors in this legislation?
Sometimes it is better not to drink the Kool-Aid.
You're confused. Teabaggers are only disrupting town hall meetings called by Democratic congresspeople (see their marching orders for confirmation). That is the meaning of "Democratic" in this context.
Dear Mr. Abilard:
My apologies for the confusion. The lowercase application of 'democratic' was intended as a reference to our form of government rather than the political philosophy.
I support your view that townhall meetings are for everyone.
Is Chris Dodd an impartial actor in this legislation? Not from my perspective. I suspect he is generally going to line up as a partisan first, thoughtful legislator second (or third).
I confess a negative knee-jerk reaction against Nancy Pelosi. If she is at the podium or in front of the camera, I find myself bracing for mean, one-liner cheap shots. She is using her majority base in the House as a bully-pulpit.
Observe how John McCain can disagree without insulting those whose views he opposes. Remember the townhall meeting in which a woman proclaimed her support for McCain because 'Obama is a Muslim!'
Do you recall McCain's response. Pure class. 'No ma'am,' he corrected. 'I know Senator Obama to be a Christian and a family man.'
There is a man whose democratic principals are in order.
Which is one of the many reasons I supported him.
What never ceases to amaze me (but really shouldn't) is the double standard that these "town hall conservatives" exhibit. Imagine their reaction just four years ago if a progressive had attended one of their beloved republican critters' town halls and behaved the way they do now. The progressive would be arreated, right there on the spot, for just voicing dissent, or even displaying a t-shirt... and these "freedom-loving americans" would applaud the police.
In short, when a Republican is in the white house, any dissent is unpatriotic, and even the most moderate, objective criticism is denounced as an "extreme leftist" viewpoint. But now that Democrats are in power, they feel entitled to engage in rancorous obstruction and disruption, and they expect even the most radical, irrational conspiracy theories to be considered as gospel truth.
One could do an entire 60-minute television documentary just on examples of this kind of double standard. But I doubt we'll ever see one. Maybe Bill Maher (or maybe Bill Moyers) might...