Tea Reflux
by digby
Yesterday, Think Progress reported that Paul Ryan was confronted by a constituent who complained about his plan to destroy Medicare. Apparently, Ryan’s not the only one:
CHRISTMAN: Excuse me, I’d like to get something off my chest. And that is, you seem to think that because I’m not affected, I won’t care if my niece, my grandson, my child is affected. I do care. And what you’re doing with this Ryan budget is you’re taking Medicare and you’re changing it from a guaranteed health care system to one that is a voucher system where you throw seniors on the mercy of for-profit insurance companies. […]
BARLETTA: Well, I won’t destroy Medicare, Medicare is going to be destroyed by itself. You’re….
CHRISTMAN: I have a great way for you…
CROWD: Let him talk….Sit down!…Let him talk! SIT DOWN!
MAN: I agree with her. And you know what? Why don’t you tell me to sit down?!
CROWD: SIT DOWN!
MAN: She’s an American citizen. … Why don’t you show some manners and shut your mouth and let her talk. … Why don’t you grow up and stop acting like a bunch of little boys?
The most amazing thing about this — and as a member of the progressive movement it shames me to admit it — this stuff is not orchestrated by the Democrats or liberal interest groups. We are, quite simply, too lame and too unorganized to do it. (I know this because there is a huge amount of kvetching going on behind the scenes about why the left can’t get its act together on this.)
These are just plain old regular citizens going to the townhalls on their own and challenging the Roadmap to Hell. And they’re doing it in spite of the media rending their garments and speaking in tongues about how the deficit is going to kill us all in our beds.
These Republicans should be concerned about this, but I suppose they will enlist their Tea Partiers to shout these dissenters down, and keep a lid on the problem. The voting booth, however, is private. (So far anyway.)