Chris Matthews Says Townhall Meetings "Like the Streets of Tehran"
Others on this blog have described how Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-TX, demeaned his constituents for having the audacity to oppose socialized medicine at a public meeting. (Doggett called their self-expression a “real desperation tactic.â€) However, it’s worth memorializing the way the host of MSNBC’s Hardball, Chris Matthews, views those who reject ObamaCare: they’re jihadists. As one who has been repeatedly falsely accused of calling my critics terrorists, I find this noteworthy.
After his introductory segment with Representative Doggett, Matthews brought on Jonathan Martin of Politico.com and talk-show host Michael Smerconish. Matthews began: “Everytime a member of Congress or Senate calls a town meeting now, the people show up, and it’s like, I don’t know, it’s like Iran, it’s like the streets of Tehran.â€
This after Matthews opened his segment with Doggett by saying, “Noisy, angry, vengeful crowds are shouting down members of Congress who are trying to talk up President Obama’s health care push.â€
If Matthews truly believes interrupting a Congressman should be verboten, where was he when Cindy Sheehan (the pro-Hugo Chavez, America-hating “peace activist”) tried to shout down the president during the 2006 State of the Union Address? Capitol police say they ejected the world’s most conspicuous griever for being “vocal†inside the halls of Congress. Her wail became the most high-profile part of appeasement group Code Pink’s efforts to drown out Bush’s speech in public places. (Sheehan scored a seat in the gallery, temporarily, as the guest of left-wing California Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.)
Does the outrage over conservatvies’ insufficient deference to their Democratic betters come from the same Left that cheered when a foreign “journalist†threw his shoes at the president of the United States in the middle of a war region? The same Left that assembled in crowds when beckoned by United for Peace and Justice, International ANSWER, and Not In Our Name (each led by avowed Marxists) and denounced the president as a genocidal murderer, or marched with placards reading, “Bush is the disease. Death is the cureâ€? The same Left that publicly spoke of assassinating the president on numerous occasions?
Where was the concern over decor when campus leftists shouted down Congressman Tom Tancredo – or when the rage that campus radicals had been long stoking finally boiled over into physical violence against David Horowitz, Ann Coulter, William Kristol, and Pat Buchanan?
Instead the man who wrote the “malaise” speech equated middle Americans — who carried signs reading “Capitalism Not Socialism†and objected to Arlen Specter making “judgments very fastâ€Â – to the Islamic fanatics who kidnapped Americans on his former boss’s watch. President Barack Obama refuses to be so disparaging of one of those fanatics, Mahmoud Ahmadinejiad, whom he would like to meet without preconditions for a nice, cozy tête-à -tête.
That might be instructive about which party’s views are most simpatico with those of Islamic fundamentalists.
U. S. citizens shouting congressmen? It’s called democracy. The fact that Matthews can’t process this blindingly obvious fact is just another signal that the “democratic” party no longer understands democracy.
Incredible that Matthews claims to be a journalist.
If it’s true the demonstrations are like the streets of Tehran, then take heart in the American system. I guess Matthews would be similar to an Ayatollah, in his condemnation of democratic demonstrations. Chris Matthews is lucky Keith Oldermann (the biggest A-Hole on TV)is on the same garbage network, if he weren’t, Matthews would be the biggest. As it stands, Chrissy is only the 2nd biggest A-Hole on TV.
Well, if Chris and Doggett are upset about people showing their anger and frustration, they’d better stay at home and tune into Noggin, because it’s not going to get any better, unless louder and more frequent is your definition of better. It certainly is mine.
Incredibly stupid of Matthews and the Congressman thinking that those town hall meetings were set up so that those in power could spew propaganda….and all this time I thought they(Congress) was coming home to see what their respective constituents had in mind.
We can now see the danger in having one’s head up his/her own arse as it cuts off oxygen gathering that we normally call breathing.
Who is Chris Matthews, and why do we care what he says on his show? I have never seen it or heard his voice. The only reason I am even aware that such a person exists is because I hear his name on news sites like this one. What if we just ignored him, disavowed him, and did not repeat his ideas?
Chris Mathews thinks we are stupid. We should just shut uo and say nithing if we are conservatives. Liberals have at it. Screw him. No one watches that them anyway. We know more of what’s in the bill that the state run media
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1615033/the_war_on_individual_freedom_has_begun.html http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1602999/where_are_we_headed_as_a_nation.html
The parallels are there for the idea that it is hypocritical of the “left” to talk down to those on the “right” that are shouting down congressmen at these meetings. However, leaving aside the obviously flawed labeling schema (thus the quotation marks), the points of those doing the shouting in these healthcare meetings are for the most part rabid, babbling nonsense stemming from pure fear, irrationality, and blatant fabrications. And it is arguable whether some of these fabrications originate with those who are shouting them, especially given the large body of evidence available via conservative media outlets and their politically and financially motivated sponsors.
Democracy??? What nation is a democracy? NOT THE USA? Well maybe now. This is a Constitutional Republic. Thomas Jefferson wrote:
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
Never forget that democracy always leads to mob rule.
No kidding. We just celebrated Independence Day. We have no reason to celebrate it any longer.
It’s time to change the date.
Don’t be surprised if the Democrats have townhalls that don’t get announced to their general constituency, but are only open to those they consider the party faithful. They are also going to use the “telephone townhall” to avoid having to take the hard questions, and to avoid a “Photo-op” that might end up on You Tube.
Call the Assignment Desk at your local TV station, or email them and, if you have a great story, as I do, about how my insurance is helping me get the treatment I need, tell them. Give them your name and address and offer to be an interview to counterpoint the stories they are going to do about the uninsured — when the Democrat Congress member has their closed-door townhall meeting.
If you’ve got a video camera, take it with you to any town hall meeting you can possibly get to. We are all journalists now.