Florida Town Hall Meeting: Wounded War Vets, WWII Veterans in Wheel Chairs Shut Out of Congressman Grayson’s Healthcare Town Hall Event
Congressman Alan Grayson: Embraced Code Pink Protesters, shut out his own constituents who oppose Democrat healthcare reform
“There were wounded veterans in line-I’m a two time Vietnam vet,and a former teamster… I am so embarrassed by what went on in there tonight.”
Local constituent who attended 8-17-09 Town Hall held by Florida Congressman Alan Grayson
The MSM’s interest in Congressional Town Hall meetings may have waned but the events are still being held with hundreds trying to attend. One such event was held by Congressman Alan Grayson (D) Florida, who scheduled the meeting just 24 hours prior and who limited “non-Democrat” constituents to “35″ seats in an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall where a Democrat meeting was held just prior to the Town Hall and were the seating was limited to 120 people.
The following Youtube video highlights the tactics of Congressman Alan Grayson (D) Florida at the August 17, 2009, Town Hall meeting:
Here’s the spin on the event from the Orlando Sentinel:
“Give credit to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the freshman Democrat from Orlando. While other members of Congress representing Central Florida have been coming up with excuses not to face their constituents and talk about health-care reform, Mr. Grayson held a nearly two-hour town-hall meeting on the subject Monday night.
The event was held in a union hall following a Democratic Party meeting — not exactly neutral ground. But the crowd included opponents as well as supporters of the Democrats’ approach to reform. Mr. Grayson fielded questions from both camps.
Limited seating in the hall did leave hundreds of people waving signs and chanting slogans for and against reform outside — a scene more like the dust-ups in other districts. But inside, Sentinel reporters wrote, the meeting was “spirited but civil” — the kind of event where people could actually learn something. We hope the other Congress members were paying attention.”
More from a prior article written by the Sentinel:
“Grayson’s hastily called meeting took place in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall, which limited attendance to about 120 members of the public. It also was scheduled just after a regular meeting of local Democrats, some of whom stayed behind for the town hall in the scarce seats.”
More:
“So many people were chanting early on that what they said was often unintelligible. At one point, Andy Showen, 49, of Orlando, angry he couldn’t get in, pulled on a side door until police officers stopped him.
“You’re a real hero,” he told an officer. “You just stopped me from talking to my congressman.”
He put up his wrists, asking officers to arrest him. They walked him away instead.”
By LBG
Image – Alan Grayson, Code Pink protest
