Health Care Town Hall in Bryan, TX

Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards held the first of his three town halls on health care reform in Texas' 17th district in Bryan. The line outside the Brazos Center began forming a few hours before the doors were set to open. Tea baggers passed out fliers encouraging a new gathering on September 12. Signs, though prohibited, quickly sprung up throughout the line. All of them were against health reform. Some were spelled correctly, others weren't so lucky.

Rember the Alamo!

This person gladly posed with his confusing sign. I'm not sure if the Republicans should really be bringing up Hurricane Katrina and that administration's failures almost four years ago. His other sign shared more examples of the "failure" of government.

Yeah, the VA that Bill Kristol said provided excellent health care for our troops.

Once inside, the Young Conservatives of Texas (yes, those Young Conservatives of Texas) began chanting and holding up signs arguing against reform.

They were allowed to stand with their signs until the beginning of the forum. As the program began, Rep. Edwards walked onto the stage and was greeted by a standing ovation. As the people in attendance walked in, they submitted a card with their name and county of residence and placed it in a jar. Members of the audience selected the names and those people were then allowed to ask their question when it was their turn.

Rep. Edwards

Rep. Edwards was asked the same stale talking point-based questions the Democrats and President Obama have been fighting against over the summer. Death panels, immigrants being covered, forced abortions, and one particular question that was on a pamphlet being circulated via local conservative groups online. "Where in the Constitution does it say that health care is a right?"

One small business owner, Tom Kiske of College Station, told the crowd he was facing the realization that if he continued to provide health care for his employees, he'd go bankrupt. He explained that health reform was desperately needed. He told the crowds that were against health reform that they were acting like the people at the back of the stern of the Titanic. Chet laughed at the metaphor.

An older couple sitting in front of me during the event were wearing some pretty awful shirts.

Her husband was a Korean War veteran.

The most contentious part of the night came during the second to last question. A man accused Edwards of being a lapdog for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Edwards became visibly angry and frustrated with the question. He said that man had no basis for his accusation and explained his positioning on the Cap & Trade bill.

All in all, the crowd for the most part was civil. Cheers and jeers greeted the representative throughout the event. A few people had to be "shushed" when they continued to pester either other crowd members or the congressman. Edwards said he had yet to decide on how he would vote.

"Obamacare is assisted SEIU-icide"

"Vote Chedwards Out"

"Chet=Pelosi 96%"

The line before the event.

Local news coverage of the town hall:
The Bryan-College Station Eagle
KBTX (CBS affiliate)
KRHD (ABC affiliate)
WTAW (AM news radio)
The Battalion (Texas A&M student newspaper)

Full video of the town hall:
KBTX

Comments

[Alabama John]

America the greedy -- Greedy to the point of self-destruction.

Half of our people are laboring class, those who hard labor generate all of society's wealth. So the real issue: Is healthcare wages due and owed to those we enslave at minimum wage?

[aggie09]

"I'm not sure if the Republicans should really be bringing up Hurricane Katrina and that administration's failures almost four years ago."

It is still an example of government failure. The party in charge is irrelevant. Government, under either party, has shown its lack of efficiency time and time again- those are just a few examples.

[Eric Aguirre]

You're right, that is an example of government failure. However, who was in charge of "government" when that happened?

I don't understand how the Bush administrations shortcomings with Hurricane Katrina have anything to do with either President Obama or the health care debate.

[Alabama John]

Much, for it is a repeat of "Disaster capitalism­." For just as Hurricane Katrina was the disaster needed to privatize the public schools, close down the only charity hospital, privatize public housing and many other things in New Orleans, so is our healthcare disaster an excuse to force 50 million young and mostly healthy people to pay health insurance premiums. And do it without any regulations on the medical industry that would limit excessive profit.

[aggie09]

"You're right, that is an example of government failure. However, who was in charge of "government" when that happened?"

Reading is hard, huh?

It doesn't matter who was in charge. It was a failed government action. Inefficient government is the bigger problem, not Republicans or Democrats. If the Democrats try to bring healthcare under the public sector, it will FAIL, just as the government failed in the examples in the sign (YES, just like the Republicans did in Katrina).

It's not a partisan thing.

"I don't understand how the Bush administrations shortcomings with Hurricane Katrina have anything to do with either President Obama or the health care debate."

If you don't understand the comparison, then I can't help you.

[mp44]

A walking nightmare, the death of the public option left/progressives who support it.

The accusation that the first protesters were bought and paid for, coordinated by Fox, might have had some merit in the beginning. I almost hope it doesn't: if true the failure to counter it bespeaks a breathtaking political incompetence at the professional level. Elsewhere, lumping together the opposition, the merely skeptical, and the usual loons appeared all too quickly. The snarkiness and dismissiveness on such display of late are even worse.

An old axion of organizing: demonization and stereotyping is a gift. Why make every day Christmas for the other side? A phenomenon that should have burned itself out has turned into a populist movement People open to persuasion are now alienated. Taking refuge in snobbery (when was the last time you saw a misspelled sign in a progressive demonstration highlighted?) is a political error in too many ways to count. Treating our fellow citizens as cultural primitives will help how?

McCain tossing out someone who wouldn't stop shouting? Democrats faced with ranters should do what they've always done: warn them politely that if they don't stop they'll have to leave andt send them off with a witty or at least pleasant last word. It's the playbook, everybody gets it. If there's a whole bunch of them all the better, certainly looks great on TV.

[gtt]

Chet Edwards is a very good congressman. I am proud that he represents a district in Texas. I wish he had been picked by President Obama to be Sec of Defense, as he was rumored to be under consideration.

After the third of his town hall meetings he may wish that he had been selected. These constituents are rough. The age of the angry white male is back. The republicans are losing any sense of decent behavior.

[AirForceBlue]

Perhaps, but they have not reached the level of hurling park benches through bank windows, throwing molotov cocktails and rocks at police, faces snarled in rage behind kerchief masks, tires burning, ya know, leftie anarchist fun.

[unity08]

Maybe they subsribe to the Timothy McVeigh form of "patriotism": Blow up a federal building full of innocent workers and their children.

[Helzapoppin]

I grew up in Bryan, Tx. I see my choice to leave long ago remains a good one.

[Ashamed-in-Texas]

I can certainly understand your feelings. The representative for Bryan, Tx, (Fred Brown - R) is just about the biggest 2 faced pol in the state. He owns car dealerships all over the area and probably made a bundle on the cash for clunkers program and is very much involved in the healthcare industry. Why he was re-elected still baffles me.

[AirForceBlue]

"Some (signs) were spelled correctly. Others were not so lucky."

Obviously, the ones incorrectly spelled were fashioned by graduates of our current educational system. Uh, another failed government run entity....­.right? Yep, thought so. Excuse me.....yes­, I thought so.

[TakeSake]

No, it's about personal responsibility.

[cdmattison]

I attended public school on military bases and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College (an Ivy League school if you're not familiar).

I was the first in my family to attend college.

Government military funded education (how very socialist) served me well because my mother instilled a respect for education.

The failure of those sign makers is their own. Perhaps they do not have the capacity to learn or are merely lazy. Don't blame the government for their failures. What about the Conservative tenet of personal responsibility?

If you expect government to fail, it will. Reagan and W. Bush proved it mightily. Washington, Lincoln, FDR etc. proved that a government determined to succeed will.

[AirForceBlue]

Guess what......­.it is not about you.

Just as an aside.....­.......Lib­ertarians believe the least government is the best government. The one we have had since the LBJ days (yes, for you Bush haters, him also), with neither party excluded, has slowly intruded into American lives to the point of stifling motivation, in effect, the government will do it. Respond all you want with, "oh yeah, what about.....­.......," but just look around at the impending collapse of our way of life to judge for yourself.

[mcmchugh99]

We have simply got to cut ourselves loose from the South, before they drag us all down.

[Eric Aguirre]

Haha, but there are some good folks down here. Those crazers at the town halls represent a very small percentage. Sure, there are probably a lot more people in the south who are against health care reform than are for it, but not every one who's against reform is a whack job.