How Ted Kennedy Countered Town Hall Goon Squads
In 1994, Senator Edward Kennedy was in a tough fight for reelection against a well-financed Republican opponent named Mitt Romney. There was a debate between Kennedy and Romney at Faneuil Hall and before the candidates arrived a large crowd of boisterous Romney supporters dominated the gathering. The place was a sea of Romney signs with a few placards with photos of aborted fetuses thrown in for good measure. The white, largely well-healed Republicans outside the hall were shouting classy chants like: "Last Call for Ted!" and "Chappaquiddick!" Romney arrived first and it was clear that the loud and unruly GOP partisans had the upper hand, especially in front of the local television cameras.
The spectacle at health care town hall meetings we are seeing today, where screaming people seek to dominate a political event ever cognizant of the cameras, remind me of those Romney people I saw that day in Boston.
But an old pro like Ted Kennedy who had been steeped in Boston politics passed down to him from the days when his maternal grandfather, Honey Fitz, was mayor, wasn't going to allow the Romneyites to control the assembly.
Suddenly, the entire scene outside Faneuil Hall shifted when about a hundred burly men descended on the place engulfing the Romney supporters. The area outside Fanueil Hall now became a sea of Kennedy signs held by very pushy, very big, and very noisy members of a local carpenters' union. Kennedy had given a fiery speech at a union hall just prior to the debate where he reminded the workers about what he and his brothers had done for labor over the course of their political careers. At the end of his speech, he urged the entire union local to pick up Kennedy signs and head down to Fanueil Hall to show their support, which they did with vim and vigor. By the time the workers assembled the Romney people had been literally pushed outside the view of the TV cameras and the landscape looked like a huge Kennedy rally. I could hear a few Romney supporters complaining about the "rudeness" of the carpenters. I also heard one of the workers ask: "What has Mitt Romney ever done for working people?" (There was only silence on the other end of that question.)
So there's a simple solution to these Republican astro-turf goon squads that are currently disrupting Democratic town hall meetings on health care. Do what Kennedy did. Speak before a crowd of supporters who have dirt under their fingernails and know how to win battles in the workplace. The fight over health care is no different from the fight over the eight-hour day or the minimum wage. At root is whether we as a nation are going to view health care as a human right or will we allow it to remain a privilege.
Democratic politicians facing town hall disruptions should seek the help of their working-class supporters. Make sure large numbers of people from the local unions come to these events. Then we'll see if the Tea Bagger thugs can continue their bullying tactics on behalf of corporations seeking to block progress on health care.
Follow Joseph A. Palermo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/peeweethemonste
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"At root is whether we as a nation are going to view health care as a human right or will we allow it to remain a privilege.
So beautifully said, and that is the very heart and core of this whole thing when it comes down to brass tacks.
Mr. Palermo, perhaps a bit more self-editing would be a good idea. Many who read and post here who are gleaning bits to take back to the cronies of fox noise, where they will be blown so far out of proportion that it would be funny but for the evil they are trying to achieve.
Most of the carpenters I know (and at 65, I know quite a few) are a long way from "burly men with dirt under their fingernails". The dirt part may be true if they have just come from the job, but the larger majority of them are average, even skinny. It helps when you are running up and down ladders all day to not have too much extra freight to carry. Plus, from your description, the men remained OUTSIDE the hall, not bulldozing into it to disrupt. That is the problem with the current "meetings", they have been loaded from the inside with people who do not have the information and/or the sense to evaluate the facts. They have been told to disrupt, they have been filled with lies, and they are not thinking.
As mentioned, one of the Kennedy supporters asked one of the romney people what romney had ever done for the working people and they could not give an answer. The only answer would have to be a lie, or the truth that mitt romney hasn't done anything for anyone who doesn't have at least 8 million in the bank.
Really, while not a Romney supporter had did a remarkable job managing the 2002 olympics, maybe the most important post 911 event. It was a mess when he found it, he put 1000's of people to work and helped make it a remarkable event. Saying that he has done nothing for anyone but the rich is simply untrue.
Great blog to run again today, in honor of the memory of the greatest Senator in modern history.
RIP, Teddy.
And thank you, Joseph Palemro, for your continuing contribution to the dialogue here on HuffPo.
What a great tribute to a great man! Thank you!
Right on Palermo. Right on.
Are you for real?
Labeling Protesters as "astro turf goon squads" ? what do you hope to prove?
Have you been to a town hall meeting?, have you actually spoken with any of these
protesters?
What you and your like minded "left wing nut jobs" are conveniently forgetting
is that those people have as much a right to be there as the supporters do, and
they have a right to speak their minds, even President Obama acknowledged
that fact in his opening remarks at Portsmouth, NH just the other day.
Your solution is muscle out a legitimate protest by using members of an organized
union, some of whom are likely not constituents. One can't help but wonder what
you would post if the shoe was on the other foot and you were supporting protest
/against say former President Bush.
Can you say hypocrite?
I dunno Goon Squads sounds pretty accurate to me!
Yeah I've been to a few of these town hall meetings.
I saw ignorant, ill informed people shouting canned messages that they clearly didn't understand.
Right wing lies abound from the ignorant few but not one thoughtful question.
About the same IQ as the gun toters.
When they got to ask a question they couldn't put together a rational question, instead choosing to repeat some lie they heard on ClusterFox.
I support their right to say what they wish, but they don't have the right to disrupt real Americans participating in the truest form of democracy.
Yes I know about hypocrisy and it is you.
"Keep the government out of my Medicare."
Says it ALL about the ignorant people speaking "their minds." They don't know what they are even talking about.
Obviously you don't understand the moniker "Astro Turf Goon Squads." With a little research, you would at least know what you are reading.
One can only wonder what would be said if we were protesting Bush????? Wonder is exactly right. This behavior would never have been tolerated by Bush and Co. No one EVER did anything remotely close to this B S when Bush spoke.
For one, you had to INVITED and VETTED to even get within the "perimeter" of 3 miles of Bush. Only the living Christian faithful made it in to the actual rallies.
Secondly, showing up with a AK-15 or any weapon would have landed you in prison. Citizens with guns would have gone the way of Guantanamo, tackled by the Secret Service and stolen off the streets never to be seen again - under the Patriot Act.
No one could get close enough to challenge Bush in the US. Too bad the guy with the shoes didn't connect. In the US, he would have gone to prison.
The astro turf goon squad is getting plenty of airtime. Way too much. And so what if they are intimidated by a few of the Brotherhood of the Union???? Put up or shut up.
Can YOU say hypocrite? Open, honest debate is one thing. Filling a hall with selected toadies (my sole criticisim of Mr. Palermo's piece was the spelling "well-heeled", "not well-healed". It fits way too many of the rich, they are a collection of heels. I digress.) is NOT honest debate. It is the deliberate setting up of the failure of honest debate. If anyone really had anything to say of intelligence, there would be plenty of opportunity to do so.
Senator Kennedy knew the handpicked crowd was not about to allow anyone else to have a say so he fought fire WITH fire. When you have a hall full of shrieking ninnies who have been told to shout and keep shouting, mouthing the same five words over and over again, the way to clear them out and shut them up without taking clubs to their stupid heads is to outshout them with FACTS.
Oh, and since when I volunteered for the firing squad for bush/cheney I was told I could be added to the list, but I would be #79,852nd in line for the privilege, I certainly would not be supporting shrub, the biggest failure this nature has known since the founding of the country.
Speaking before a local union where they are close enough to walk to the town hall meeting and you say some are unlikely to be constituents?
BTW - a lot of those nut jobs at the first town halls were bussed in and NOT constituents.
Can you say i.d.i.o.t.
What you are calling for is in itself not the smartest of ideas and the sheer potential for it backfiring on the Democratic leadership. Also so far how the Democrat Party leadership has handled opposition to Health care reform has been a case study of "How not to handle opposition activists".
So far fetween Pelosi branding opponents as unamerican and Democratic leaders bringing in SEIU members to push back on the health care issue the entire issue has gotten literally radioactive. Plus let me add to the utterly dimwitted decision from the Whitehouse to create the whitehouse
Also the attitude that some elected officials have taken to skeptical questions of "how dare you ask questions us" is in a worrisome sign of unmerited sense of entitlement from our political powers that be. This attitude may not have been that much of a problem in the past but now with the proliferation of cameras with video capacity has made it very easy for a politicians mistakes go viral online very rapidly andto tell the truth some politicians have been giving their opponents all the ammunition they want.
Let me get this right. You are Ok with and even advocate that the democrats send "about a hundred burly men" to push out the opposition so that only the democrats are seen on television. I am seeing a few historical happenings that started like this and didn't end well for any of those people.
Why do you encourage political intimidation?
So it is Ok for big burly men to come and push around the smaller men and women because they are Democrats?! Why is it Ok in America for liberals to have these big rallies against conservatives, but when it is the other way around they are "thugs" that are being paid by special interest groups to be there. The media is already slanted again conservatives and things like this only make it worse.
Conservatives and Liberals are not allowed to play by the same rules because Liberals are "resonable" and conservatives are "radical". Liberals are just mad because we are working to level the playing field.
Think Florida 2000 election .......guy
Boogiemen boogiemen burley union members, I guess you think it is okay for your guys to show up and walk the crowd with guns. That is INTIMIDATION.
......your group needs INFORMATION but they are too sheeple to bother to read or learn for themselves. It is easier to turn on Fox and reguritate its talking points.
So your suggestion is that Democrats should try to counter these "Republican astro-turf goon squads" by sending their own astro-turf goon squads - I hope that they don't pay you for this kind of advice. Perhaps then, Republicans should send armed astro-turf goon squads to deal with all the 'burly men' with 'dirt under their fingernails'. I mean, nothing like a gun shot to the head to get your point across....
Of course, the Democrats could respond in a manner that does not reek of Junior High School; they could address the concerns of the people at the town hall meetings. Or, they could simply say, I hear and understand your concerns, but I'm voting for this bill (when and if one finally emerges) anyway and I hope that you will still vote for me in the next election.
There is no replying to the concerns of the people raging at the Town Hall meetings. They don't want their concerns address, that is very, very clear.
They are scared, generally older people who fear the future because they are being told to fear the future again and again.
The Black family in the White House represents a loss of position in U.S. American society to them and it scares them to their core.
Most of the people who rage at those meetings look like they have Medicare and would stop anyone who would try to take it away.... it's really the "I've got mine, and all of the rest of you can go
...." (you finish the thought)
How about we just stop all government run health care, and see how many people wail.... All of it: gov employees, the VA, the elderly, the disabled, all of them...
You are advocating throwing the baby out with the bath water, web. Not a sensible solution. In fact, not a solution at all. The ones who would fight hardest to keep their insurance are the congresscritters who have the best health care plan in the world.
Try again.
The Repubs don't have to send guys with guns to shoot people. They are already showing up for free and without being invited. They are just waiting for their "moment" to save some poor old person from being intimidated and their opportunity to actually fire their weapon.
WE ALL KNOW THAT. NO SECRET. THEY ARE WAITING FOR THE MOMENT TO FIRE.
CAPS INTENDED. YES I AM SHOUTING.
one of your guys tells an old lady to have her neighbors take care of her sick husband...
Taking care of your neighbor in his illness means providing the means in 21st century society to help them even if it means you don't like the government. It doesn't mean it's your turn to go next door and hold a wet cloth on his forehead while he languishes for the next 5 years.
Here's an idea: when the Republican protesters show up with their guns, the Liberals can bring their shotguns. At least then we know there will be a price to pay for trying to intimidate.
The point the author is trying to make is if they want to come to the meeting shouting and disrupting rather than discussing, then they need to get push back. Either we act like adults or kids in the schoolyard.
Will the union bosses make it mandatory for the members to attend town meetings-democracy in action. And do these Union members really think Obama Care will give better benefits then what they get from their employer now? Maybe big burley guys should think a little more!
What everyone one the Left seems to fail to understand is, these "thugs" are your grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Look at the gatherings, look at the signs. Conservative Americans tend not to protest much. They organize only casually, not professionally. But, when you piss them off, look out. They won't be silenced.
Assume they are thugs at your own political peril. The telling will be in the Congressional elections of 2010.
They may be our aunts, uncles etc. but the problem is they've been lied to by people like you and they don't understand what's happening.
I have yet to witness a hundred goons of either side muscling in to change things.
If you are so right then explain to me why you and your phony Faux news and dirtbag politicians need to lie to make your point.
You are welcome to your opinion and I will fight to make sure you can be heard but you are not welcome to your own set of facts.
If you care all you need to do is tell the truth and if the majority agrees with you things will go your way.
When you have to lie to get your point across people will eventually see through you.
You have lost two elections in a row and you expect big changes by lieing?
I don't think so.
My relatives all have the brains to know when they're being lied to. They have enough common sense and ability of critical thinking to understand that even if they never heard of "Death Panels" before, it can only be nonsense.
But of course, almost all my relatives are progressive. The right-wingers don't seem to have those capabilities of thought. If they did, they wouldn't be right-wingers.
Nice job
".....So there's a simple solution to these Republican astro-turf goon squads that are currently disrupting Democratic town hall meetings on health care."
These are not "Democratic town hall meetings" These are CONSTITUENT town hall meetings. If someone is busing in people from other districts, it is wrong. These Congressmen and Senators work for all of us. It is their job to know the will of the people in their districts and represent that will in D.C.
In the Kennedy/Romney debate, it was a campaign. Major difference!
Red shirts get in our face, purple shirts beat us up, what color shirt will kill us?
Suits and neckties, insurance executives denying us coverage.
I know you guys believe this, but where is the evidence that some Insurance Group is paying us.
I am definitely going to my congressman's Town Hall for free if he has the guts to put one on.
And as for Union Members, they seem to want Private Insurance, since they are demanding exemption from taxation of Cadillac Plans. Maybe their self interest does not jibe with a single payer or government option.
Union member. My plan is not Cadillac. Cadillace plans for average working people are gone. Cadillac plans: Federal employees (your Congressmen/women), corporate executives, employees of the insurance companies. Your information is from Fox. Not the real world.
Our insurance is gutted every time and any time the company chooses. Contract means nothing. There is a tiered system of coverage based on when you were hired. New employees have even less coverage than us.
We want health insurance and quality care for all. We favor single payer and universal coverage. We think you should have the same coverage as your Congresswo/men.
The right wing is the group that prefers different care based on socio-economic class. Not the unions.
You don't know what you are talking about.
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