Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Congress / Politics / Woods Who Needs Town Hall Meetings? Cooper Looking for Other Ways to 'Interact with Constituents'
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 5:39 AM
"We're not entirely positive what he's going to do yet. We're going to have constituent relations for sure. We haven't decided exactly how we're going to do that, but the congressman wants to communicate with constituents. He wants to be able to interact with constituents."OK, Pete, we get it. But what about town meetings? "We don't know whether that's the most effective way to communicate with the constituents," he admits. "People are getting so riled up that there's not even an ability to have any sort of dialogue." You can't blame Cooper. Town hall meetings have turned into mob scenes. Right-wing radio loudmouths and Tea Party wingnuts are orchestrating these assaults on reason. As Politico reports:
Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety -- welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress.But if Cooper doesn't hold public meetings, how will he find out what voters are thinking? "There are a lot of different ways for him to communicate with his constituents," Boogaard says. Yesterday, Cooper was holed up in his office talking to people on the phone. Pith hopes no one yelled at him. Also see Mary Mancini and Mark Brown on the right-wing special interest groups organizing disruptions of town hall meetings. Update: Keith Olbermann goes after Tanner and Gordon on health care. Somehow, Cooper emerges unscathed. From Dru Fuller and the MSNBC transcript:
I could ask Blue Dog Democrat John Tanner of Tennessee, since he got $215 grand from hospitals over the years, if I and the appropriate number of my friends were willing to make it $216 grand, if we could buy his vote or would there still have to be an auction? Congressman Bart Gordon of Tennessee: Congressman, undecided on the public option? At $1,173,000 from the heath sector I am surprised. You should have already said 'no' and loudly. The only thing you should be undecided about is whether or not you are a Democrat. So much for Congressman Gordon.
Comments (65)
Showing 1-50 of 65
But you guys had no problem with this when it as Code Pink and other Soros-backed groups doing it. THOSE events were orchestrated. I thought protesting was patriotic. I guess that all depends on whose doing the protesting....
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It would help A LOT if these people that attended these meeting with this intent actually had a rational argument or viable alternative to what they oppose.
Yelling 'socialism' over and over ain't going to sway me.
I thought journalists were supposed to objectively relay news to the public, not express inflammatory personal opinions.
Cooper isnt worried about what his constituants think now that Nashville has electronic voting. I want to know why he backed the Bush Banker Takeover Bill and why in the hell he wont back Audit the Private Federal Reserve
My rational argument against Obomacare would be tort reform. Malpractice insurance is one of the key reasons for the increase in health care costs. Another is medicare and medicaid reimbursement schedules. Hospitals and doctors must make up for low reimbursements for care by the gov. on the backs of the public. Only 2% of the population are without some kind of health insurance and still have to be treated by law.
Is the gov going to take over and overhaul car insurance because some people dont have it, even though it is required by law they do?
Cooper isn't cancelling town meetings because of the right wing tea party guys who will drive in to town from Williamson County. He is cancelling his town meetings because he does not want to face the Democratic voters of his distrct since he wrote in the Tennessean that he will oppose health care. Apparently, he prefers to write to constituents on the editorial page, rather than face their questions. A good one is: Why are you voting against your district's wishes for health care reform? Why is your mission to block meaningful health care change? Why does Nashville, a Democratic-leaning city, have a conservative congressman?
Cooper voted for the $24 trillion to go to the mega bankers like David Rockefeller and the rest of his ilk, which wrecked our economy and put us in this depression. Now of course there is nothing left for healthcare or anything else for that matter. Of course he wont hold a town hall meeting. He's a joke just like our two senators
Canada and England have the health care and other services some of you folks want. Get what you want. MOVE!!!!!
You people need to give this tort reform bullshit a rest. It sounds great and does nothing to bring down healthcare costs. Texas implemented a very severe version of tort reform several years ago. It has reduced medical malpractice lawsuits down to almost nothing. Meanwhile, healthcare costs have kept going right up. If the insurance companies saved anything, they didn't pass it along to consumers.
I am a proud American and am not moving to get health care. I would rather have someone like Bob Clement as congressman than Jim Cooper. Clement would not be all over national TV blocking health care, nor avoiding his constituents.
I was a strong booster of Jim Cooper until this year. I thought he was reasonable, but I think he really is more interested in being on national TV than for voting for the Obama health care plan. Maybe he likes teaching at Vandy so much we can get him a full time job there if he votes against health care.
I don't blame Cooper at all. A lot of these screamers aren't even constituents, they are activists bused in for the purpose of disrupting a meeting. These things are bankrolled by the healthcare lobby, and they're following instructions from PR firms and lobbyists. It isn't real, there is no real debate, just an effort to create bad press for legislators.
I remember in the last 2 elections there was a lot of talk about the influence of lobbyists and "special interests" on Washington. Sarah Palin repeated that line as she tried to present herself as some kind of "maverick." And now we've got the tea bag crowd ... doing the work of lobbyists and special interests.
Very odd.
Jim Cooper is more concerned about serving his masters, the mega international bankers, insurance companies, and the ruling elite government class that have ruined out economy.
Yes tort reform would help some if we were still in a free market economy instead of a Chinese style crony capitalism one. Just look at how many people you know in middle TN that have come down with cancer. Just think of what we could save if the FDA did its job and got the carcenogens out of the foods we eat...
Our country, well the world, is in a huge mess right now. Repub and Dems are nothing more than a faux debating club. Look at how they vote and look at what is being done and turn off the tv.
We changed so called parties in power. We still have the wars, the Patriot Act, warrentless wirtapping, secret CIA prisons -where anybody can be held as a so called terrorist. Its time to come together as Americans and unwash our brains
Actually that REV TJ gram, local talker on WVOL, is blasting Cooper and making fun of him on his show everyday. This is a huge group of his voters. Cooper is just sorry SOB that like the rest of DC could careless about the USA muchless his contituents
Good for TJ Graham. I don't agree with him on everything, but I hope Cooper is feeling the heat. A moderate black Democratic candidate who has appeal to the wider electorate, but who supports health care (unlike Cooper), could beat Cooper in the primary.
The Dem mouth pieces are saying that its the Repubs that are shouting down our criminal politicians. However repubs are getting lots of the same heat. It's really time to wake up get out of the corporate media brain washing. Big media is as bad as the the major record labels.. IF you are a true liberal or a true conservative, you should be completley disgusted with what is going on now. Do your research and get informed
These teabaggers, dittohead morons, and town-hall disruptors are just a modern-day version of the brownshirts of the Hitler era. Bully, shout down, scream, intimidate. Let's hope that they are not as successful.
Yeah Gram is the only place I have heard anything about the Tusgegee Experiments. Which we could see again if the government gets control of healthcare. Im all for reform, But I dont trust politicians..But I would be happy with the care that Jim Cooper will get
I am a liberal from the west side of town where Cooper lives. I realize he is the problem. I can afford higher health care, and I vote Democrat because we need health care. Cooper should be ashamed.
"These teabaggers, dittohead morons, and town-hall disruptors are just a modern-day version of the brownshirts of the Hitler era. Bully, shout down, scream, intimidate. Let's hope that they are not as successful."
Actually the folks running our government now are just that- NAZI's but they are too cowardly to come out and say it. That's why they dont want to do Town Halls
"I am a proud American and am not moving to get health care"
Yeah - you proudly demand a handout of other people's money.
That makes you a proud member of the sponge, leech and parasite class.
I am the one that wrote that 'I am a proud American and am not moving to get health care.' I have health care right now, because I have a job. But I haven't always had health care during transitions between jobs. Many others are in similar situations. I am not looking for a handout (I don't need it!). I am looking for reduced emergency room and long-term costs so that those without health care don't put off needed surgeries or crowd up the emergency room.
Cooper needs to admit that he likes the spotlight and that is why he opposes health care reform. I hope he changes his mind, and if he doesn't I hope a real Nashvillian runs against him in 2010.
His district's electorate is becoming more and more Democratic and to the left. Cooper is stuck in 1993, but it is 2009.
Well the Bankder baiout is now up to $24 trill by most reports. THey could easily pay for fantastic healthcare coverage for all. AND Cooper voted for the bailout/takeover
If anybody has Jim Cooper's home address please post it and we can go to his house and have a meeting out front
Malpractice insurance is one of the key reasons for the increase in health care costs.
Lie. Malpractice is less than 1% of total healthcare expenditures.
We need more gov run programs, medicare, medicaid, social security, post office, dmv, IRS, immigration, freddie mac and fannie mae, and now you want the entire health care system to be run by the same people running these FANTASTIC gov. organizations. Can you say NUTS!!!!
Insurance companies are regulated by the gov. now! Why dont they legislate new regulations to insure protection of its constituants instead of wanting to CONTROL the entire industry. Health insurance is not a right, it is a paid for privilage to protect ones health expenses and assets. Health care is given to anyone who needs it whether they invested (remember its an investment) in insurance or not. Health care and health insurance are to different topics. Noone can insure their health. One can only purchase insurance to protect their assets in case of a catastrophic illness. Alot of people would rather have cable, expensive cell phones, vacations, expensive car notes, etc. than buy health insurance and then wonder how they are going to pay for their medical bills when they get sick. Ah! but they never thought they would get sick so the rest of us should have to pay for them. Guess what, WE DO THAT NOW!!! Only our disfunctional gov can make it cost more than it does now.
TennRod,
Where are your complaints when leftists shout down Conservative speakers on college campuses and in other fora?
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Crickets.
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Coyotes howl.
TennRod isn't opposed to a totalitarian state as long as his jackboot is the one on others' necks.
EVeryone that is breathing needs to go to the town halls. If the crooks back out of them, we need to have protest in front of their Green Hills homes.
Blue Dog Democrat implies conservative. But looking at his voting record, it would be hard for a conservative to see an ally in Representative Cooper. If you do not have time to look at specific votes, take a look at the various conservative and liberal organizations that rate congressional voting records.
Seems someone is trying to dupe us into believing this bill is some kind of moderate compromise accepted by reasonable conservatives without loyalty to their party. Do you buy it?
Maybe this is one of those issues that it is important enough to investigate for yourself.
IF Cooper doesnt want to do his job and have a town hall and hear what his constituants have to say, he should retire. I could just hear my boss now if I went to him said, "Yeah I know it's my job and Im very very well paid for it but I don't want to do it. I just want the pay and benefits."
Mark, I'm surprised at you defending these morons.
Here are the facts:
After the disputed 2000 election -- the one in which Gore won the popular vote -- liberals were hacked, it's true. There were protests later over the Iraq War. Generally speaking, they were peaceful protests. Here in Nashville, the Ladies in Black stood in front of the federal building and the senators' offices. And generally, no one blocked congressmen from even speaking to the constituents. And no one denied that President Bush was constitutionally The President.
Since the 2008 election, which Obama CLEARLY won, however, we have seen a different kind of animal entirely emerge. There is a difference between political debate/protest/dissent and what we're seeing in the videos above and from around the country. These people didn't like the outcome of the election although a majority of their countrymen spoke. The Texas congressman above tried to speak to his constituents. He was not allowed to do that by morons chanting.
There is a big difference, Mark, and you know it.
Doug,
You wrote "Blue Dog Democrat implies conservative. But looking at his voting record, it would be hard for a conservative to see an ally in Representative Cooper."
Cooper came out against Obama's health plan last week. He voted against Obama's initial stimulus bill. He also voted against one of the key appropriations bills so far this year. He may not be a conservative, but he certainly isn't supporting the legislative agenda of the candidate (Obama) that won his district by 13%.
Doug,
You wrote "Blue Dog Democrat implies conservative. But looking at his voting record, it would be hard for a conservative to see an ally in Representative Cooper."
Cooper came out against Obama's health plan last week. He voted against Obama's initial stimulus bill. He also voted against one of the key appropriations bills so far this year. He may not be a conservative, but he certainly isn't supporting the legislative agenda of the candidate (Obama) that won his district by 13%.
I love it. Both Dems and Repugs are getting heckled by Americans at the town halls that are waking up to the reality of how crooked our government has become. AND all Uncletomma Obama's hack mouth piece says they that most are staged by Republicans. Maybe Chicken Cooper can do what the Repugs did when they were in the toilet- sell tickets to supporters of their cause and block protesters.
"Meet the new bosses, same as the old bosses"
need to ride the freedom train to washington
sept 10 1.000.000.needed
if george bush
is bad
obama
is the
boogeyman
Good evening,
Our great and wondrous nation was founded on citizen participation in government and has been sustained by that same behavior. Whether or not Townhall meetings are the best venue for discussion is debatable. However, if Rep. Cooper chooses against this venue, he MUST find an equally open venue of expression to permit opportunity for his passionate constituents that he SERVES. If he does not, then he is undermining the democratic process of our country by refusing to listen. He does not have the right to listen to only those voices he likes.
Well it looks like Chicken Jim got orders from the DNC not to do a town hall. It seems the parties are scared too, GOOD
I totally agree that this reminds me of the Nazi Brown Shirts in 1930s Germany.
Yes, political/corporate interests of both stripes organize faux "protests" but this has an entirely different flavor--that of foam-flecked out-of-control rage. I've read enough of these Pith comments to fear this wave of irrational fury--the phrase "blood in the streets" springs to mind.
Cooper doesn't give a rats ass what his constituents want. I've said before that he is like Ralph Nader, so dogged in his certainty that he's right that it borders on insanity.
And who, pray tell, would have the balls to run against him, pissing off the entire TN Dem. pantheon. Ain't gonna happen. We're stuck with someone who doesn't represent us and doesn't care.
But I don't blame him for not having a town meeting. Why risk a fascist riot?
oh, yeah, and, by the way, you people spouting off on health care should try to learn to read.
"But I don't blame him for not having a town meeting. Why risk a fascist riot?"
Actually you might want to do some reading and fact checking, the fascist are in DC. and Cooper does what he is told and has no convictions what so ever
Mark'sFriend,
I find any effort to shout down speakers offensive. It is embarrassing to have Conservatives acting this way instead of focusing on the serious issues that should be debated.
Ironically they are taking a page from the handbook of the anti-war protesters of the 60s, the group that was most responsible for the decline of civility in our political process.
My problem was with TennRod's (and others) attempts to make this more objectionable than examples of similar behavior by some on the Left.
And all that silliness about brownshirts and fascists and nazis in these protests is just cynical spinning.
Government run healthcare. If the Democrats dont ration it, the repubblicans will. THINK THINK THINK
As an 18 year old rising freshman in college, Tea Partyers are every day citizens. They are your blue collar workers. They are not people planted by right wing lobbying groups. We are certainly not NAZIS! You are just scared that Obama is losing the debate. How can you judge us when I have no doubt that you never attended a Tea Party? Why aren't any of you listening to the CBO who says government run healthcare will increase the deficit!! All of you cried foul when W ran up the deficit for the War on Terrorism, but when your "Anointed One" does it you turn a blind eye. Typical liberal mindset. Why do you believe in government run healthcare? This will only give the federal government more power. The government can't run Medicare, Medicaid, and the education system! Why would you trust these people with your health? Do you really trust Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barney Frank with your livelihood?
Jim Cooper should face his constituents. He needs to face the music. He works for US! If Jim Cooper was a Republican, I know you all would love to challenge him at a town hall meeting. So why can't we? I would like some answers answered.
Actually it's time for both Republican and Demorat supporters to realize they have been completely duped amd come together to get real reform. THis is what the establishment is really afraid of
I think it's great that you're 18 and you wanna get in politicians' faces, Hannah. But shouting down everyone else with slogans wasn't cool when the left did it, and it's still uncool now. A lot of these types of meetings attract a pretty good contingent of old people, who may have something to say, or may just want to learn more. To sabotage them is very uncool.
No shouting them down or throwing pies in their faces is very uncool. What is cool is to get in and ask tough questions and let them know how you feel. Also, catching them off guard with a video cam, asking a tough question, then posting it on Youtube is great for America. You can learn more facts in an hour watching these types of vids on Youtube than you can watching a years worth of news on CNN or Fox. Take it from a PR journalism grad, the Corporate news media is 90% BS
Maybe the reason these people feel the need to raise their voices is BECAUSE THEIR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS DIDN'T LISTEN TO THE MAJORITY THAT DIDN'T WANT THE TARP STIMULUS OR BAILOUTS!!!! Or maybe they just want their representatives to READ THE GD BILLS!!!
