Ben Cardin's Towson Townhall Wrap-Up

The Tussle in Towson!

Last night, Ben Cardin held a townhall in Towson to try and discuss healthcare reform with people who are supposed to be his constituents.

Here's how the local tv station WJZ reported it.

Here's what The Baltimore Sun said:

...Cardin got heckled almost nonstop. The audience jeered his answers and broke into raucous cheers when their comrades confronted the senator with dismissive remarks about the federal government and the Obama administration's overhaul plan.

They laughed dismissively when Cardin cited the World Health Organization and tried to shout down his attempt to present an outline of the legislative proposals in Washington.

And here's what it looked like to folks who were there:

And some more.

Looks pretty productive, no? As only a mish-mash of misinformed hysterics, astro-turfers, tea-bag disruptors and some legitimately rational citizens honestly concerned about healthcare could be.

If a lot of these folks seem to be of a certain type that's because many of them heard about the Townhall from the extreme right wing radio station WBAL, who's on air personalities have told them things like healthcare reform is a systematic form of senior citizen extermination, forced abortions and required transgender surgery. And for some reason, they believe this nonsense.

Here are some Tweets (we really have to come up with a less humiliating word for Twitter posts) from the town hall to give you the flava:

Cardin had police @ his town hall ystrday. Nothing says "Democracy" like having baton weilding cops stand between u & the voter. -rightcommentary

If Cardin's so afraid he can't have law & order without cops at his TH's - maybe the jackass should rethink his policy stands. -rightcommentary

sorry I didn't have much time to look around...Cardin's handlers kept wrangling me away from the stage. -Conway45

Ben Cardin (D-MD) had a vocal crowd in Towson last nite. Wish I could have gone!! Ben among the clueless. -gloryb2

Sen. Cardin ddn't fair well at his 1st TH meet.He's scheduled for Hagerstown, MD today. Lking frwrd to similar rslts.Demand rprsntation. -taccop

KUDOS TO MARYLAND TOWN HALL ATTENDEES - Sen. CARDIN (D-MD) & R reps want 2 speechify & testa-lie instead of answer crucial hlthcare ???-me -clergywomen

not a good night to be Sen. Bem Cardin -Benjammin37

Local news estimated >2K attendees at the Towson, MD Cardin Town Hall also news said Anti Obamacare outnumbered Pro Obamacare 5:1 -CrabbyCon

Hell has frozen over in Maryland. Anti-health care protesters outnumber supporters @Cardin townhall. Woot! Finally !!! -Traveler744

LOL @ the "Obama Lies, Granny Dies" sign at the Cardin Townhall -LaGoldEyezSalsa

OK so Cardin is lying about how many people will be private isn't he -0dangainor

Ben Cardin (D-MD) is desperate for Obamacare Supporters to show up 8/10 at ACORN & SEIU sponsored Senate Townhall..so who is ASTROTURFING? -silverbelle1008

The crowd inside the town hall debate was passionate. Cardin was getting shelled. The crowd outside is now chanting Bring Back Ehrlich -Conway45

Audience is yelling so much Cardin having hard time getting out answers to questions -Juliemore

and on and on and on...

More on the Towson Townhall.

Cardin holds a second townhall in Hagerstown tomorrow.

From the looks of things, we are in a very real battle now, between those who want to provide affordable healthcare to Americans and those who want to prevent it.

Comments

[baltimoregal]

This just makes me sick. Only in America would we have people so "freedomly educated" that they would protest free health insurance.

[Guadalupe]

It's the "cost" of the "free" healthcare that has generated protests. Costs in terms of dollars (or should I say Chinese financed debt) and the cost of loosing choices. It's simply cheaper to insure the uninsured legal citizens of this country while addressing waste and fraud, tort reform and price gauging by providers and drug companies. This is not complicated, an overwhelming majority of Americans are happy with their health coverage.

[redmder]

havent you heard, the socialists plan on paying for it by raising all our taxes and executing our seniors and forcing all of us into their socialized medicne scheme.

[Blue Mule]

Red and guad, the dumbass contingent. Public option would save tax money, if you like your ins. policy you can keep it, (for the hundredth umpteen fucking time). Why listen to reason though, right red and guad? why listen to reality?

[Jason K]

Fact that this person @clergywomen has the nerve to call her hateful rt wing tweets "inspirational" is reason enough to be an atheist

[Guadalupe]

So, Blue Balls, assuming everyone keeps their current plan, and the government insures another 47 million or so who can't afford it currently; where does the money come from to cover their cost? The fact that it will cost a trillion dollars over ten years is part of the sales package being pitched by it's supporters. Obama's budget analysis shows that social security benefits, medicare and medicaid account for 85% of our current 59 trillion debt because they all operate at billion dollar deficits annually. HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stevo]

okay everybody, time to play, "where did guadalupe get the numbers from?"
So....Where did Guadalupe get the numbers from? Is it:
a) from Guadalupe's ass?
b) the tiny little voices from inside Guad,s head?
or
c) thin air?

[Guadalupe]

Stevo "In projecting debt, CBO follows mechanical 'baseline' rules that do not allow it to account for the costs of any prospective tax or entitlement legislation, no matter how likely the enactment of such legislation may be." How convenient!! One of dozens of examples is the prescription drug plan, Medicare Part D enacted in 2003. Costs are not reflected in national debt. This loophole hides around 4 trillion in actual debt that is not reflected in national debt figures.
Tarp funds- part of debt.
The guaranteeing of large amounts of obligations relating to mutual funds, banks, and corporations under several new programs designed to deal with the problems initiated by the Liquidity crisis of September 2008 are off-balance sheet and therefore excluded in the calculation of federal debt. Guarentees to Fannie May and Freddie Mac are off balance sheet and not part of national debt.
CBO's request to factor this into debt? You guessed it. REJECTED.
The government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) of Fannie May and Freddie Mac resulted in a 5 trillion dollar gulp of debt, virtually overnight.
DO YOU BELIEVE OUR NATIONAL DEBT IS CURRENTLY AROUND 9 TRILLION??
SERIOUSLY...I COULDN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP IF I TRIED.

[Guadalupe]

Actually Stevo I need to correct myself. Social security benefits, medicare and medicaid account for 85% of the governments reported 9 trillion dollar debt figure. National debt is currently somewhere in the 50-60 trillion dollar range. No one knows for sure.

[Guadalupe]

The crickets are a chirping!!It was announced today that Colonial Bank collapsed and was swallowed up by BBT. Cost to taxpayers......3 BILLION. Will that 3 BILLION be reflected in National Debt figure? NO!!Colonial was the 74th federally insured bank to collapse in 2009 and was primarily a commercial real estate lender. Foreclosures on commercial real estate is going to be the next bubble to burst.