At Meet-And-Greet, Rep. Chris Murphy Meets Some Hostility

[cali]

By DANIELA ALTIMARI

10:02 PM EDT, August 5, 2009
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SIMSBURY - Chanting "Dump Chris Dodd" and "No national health care," scores of angry constituents confronted U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy at a meet-and-greet outside the Super Stop & Shop Wednesday afternoon.

Murphy, a Democrat who represents the 5th District, routinely holds informal office hours at supermarkets and strip malls, but such gatherings are generally uneventful. This time, many of the 150 or so attendees were so boisterous that Stop & Shop management called the police to ask that the crowd be moved from the store's entrance.

The scene in Simsbury is being replayed throughout the nation this week as congressional Democrats convene town hall forums and other public get-togethers to win support for the Obama administration's plan to overhaul the health care system.

One conservative group critical of the plan has put out a call to members, encouraging them to attend these gatherings and voice their opposition to the member of Congress hosting the event. U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Democrat and a leading architect of the health care overhaul, has become a chief target.

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http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-web-murphy-tea-party0806aug06,0,1371927.story

[Sisaruus]

1. Well that just pisses me off

I live in Simsbury, a town often called Sims-boring by its residents. An unruly crowd is so un-Simsbury.

Guess it's time for our crowds to show up in the front rows at town-hall forums and make their numbers look insignificant. From a leaked memo by conservative Connecticut Tea Partier Robert “Bob” MacGuffie:

• Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”
• Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/townhallactionmemo.pdf

[90-percent]

2. I'm about 6 miles due west

I have a friend in town that's a sculptor. He's been trying to get Simsbury to build a statue honoring Martin Luther King for a few years. Dr. King spent some summers in Simsbury working tobacco fields as a youth and he found it to be a nice experience, race relations-wise.

Simsbury is mentioned in Dr. King's autobiography.

My Congressman is John Larson and I try to get to as many town hall meetings as he offers. I think he's currently recovering from some heart operation and his schedule is TDB.

I think I'll see where Chris Murphy is appearing. I don't approve of this Dick Armey mercenary protester thing at all!

"Mercenary Protesters" Hey, I kinda like it!

-90% Jimmy

[marmar]

3. And of course our crackerjack MSM is reporting the astroturf groups behind this thuggery, right?

n/t