Some historical perspective on this Town Hall thing

By Dan Brooks in Birthers, health care, health insurance reform, help me kill zombies, Obama citizenship, populism, representative democracy, rumormongering, the crank factor, town hall meetings, town hall protests, widespread dumbening 4 Comments
"Look, I love America, America loves failure...I mean, do I need to draw you a picture?"

"Look, I love America, America loves failure...I mean, do I need to draw you a picture? Oh."

Rick Perlstein had a terrific editorial in the Washington Post yesterday, in which he points out that populist hysteria has historically broken out every time the United States embarks on a period of significant change. Whether it’s the insane red scares of the postwar era—when the combined FDR and Truman presidencies were called “treason” by disgruntled plutocrats—or widespread rumors that the 1964 Civil Rights Act contained a provision for enslaving whites, shrill rhetoric and ridiculous claims have been midwives at the birth of every new American era. Gross.

Perlstein also points out that the two ready explanations for why legions of Social Security beneficiaries have appeared at the same meetings to make the same baseless claims create  a false dichotomy. It’s not that A) everyone is retarded or B) insurance companies and conservative politicians are in league to manipulate public perception. It can be both!

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Friday links roundup! Shirtless Russian cowboy edition

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized 1 Comment
Go ahead and pleasure yourself. He already has video of you doing that, anyway.

Vladimir Putin riding a horse with no shirt on for some reason. Go ahead and pleasure yourself. He already has video of you doing that, anyway.

It’s Friday, and I am sick of being sad about health care reform. If I had insurance, I could get some Lexapro and everything would be, or at least appear to be, awesome.* As it is, I have to rely on the poor man’s antidepressant: reading. Reading is totally lame, but it’s better than the poor man’s health insurance reform: getting a job. If you’re sick of working but also can’t leave your job because it means you’ll go bankrupt if you get appendicitis, you’re in luck. Combat! blog’s Friday link roundup is here to help you while away the hours during your soul-deadening simulacrum of meaningful work. God, I love Friday.

Do you read Frank Rich religiously, by which I mean once a week on Sunday mornings with a vague sense of guilt? You should, because he’s constantly reminding us of rad conceptual tools like corporatism. Totally not Putin-like fascist dictator Benito Mussolini—who posed on horseback a lot, by the way—introduced modern corporatism in the thirties, when a patriotic Italy was ready to listen to really terrible ideas again. The term is now used as a catchall to describe any system characterized by close cooperation between government and industry, in which privately-owned businesses become the most influential entities in a totalizing economic culture. Don’t worry, though; that could never happen here.

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Arm yourself: Full text of H.R. 3200

By Dan Brooks in conservative liars, health care, health insurance reform, help me kill zombies, representative democracy, the crank factor, town hall meetings, town hall protests, widespread dumbening 2 Comments
Members of the PennsylMembers of the Pennsylvania Republican Party are asked not to wear their strings of pearls when they protest the expansion of social services.

Members of the Pennsylvania Republican Committee are once again reminded not to wear strings of pearls when protesting the expansion of social services.

The Democrats’ proposed health care reform package lost ground again yesterday to the competing Stupid Assholes Package, and the New York Times is starting to get a little snippy. In a story that blurs—and by “blurs” I mean “carefully erases”—the line between commentary and news, David Stout observes that Town Hall meetings across the eastern seaboard reflected “deep-seated fears, a general suspicion of government and, in some cases, a lack of knowledge on the part of the questioners.” The article is full of such gems of understatement, further solidifying the Times’s role as the disapproving butler of American democracy.

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Don’t worry—we still have the Millennials

By Dan Brooks in consumerism, health care, health insurance reform, help me kill zombies, hipsters, Millennials, town hall meetings 4 Comments
This is going to be so funny when I AAAAIIIIGHOHGOD! SWEET JESUS, I CAN'T...I MEAN I CAN'T (Silence. Cell phone ring.)

This is going to be so funny when I AAAAIIIIGHOHGOD! SWEET JESUS, I CAN'T...I MEAN I CAN'T (Silence. Cell phone ring.)

Yesterday at Combat! blog we got a little freaked out about how it’s entirely possible that everyone will get too stupid to operate America. Those of you horror movie fans who still crave tales of terrifying democracy will enjoy this article in the New York Times about Arlen Specter’s town hall meeting. It tells the story of Berks County Tea Party chairman Jon Stahl, a 65 year-old laid off from his job 18 months ago, who has since organized protests against taxes, the stimulus plan and health care reform. Presumably he is able to work full-time to stop government welfare because he gets social security benefits. The Times article points out that anti-reform protesters arrived several hours early to the meeting, creating enormous lines. I quote:

Proponents of the overhaul voiced the opposite fear, also citing larger issues at stake. “This isn’t just about health care,” said Carolyn Doric of Harrisburg, “it’s about political power and a means to regain political power.” Ms. Doric did not get into the meeting.

Normally, reading something like that would cause me to buy a high-powered rifle. But then I remembered the Millennials—that idealistic new generation that swept Barack Obama into power in the first place, and constitutes a new creative class of educated, informed, young professionals immune to conservative populism. Previous generations may have devolved into single-issue tax phobics, but the Millennials won’t be consumed by their need for disposable income. Right?

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Kenneth Gladney: Some kind of harbinger

By Dan Brooks in conservative liars, health care, health insurance reform, kenneth gladney, representative democracy, Russ Carnahan, the crank factor, town hall meetings, town hall protests, widespread dumbening 4 Comments
Yes, that says, "Represent MO 3rd NOT The Elites!!" I'm sure the local board of commerce appreciates it.

Yes, that says, "Represent MO 3rd NOT The Elites!!" I'm sure the local board of commerce appreciates it.

The photo at right comes from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, whose coverage of the Russ Carnahan town hall meeting where Kenneth Gladney fell down/was brutally beaten by union thugs reflects the innocence our country new on August 6th.* I have been trying to figure out what the fudge happened to Kenneth Gladney all morning. As near as I can tell, the unvarnished story goes like this: He came to the town hall meeting hosted by Representative Carnahan, where people from both sides of the health care debate had gathered outside to yell and hold up signs. Gladney was either selling or giving away yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flags when an altercation erupted between Some Dude and Some Other Dudes, a few of whom were from the SEIU. Some Dude fell down, and in the rush to protect him/gather around him and freak out, Gladney was pulled briefly to the ground. You can see the video of it here:

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