What's The Deal With "Town Hall Meetings"?

[GOBUCKS]

caraher (828 posts)        Fri Aug-07-09 11:56 AM
Original message
Why "Town Hall" meetings in the first place?
There's something intrinsically contrived about the various "town hall" format political events that have taken place in recent years. I understand the inspiration of the fabled New England town halls, but "town hall" events in election campaigns or focused on national issues like health care are nothing more than political theater.

Now there's good theater and bad theater, and I will say that the Democrats' "town hall" theater is far truer to the original than the Bush-era pre-screened audience farces we saw for 8 years. But what we've seen is the invasion of the Astroturf infantry, subverting the events to create the illusion of a widespread, angry grassroots opposition to meaningful reform. The worst part is that the more outrageous the disruption, the more media attention it draws, and whether that attention is critical of the disruptors or not it serves the goals of the disruptors. For them, all publicity is good publicity.

So why do this at all? There are other ways to solicit public input on the ideas in play. We can't stop Republicans from holding events but why provide a stage and media for people who have no interest in honest dialogue?

Blah, blah, blah, blabbity blab.......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6243876

bluestateguy  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-07-09 12:03 PM
Response to Original message
2. It was a fad that we all got into with Ross Perot's campaign in 1992
Other politicians latched on to it, and like Britney Spears, it was a fad that just lasted a little too long. 

The DUmp has been overwhelmed and nearly destroyed by an avalanche of "town hall" threads. It's worse than the Palin plague of a couple of weeks ago.

I only brought this over because it's a question I've been asking as well. What's with this obsession with "town hall meetings"?  As the DUmmy says, maybe Ross Perot had them. I only remember them starting with Slick Willie. He did them because he was a slick actor, better than Bush41, and could put together a stacked audience and fool people. It's not unlike the belief we MUST have "presidential debates", which were invented by the TV networks solely because they expected them to be an advantage for John Kennedy.

Of course, everyone's heard of "town hall meetings" in little Rockwellian maple syrup towns, where everyone comes in wearing red plaid woolen caps, but recently people seem to think of them like they're part of the consititution. 

They are campaign appearances, nothing more or less. No politician holds one to find out what people think. By continuing the charade, the dems are doing us a great service in allowing the anger at the Kenyan's communist plans to get free air time. It's a really stupid thing for the dems to do.

[Texacon]

I want to know why they are calling the protesters 'Turfers'  I don't get it.  What is the correlation?

KC

[DumbAss Tanker]

I want to know why they are calling the protesters 'Turfers'  I don't get it.  What is the correlation?

KC

I didn't get it either, someone explained it in another thread yesterday.  They are calling it 'Astroturfering' in an attempt to paint the protestors as fake grass-roots people, i.e. they have all been out up to it by the VWRC and their supposed outrage isn't real at all.  Or so the Dims claim.

[Chump]

I didn't get it either, someone explained it in another thread yesterday.  They are calling it 'Astroturfering' in an attempt to paint the protestors as fake grass-roots people, i.e. they have all been out up to it by the VWRC and their supposed outrage isn't real at all.  Or so the Dims claim.

They absolutely have to make that claim.

Consider: real, hard-working Americans, with dependents, mortgages, bills, responsibilities, taking time out of their days to make their voices heard loud and clear.  These are people who normally toe the line, suffer grievances, and quietly submit to small offenses because, at the end of the day, you have to put food on the table.

And now we're pissed, and we're doing something about it.  If I was a stupid effing DUmmie I'd be scared enough to piss, too.  They should be.  And thus, they absolutely have to make this seem contrived, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  To admit otherwise would be to admit they are wrong on this issue in every way, and no one likes their jug-eared prom king.  What a truly horrifying premise to a drooling DUmmie!

[DixieBelle]

They absolutely have to make that claim.

Consider: real, hard-working Americans, with dependents, mortgages, bills, responsibilities, taking time out of their days to make their voices heard loud and clear.  These are people who normally toe the line, suffer grievances, and quietly submit to small offenses because, at the end of the day, you have to put food on the table.

And now we're pissed, and we're doing something about it.  If I was a stupid effing DUmmie I'd be scared enough to piss, too.  They should be.  And thus, they absolutely have to make this seem contrived, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  To admit otherwise would be to admit they are wrong on this issue in every way, and no one likes their jug-eared prom king.  What a truly horrifying premise to a drooling DUmmie!

Excellent way to put it. Totally agree.....

I for one will keep coming at them. I AM the angry mob

--edited to correct mispelling of "angry" dixie

[Chump]

Excellent way to put it. Totally agree.....

I for one will keep coming at them. I AM the agry mob

So am I, and very proud.

[GOBUCKS]

They absolutely have to make that claim.

Consider: real, hard-working Americans, with dependents, mortgages, bills, responsibilities, taking time out of their days to make their voices heard loud and clear.  These are people who normally toe the line, suffer grievances, and quietly submit to small offenses because, at the end of the day, you have to put food on the table.

And now we're pissed, and we're doing something about it.  If I was a stupid effing DUmmie I'd be scared enough to piss, too.  They should be.  And thus, they absolutely have to make this seem contrived, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  To admit otherwise would be to admit they are wrong on this issue in every way, and no one likes their jug-eared prom king.  What a truly horrifying premise to a drooling DUmmie!

Uh oh, isn't that the kind of fishy information that we're supposed to be reporting to the White House hot line?
Have they announced the penalties for failing to report?

[DixieBelle]

So am I, and very proud.

And I might even learn to spell it.

[Chump]

Uh oh, isn't that the kind of fishy information that we're supposed to be reporting to the White House hot line?
Have they announced the penalties for failing to report?

Don't snitch on me bro!

[Texacon]

I for one would not be afraid to have this issue put to a vote of, by and for the people.  This whole damn thing would go down in flames so bad .....

KC