Paul Ryan

White House Goes After Paul Ryan's Pay-To-Play Town Halls

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2011, 11:58AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Democrats have found a new way to harass Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the man behind the Medicare voucher plan. Ryan, who some conservatives still float as a presidential contender, is back home among his constituents these days -- the same place most Representatives are during this August recess.

And Ryan has decided that this time around, he'd prefer to spend time with constituents that pay for the privilege. That has Democrats rubbing their hands with glee.

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Medicare

Constituent Arrested At Allen West Town Hall Says She Was Maced In Jail (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | April 28, 2011, 11:25AM

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

A constituent arrested at a Florida town hall event in Rep. Allen West's district says she was singled out for political reasons, taken into custody under false pretenses, and maced in jail. And she has video to prove some, if not all, of it.

Nicole Sandler is a progressive radio show host*, and one of West's constituents. At a town hall event Tuesday, West was screening questions -- a departure from his usual practice of taking questions from audience members lined up at the mics. When he ducked a question about the House GOP plan to phase out Medicare and replace it with a private insurance system, Sandler shouted out a followup.

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Medicare

Rep. Allen West (R-FL): Medicare Will Destroy America

Benjy Sarlin | April 28, 2011, 9:49AM

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

It can't be easy defending your party's plan to cut and privatize Medicare in retiree-heavy Boca Raton, Florida, but Rep. Allen West gave it his best shot on Wednesday. Questioned by constituents about the budget at a town hall, the freshman Republican warned that everyone is doomed with Medicare as is.

"I gotta tell you something: if you support Medicare the way it is now, you can kiss the United States of America goodbye," West said, according to local station WPTV.

The town hall drew a number of protesters, some of whom were led out of the event by security after heckling the Congressman. West's Democratic-leaning district is considered among the most vulnerable in 2012.

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Medicare

Significant New Progressive Ad Campaign Targets Republicans For Voting To End Medicare (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | April 24, 2011, 5:00PM

In a significant escalation of the progressive campaign to make Republicans pay a political price for voting to end Medicare, the progressive advocacy group Americans United for Change will run broadcast TV ads in the districts of Reps. Steve King (R-IA), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Chip Cravaack (R-MN), and Paul Ryan (R-WI).

"What are House Republicans thinking asking millions of seniors, the less fortunate and the disabled to make more sacrifices and the richest among us to make less," says AUC executive Tom McMahon in a statement.

If Republicans have their way, there would be no more guaranteed Medicare benefits for America's seniors, only a guarantee of paying more and more out of pocket for less care after being left to the mercy to the private insurance industry. There would only be a guarantee that millions of Americans would lose their jobs - only a guarantee that America's poor and disabled will live sicker and die younger while millionaires get another tax break they don't need and the nation cannot afford. This is not a path to prosperity, only a path to bankrupting seniors so Paris Hilton and BP can have another tax break. And there's nothing courageous about that.

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AFL-CIO

Republicans Just Voted To End Medicare -- So Where's The Outrage?

Brian Beutler | April 22, 2011, 12:39PM

Members of Congress are back in their districts, attending town hall events, explaining to their constituents why, exactly, they want to make such major changes to the health care system.

If that sounds familiar, you might be wondering if we're in for August 2009 redux. That was when conservatives and tea party activists caused mayhem at Democratic town hall events and sowed doubt in the minds of members and the media about whether the push for health care reform was really viable. Now, Republicans have their sites set on Medicare and Medicaid, and just voted, almost to a person, to basically zap both programs.

So are we in for a repeat?

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Barack Obama

Obama To Host Facebook Townhall Meeting April 20

David Taintor | April 6, 2011, 9:45AM

President Barack Obama is taking to the Web later this month to host a Facebook townhall, focusing on the economy and budget.

Obama will hold the virtual townhall April 20 from Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, California, ABC News reports, where he'll field selected questions.

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Town Hall Meetings

August Angst? TPM's Top 10 Town Halls To Watch

Christina Bellantoni | August 9, 2010, 9:03AM

A questioner at a health care town hall meeting in August 2009 hosted by Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA).

Funny things happen when Congress goes home for the summer.

Last August, members of the growing tea party movement -- bolstered by a little astro-turf anti-health care support -- bombarded politicians from California to Florida, sparking scenes of angry mobs, finger-biting, guns, fights and scared lawmakers. But will this August be quieter? Hardly.

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Town Hall Meetings

The Town Hall Dog That Didn't Bite

Evan McMorris-Santoro | April 5, 2010, 9:33AM

Scenes from Tea Party protests in August, 2009

On their first recess break since passing historic health care reform legislation, members of Congress have not faced anything like the crowds and anger from anti-reform advocates they faced last summer, when guns, shouts and even fist fights became a part of more than a few town hall meetings. A review of local press coverage from the past week shows that the rage that met members on the weekend the House passed the health care bill has, for the most part, not followed them home.

Any number of factors could be responsible for the toned-down crowds over the past week. Conservative groups that organized protesters to pack town halls before the vote are largely staying out now that the legislative battle is lost for their side. Perhaps Democratic plans to mitigate the threat of protest at town halls have worked.

Either way, the town hall seemed to return to its roots last week -- rather than a place for insults and misdemeanor assault charges, the meetings between constituents and their members are once again about relatively poor attendance and wonky Q&A sessions.

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Health Care

No August Repeats: How The Dems Are Approaching Recess With HCR Victory Behind Them

Christina Bellantoni | March 29, 2010, 9:08AM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signing the bill that passed the House; a protester at a health-care town-hall meeting last summer

Play offense and "don't run away" from health care reform.

That's the advice Democratic leadership is giving rank-and-file members as they fan out across the country to their home districts with a health care victory in their pocket. For all the celebrating, there are real concerns about the next two weeks of Congressional recess spiraling out of control.

Democrats tell us they are confident the rowdy town halls from August won't be duplicated, and are peppering members with data and facts about the health care bill to make sure they are armed with information. Last summer, members were caught unprepared and were faced with angry voters, loud protests and televised meetings that portrayed them in many cases as fumbling and unsure of how to talk about a bill that didn't actually exist yet.

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Health Care

GOP Brings Back Health Care Town Halls

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 11, 2009, 8:59AM

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) town hall.

For Republicans battling Democratic-led health care reform, there's August -- and then there's everything after. Starting in a couple of weeks, the GOP hopes to take the country back to the heady days of the health care town halls.

The late summer was the high-water mark for the GOP on health care, when poll support for Democratic reform lagged after an August full of raucous town hall meetings with members of Congress across the country. The town halls caused the reform debate to shift from "public options" and "mandates" to "death panels" and "socialized medicine." President Obama gave a primetime address before a joint session of Congress to address the fears raised by the town halls, and polls began to shift back toward support for Democratic reforms.

Now, the GOP wants to capture some of that August magic again as the Senate takes up a reform bill.

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Barack Obama

Why Is Obama Still Smiling? Look at the Polls

Eric Kleefeld | September 30, 2009, 12:50PM

President Barack Obama

A slew of recent polling data points to a conclusion that might have seemed hard to believe amidst the town hall craziness in the dog days of August and early September: President Obama's numbers have not only stabilized but actually seem to be showing a modest uptick. And by several other measures the political landscape for Democrats isn't nearly as bleak as it was being portrayed just a few weeks ago.

To be sure, the evidence is insufficient to point to any dramatic, long-run Obama resurgence -- at least for now. But there's enough data to conclude that August, rather than being a public support train-wreck for the president was actually an inflection point, when the downward trend flattened out, and
in some cases began crawling back upward.

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