Poor liberals. They were so desperate to see a “Widespread Public Outrage Over GOP Plan to Abolish Medicare” narrative emerge over the Easter recess — and I’m sure they genuinely thought it would happen on its own — but events on the ground simply haven’t lived up to expectations. And polls like this one must really make their heads explode.
Now they are trying to make hay out of a handful of YouTube clips that simply don’t measure up to the headlines they are posted under — for example: “Republicans Get Grilled at Town Hall Meetings…” or “GOP Congressmen Get Eaten Alive at Town Halls” — especially when you find out a few paragraphs into a story that Congressman X was “was interrupted at every turn by shouts from his critics, including members of progressive groups such as Moveon.org and Organize Now.”
Take this clip of freshman Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.), who easily makes the list of top five Democratic targets in 2012 — “Duffy Gets Grilled Over Data.” Perhaps I have a different idea of what constitutes a “grilling,” but I don’t think this quite measures up.
In fact, the highlight of clip is the part where the “griller” dismisses the Ryan budget on the grounds that “a Nobel Prize–winning economist labeled it ’a fraud.’”
“Who’s that?” Duffy asks.
“Paul Krugman.”
(Uproarious laughter ensues.)
Watch:
It appears that the video was shot by ThinkProgress, another hyper-liberal group. Here’s the version they posted on their website. Notice that it’s been “lightly edited.” It also includes a bit at the end where Duffy tells one dissenter: “When you have your town hall, you can stand up and give your presentation,” which apparently amounts to “losing his cool.” See for yourself:
If the best the Left can muster against the Ryan plan at this point is a smattering of “outrage” spun from the likes of MoveOn.org, ThinkProgress, and Paul Krugman, they’re in real trouble. (These are same folks who were outraged by Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission.) In fact, it’s downright pathetic.
It’s almost as if they’ve forgotten what real outrage looks like:
That’s footage from a health-care town hall put on by Rep. Steve Kagen (D., Wis.). Correction, former Rep. Steve Kagen.
I will say, after seeing this clip, that Paul Ryan made a mistake using the Heritage foundation numbers. Yes, they may be accurate, yes, they capture the dynamic predictions of the economy, but their ideas, that unemployment would fall to under 4% by late decade, are a bit optimistic and too vulnerable. I think that the Congressman should just have stuck with CBO numbers and showed just how bad the President's budget is.
In a larger point, someone needs to give the Republican house members an intense course in economics and finance. The issue of the US debt is complex and it is painful to see the members miss golden opportunities to ram truths home, when the member doesn't know enough.
For example, here the Congressman should have mentioned, in addition to his statement that taxes are hardly conducive to economic growth, that taxes would have to rise on everyone, not just the super rich, to pay off the future debts. Bring out the chart showing the trajectory of government outlays, they say: here is where outlays go under the President's plan, if you want to tax to cover that, look at the tax rates needed.
This debate will require a high standard of knowledge among republicans, because the Democratic position relies on the rejection of economic principles. Thus, any rebuttal needs to include those principles to be convincing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe first video link is not working.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAstro-Turfed outrage at it finest ... so they have one town hall video ... the sad fact is that everytime the MSM tries to push this story they have to link to the video which ruins their storyline ... epic fail ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFirst vid is dead space for me too - did a quick search on the title and didn't pull up anything either, has it been removed?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is socialist agitprop at its finest.
One guy at a town hall meeting equates to "outrage". And they can no longer manufacture storylines, because the traditional MSM is below used car salesmen and attorneys on the list of unethical or untrusted "professionals", and there are just too many sources of this stuff for them to control the narrative anymore.
I hope the GOP pols are getting a "science" lesson on politics, and learning once and for all of whom they need not be afraid.
So long as the GOP actually provides a true counter-weight to the regressives, it still stands as obvious:
"Give the political left enough time and rope, and they'll make our arguments for us."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe laughter after Krugman's name is dropped is priceless.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh, wow--I didn't watch the second video before posting. Not a very smooth job skipping over the audience's reaction to Krugman's name.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWho has a link to the unedited Krugman laughter? It's missing from above.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExternal Link
Krugman mention is at 1:20 or so
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhoever shot the original video, should have youtube bring down the edited one.
I doubt TP would have shot this, then put up the first version, so they obviously stole it and claim it as their own with the watermark!
Why do the left think they can steal other peoples hard work? Oh yeah, they think they are better than the rest of us.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo is the Nobel Prize a joke because of Krugman or is Krugman a joke because of the Prize? Sounds like a race to the bottom....
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse----Congressman should just have stuck with CBO numbers and showed just how bad the President's budget is.---
Lets be really accurate. The President doesn't have a budget, he has a speech.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell said, GTown Fan. I agree with every point. The Congressman's performance IS painful and it's funny this video is being portrayed as "Duffy Gets Grilled"--I think he's actually getting off easy (except for that one guy) because most of those folks already understand what he is trying to say.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePriceless.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLove how the shill was even reading his talking-points.
Surely they could find someone smart enough to at least MEMORIZE them!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI guess the lesson to be learned here for Rep. Kagen is to only hold town hall meetings if he already knows that the crowd is on his side on an issue. Otherwise, as evidenced by this video, nothing substantive will emerge.
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