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: