When it comes to criticizing these health-care town-hall meetings, liberals are getting one thing right — there’s some serious “astroturfing” going on. Too bad all the orchestrated “grassroots” activity seems to be on the side of Obamacare.
Earlier this week, Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) held a meeting at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston, a suburb of Atlanta. The meeting was so crowded — nearly 2,000 folks showed up, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – that most of us couldn’t get in. Johnson represents Georgia’s 4th congressional district, one of the most liberal and Democratic districts in the South. There were many supporters holding up pre-printed signs with President Obama’s fancy logo and messages such as “Thank You” and “Standing Together for Health Insurance Reform.” Ed Morrissey reported on these signs several days ago; it seems that the Georgia chapter of Obama’s “Organizing for America” group e-mailed them to supporters with details about the meeting. I’ve never heard of grassroots growing from the top down like that.
Several organizers from MoveOn.org (“1 million members worldwide!” one told me) were there to get folks in line to sign a petition. One brave member of the right-wing mob had the gall to rebuff them, saying he didn’t want to be involved with anything George Soros was funding. The man, 84-year old Alan Schuster of Tucker, Ga., spoke to me about his opposition to Obamacare. “They’re gonna take away my free choice. We’ve got the best health care in the world,” said Alan, adding that he is happy with his Medicare coverage since he paid into the program for most of his life. His wife Marilyn chimed in, “We’d get rid of Medicare if we could and buy our own insurance.” Based on the discussions I overheard and the signs I saw, there were more people at the event who agreed with the Schusters than the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article let on.
– Michael Warren, a Collegiate Network intern at National Review this summer, studies economics and history at Vanderbilt University.