Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, met her constituents last night. Well, some of them. A bunch more had to wait outside and hope that she heard their shouts.
Outside, hundreds of people gathered for democracy YouTube style – with shouting and hostility from dueling camps. Inside, it was mostly calm – more like a civics seminar and sales pitch for the country’s health care overhaul law . . .
One woman asked Wasserman Schultz to “defend the dirty deals on this health care deal.” Wasserman Schultz responded that “there certainly were no such dirty deals.”
When several people in the audience booed, Wasserman Schultz asked the crowd to be respectful.
Mark Pilling of Cooper City yelled out: “You’re not being respectful to us when you lie to the American people.” Fort Lauderdale police officers ordered him to leave the room.
The overflow crowd outside listened on loudspeakers. When the back door was opened so a questioner could come in, people outside sometimes shouted “you lie” or “liar.”
The crowd inside, which topped 250, was more friendly. Most gave her a standing ovation when she arrived and when she finished.
Hey, did she mention to the Fort Lauderdale crowd that the plan is Castro-approved?