From the ultra-Liberal Detroit Free Press‘s Mitch Albom:
I have no illusions about protesters at the recent town hall meetings on health care.
Mitch Albom
Some are fueled by angry conservative groups. Some are hopped up on radio hosts’ rants and ravings. Some are Barack Obama haters. Some use one piece of wrong information to smear an entire event.
And some just think the whole idea of government health care stinks.
But all of them — all of them — have the right to be there, and the right to their point of view. Liberal-minded thinkers who regularly speak up for the poor and underprivileged cannot suddenly yank the rug when it comes to free speech for others.
No matter what I think of national health care — no matter what you think, either — it is an issue that affects everyone, and everyone should have the same right to talk, argue or shout about it.
The fact that some are doing so in an impolite, abrasive way is unfortunate.
[…]
Now, I know some of these protesters are sent by dubiously named groups like Americans
for Prosperity, which sounds harmless enough, until you check and see the group’s leader once organized for Enron and worked with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
I know these groups often hand out instructions on how to be disruptive.
And I know some people just want to see Obama — and any of his plans — fail.
But that’s what America is. That’s what town halls are for. And let’s be honest, politicians try to orchestrate these events as much as protesters do. The only problem I have is when people won’t let others speak or come only to disrupt. That’s not right. That’s not democracy.
But the rest is. If you feel other people are ill-informed, take the time to try to correct them. If you feel others are shouting to bring down a cause, shout to bring it up.
But I would rather live in a place where people questioned what their government proposed rather than swallowing it blindly — especially a government whose members guard our tax money while taking bribes, shout morality and then get caught with their pants down, or lecture businessmen about private planes and then order a bunch for themselves.
What did Democrats expect with a bill like this? Roses and hosannas? Many who supported Obama’s campaign promises of health care for everyone wouldn’t have done so if they read how he now plans to pay for and administer it.
It may not be pretty, but shouting and confrontations are part of this country. They have been from the start. More manners would be better. But silence would be worse.
Listening to this idiot yowl on about this; is like listening to Aleister Crowley say that Jesus Christ is Lord. You know the words coming out of his mouth, but you know damn well that the person does not mean a damn word of it. Albom goes on to very lamely attempt to paint a parallel between these Townhalls and the Anti-War Demonstrations of the Vietnam era. Which in itself is an idiotic comparison. The difference is that those war protests were done by a bunch of America-hating assholes, who wanted to see us lose and come home defeated. For what it is worth Mitch; Vietnam was started by a Democrat, The man who was the driving force and architect behind Vietnam was a liberal Democrat — something that that he went to his grave regretting. Also, want to know which party ended Vietnam?? It was the Republicans! After that idiot liberal broadcaster Walter Cronkite lost it for us, there was nothing more we could do! Anyhow, these townhall protests are being put on by those who happen to give two shits about our Country and the direction that it is headed in; people like me and every other damned person that either shows up at them and happens to Blog about them.
Further more, the problem here is Mitch Albom is a nothing more than an opportunist. This guy used to bash Bush and from what I have read, he used to trash Reagan as well. So, while on the surface, he comes off as someone who is attempting to defend the America people’s right to free speech. In reality Albom is really trying to mock those who really care about this Country. So, nice try Mitch, but you should really stick to what you know —- Sports.