Inside Story On Town Hall Riots: Right-Wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/politics/141860/inside_story_on_town_hall_riots%3A_right-wing_shock_troops_do_corporate_america%27s_dirty_work

Inside Story on Town Hall Riots: Right-Wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet. Posted August 10, 2009.

How the health-care industry, the GOP and one media mogul made common cause with the anti-government fringe.

The recent spate of town hall dustups may look like an overnight sensation, but they've been years, even decades, in the making.

- snip -

Why, you may ask, would men of power and fame shake the rough, unmanicured hands of gun enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists, gay-haters, misogynists and racists?

Because somebody's got to do the dirty work. Magnates don't like to soil their French cuffs, and it's hard for a bunch of rich guys to garner sympathy for threats to their bottom lines. It's the classic inside-outside game that the right wing of the GOP has played for the last two decades.

The Health-Care Industry Executive

Imagine you're an executive at a pharmaceutical company. Your U.S. operations are your cash cow; they earn you wild net profits because, unlike in other industrialized nations, you do not experience the price controls of a government-administered program in which the government negotiates for the best price on prescription drugs and devices.

Along comes a government plan for health-insurance reform that includes a public, government-financed plan. The public option, they call it. As part of the plan, you will be required to negotiate with the government for the price of medications and devices to be distributed within the plan.

- snip -

So, whaddaya do? Well, if your lobbying firm counts former Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, as its senior policy adviser, you don't have do much. Dick will take care of the rest through FreedomWorks, the ostensibly grassroots, nonprofit organization of anti-taxers, cold warriors and affirmative-action opponents, which he chairs.

- snip -

The Republican Member of Congress

Now, suppose you're a Republican member of Congress. Your party got totally throttled in the 2008 election, and if you don't derail this health care thing, it's going to be a big win for your Democratic opponents, as millions of underinsured and uninsured Americans finally have some health care coverage -- one bright spot in a largely dismal economy.

- snip -

That's where Grassfire.org and its brother networking site, ResistNet, come in. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who promised to make health-care reform President Obama's "Waterloo," is a big fan. Says so right there on the Grassfire Web site. ResistNet is yet another right-wing hub for organizing the disruption of health-care town hall meetings.

The Media Mogul

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[proud patriot]

1. wonderfully researched article

thanks

[masuki bance]

2. Aren't the drug companies on board and running ads for health reform?

eta link from Robert Reich-

"...In return, Big Pharma isn't just supporting universal health care. It's also spending a lots of money on TV and radio advertising in support. Sunday's New York Times reports that Big Pharma has budgeted $150 million for TV ads promoting universal health insurance, starting this August (that's more money than John McCain spent on TV advertising in last year's presidential campaign), after having already spent a bundle through advocacy groups like Healthy Economies Now and Families USA...."

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/08/how-the-white-houses-deal-with.php?ref=fpblg

[zbdent]

3. wonder if these people, who most likely cheered government investigation into average citizens'

bank accounts for "terrorist" ties, would mind the government looking into where they are getting money from ...

[watercolors]

4. Remember the "Brown Shirts" in Miami after 2000 election!!

Rethugs were definitely at work there, so these town hall meetings are basic ly being disrupted by same techniques. Hopefully we will survive it all, but it is going to be some rough years ahead dealing with the GOP. Its all politics and will never change!

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. WHat's creepy to me is I saw no evidence of an orchestrated mob at our event this weekend

There was no bus. There were a few manufactured signs and quite a few '912' flags. But unless you watched closely and saw their pow wows on the sidelines it was hard to see an organized effort behind this mob.

It was really just a mob of very angry people who despise our president.

[malaise]

6. Excellent article

K & R

[Hissyspit]

7. kicking nt

[Wednesdays]

8. K&R

:kick: