I didn't like the vitriol during last year's August Town Hall's were subjected to over HCR, but that was whipped up by fearmongering and hysteria coming from RWNM. Dan Webster is the extreme Christian right candidate who beat Alan Grayson in the midterms.
A town hall meeting held in Orlando by U.S. Rep. Dan Webster degenerated into bedlam Tuesday, with members of the crowd shouting down the freshman Republican congressman and yelling at one another.
It was the last of a series of town hall meetings Webster has hosted during Congress' spring recess, which ends Monday. While the others were civil and largely uneventful, the 300 people at Tuesday's meeting were so raucous they were scolded by a police officer to act "like grown people." Webster tried to go over a series of charts showing growing levels of federal spending and debt, and the reason he supports the federal budget plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. But he was interrupted at every turn by shouts from his critics, including members of progressive groups such as Moveon.org and Organize Now.
Boos and shouts of "liar" were mixed with angry accusations that Ryan's plan to change Medicare would leave those now under 55 without health insurance in their retirement, calls to eliminate the tax cuts first put in place by former President Bush and the need to raise corporate taxes rather than cut entitlement programs.
Did you hear Republicans tell the August Town Hall zombies to act like adults, once?
When one man who said he was a veteran yelled that he wanted to know why Webster was cutting Medicare and veterans' benefits, his answer came from the audience instead.
"We can't afford it, you moron!" a red-faced man screamed.
Two Orlando police officers moved to the front of the room and flanked Webster, and pleaded for decorum when the congressman could no longer be heard.
"It's not going to be solved by yelling and screaming and hollering," the officer said. "Let's conduct ourselves like grown people."
Unlike Democrats, who feared for their lives during the summer of madness, Republicans don't have to run for the hills, but they are getting a small dose of reality because of the draconian nature of Paul Ryan's budget.
UPDATE: And the backlash against Rep. Ayn Ryan continues:
Last week, ThinkProgress reported from a town hall in Milton, Wisconsin, where Rep. Ryan’s plan to extend tax breaks for the wealthy earned the congressman a loud chorus of boos from his own constituents. Similar backlash among voters to the Republican budget has played out for other congressmen across the country, including Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-PA), Charlie Bass (R-NH), Chris Gibson (R-NY), Robert Dold (R-IL), and Sean Duffy (R-WI).
