The health care reform rallies organized by MoveOn on Tuesday were “emergency” events in more ways than one. The media has already written the eulogy for health care/insurance reform. Whether President Obama can bring it back to life in his SOTU speech tonite is anybody’s guess.
About 75 activists braved the freezing cold in St. Louis to rally in front of Sen. McCaskill’s office as part of the national event called by MoveOn. Kirkwood United folks who rallied all summer and fall in front of Kirkwood City Hall brought their huge signs. Franklin McCallie, who happens to be about 6’6″ managed to block the one anti-reform guy’s sign from TV cameras. Franklin is a retired high school principal and knows how to handle trouble makers !!
BBC World Service correspondents are in the St. Louis area this week taking the pulse of Americans in a variety of situations. They covered the rally and will air their report on NPR stations.
West County Dems co-chair Beverly White brought a dozen or so of her members, and several of the people who signed up online helped MoveOn staffer Bunnie Gronborg with logistics.
Bob Burns, one of Sen. McCaskill’s staffers watched the rally and, from the look on his face, definitely got the message. DEMOCRATS: GET SOME BACKBONE.
One young woman told the crowd that she needs an operation but has no health insurance. She read two poems she wrote and the anguish in her voice moved folks to tears.
Another woman described how she and other retirees lost their health insurance when their company was bought out by a conglomerate that canceled all benefits.
This is what is going on all over the country, and it’s time for Democrats to start acting like adults in charge. Maybe we need to send some high school principals to Washington.
points out that the sign Franklin McCalley blocked said “I want free abortions.” In other words, Adam Sharp (blogger Sharp Elbows) didn’t even have the decency to dissent. Instead, he essentially lied with his sign by pretending that the MoveOn people were carrying that sign. And here’s the kicker, Sharp said of his deceit, “Even lies are free speech.” St. Louis Pushes Back notes that: “When you have to point out that lies are free speech, you’ve pretty much lost.”
LikeLike
although perhaps too much to hope that 75 strictly local St. Louis progressives could outweigh the voice of all 500 teapartiers in Missouri – none of whom will ever support McCaskill. Here is some video from St. Louis Pushes Back which shows the demonstrators blocking the dishonest “I want free abortions” sign – which must be the sign you are talking above that was blocked by McCallie? Always fun to hear the tea partiers play the victim after they are thwarted in their efforts to obfuscate and lie – don’t these fools realize how stupid they look?
LikeLike