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Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Nancy Pelosi Supporters Heckled and Threw Trash at Her During Town Hall

First video is of the news story about Nancy Pelosi being heckled and, according to her security who is heard on the video, had things being thrown at her, from progressive supporters no less, then below that, a longer video of the wheelchair bound hecklers (as they are being referred as) and the crowd.



These are Democratic supporters eating Pelosi alive here.



The first video shows the hosts commenting about how they wished they had a view of the crowd at that time, the second video provides that view.

Watch them both.

I guess now we understand why the majority of House Democrats are choosing to only attend "controlled events" and bypassing the tradition of townhall style forums. It is bad enough when they can claim it is their politics foes staging protests and putting hecklers in place, quite another bad visual optic when it is your own supporters turning against you.

More on this event at Wapo.

[Update] Dayden at FDL provides the back story on why these Democratic supporters are so angry at Nancy Pelosi:

OK, so I got a little more information on the nature of the protest. The group ADAPT, which fights for the rights of the disabled, organized it. Madeleine McMahon, an activist with ADAPT, told me that Speaker Pelosi has refused to support the Community Choice Act (HR1670), which would remove a mandate in Title XIX of the Social Security Act that all states receiving Medicaid funding provide nursing home services, making community-based alternatives optional. 2/3 of federal dollars for long term care in Medicaid must support nursing homes under current law.

The Community Choice Act provides an alternative and will fundamentally change our long term care system and the institutional bias that now exists. Building on the Money Follows the Person concept, the two million Americans currently residing in nursing homes and other institutions would have a choice. In addition, people would not be forced into institutions order to get out on community services; once they are deemed eligible for the institutional services, people with disabilities and their families will be able to choose where and how they receive services. Instead of making a new entitlement, the Community Choice Act, makes the existing entitlement more flexible.


McMahon said they had 215 votes lined up for the Community Choice Act, but could not get it over the line. She also expressed anger about the FMAP funding for 2011 being taken out of the jobs bill. “A leader could have gotten five more votes, including her own,” McMahon said. She added that ADAPT had tried numerous other channels to confront Pelosi over this issue but could not get her to pay any heed. She faulted the nursing home industry lobby for this bias toward their businesses in funding mandates. With the disabled expected to grow by 2 times its current number by 2030, ADAPT believes it crucial that the groups they represent have the choice of community-based options.


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