Video: A Corker of a town hall

Lest anyone believe that Democrats have gotten all of the heat from angry constituents over health-care reform, Tennessee’s WATE reports on a lively meeting hosted by Senator Bob Corker (R) for his Bradley County constituents. Despite already having established his opposition to ObamaCare, voters overflowed out of a Lee University meeting room to push the point home with Corker. Mostly, they expressed anger from being mischaracterized as un-American and racist for opposing a government takeover of health care:

For the most part, Sen. Corker is on their side in opposing President Barack Obama’s philosophy on health care reform.

Still, the mostly Republican crowd let him know how they feel about others in Washington.

“I would ask that you tell Nancy Pelosi, I’m one of those ugly mobsters. I’m not a racist. I’m an American and I’m sick and tired of sitting here every time something goes wrong with the president’s plan, we are all racists. Well guess what? If he can call me a racist, more power to him, but he’s lying,” said Ron Harwell.

The crowd was passionate and seemed to have done its homework. Some told personal stories, like Bob Dupuy describing his wife’s terminal illness.

“After discussions with our physicians, and they laid everything out for us, the choice was made by me and my children to decide to terminate my wife’s life. And I don’t want the government or anybody else, anybody in this facility, telling me the government has a right to take our lives,” Dupuy said.

Corker told the crowd he understands, but says the anger at government goes beyond health care.

“I think it is about the fact that everyone in this country is waking up, or the majority of the people in this country are waking up and realizing that we have a government that is out of control,” Corker said.

Polimom over at The Moderate Voice pushes back against the “racist” charge as well:

Because everyone know that we are essentially European, right? Nothing in our history has led to a different view of redistribution (like…say… leading the West in a very long Cold War…), or of governmental power (like… say… breaking free of a European autocracy at our inception…). Little things like Federalism and the deliberate design of a limited central government are just minor details. …

Self-reliance and independence are not secondary afterthoughts, and the inability to understand these core values by some liberals confounds me. Why does there have to be more to it? The fundamental feeling that a person is responsible for him/herself isn’t enough? When did adhering to deeply held principles become “working against their own interests”?

I’ll answer that question. It comes from a sense of desperation on the Left, borne of the realization that they miscalculated the health-care debate. As objections have grown, they have tried to find ways to silence the opposition — because they can’t answer the actual objections. Some advocates have honestly tried to argue for the benefits they see from a government-run system, but most just vilify and demonize the opposition instead.

The racism charge is truly a desperate, Hail Mary rhetorical pass. Supposedly, all of this opposition comes from the color of our President’s skin, despite the fact that he won 53% of the vote just nine months ago. However, how do these people explain the same exact furor over the Clinton effort to nationalize health care 16 years ago?

The advocates of ObamaCare don’t want to admit to the radical nature of their agenda and the legitimate philosophical differences between the sides. Meybe it’s because they can’t win that argument.

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