I thought if any organization participated in helping get people to townhalls, that it was astroturfing. Or does that only apply to the right? Because I got this in my email box yesterday:

Dear MoveOn member,
I’m a MoveOn member like you, and I’m working with the local MoveOn Council to organize an event tomorrow in Warner Robins to make our voices heard for real health care reform.

The event is on Monday, Aug. 24, 2009, at 5:00 PM in Warner Robins. The location of our event is: Homer J Walker Jr Civic Center.

Here’s the event description:

Jim Marshall, a Blue Dog Democrat, will be having a Town Hall on Healthcare at the Homer Walker Center in Warner Robbins. As you may know, he is waffling on whether or not he will support public option. A group of us MoveOn members have come up with a line of questioning that will punch through his cynicism and get real on this real issue. Bring yourselves, a positive attitude, a “public option means more choices” sign, and your hope for a better America.

Please gather at the Center at 5pm so we can submit our questions early. Look for the women with the 7 Red Ballons out front. We will be with MoveOn. Again, look for the 7 Red Ballons!

I hope you can join me and other local MoveOn members. Click here for more details and to RSVP:

Yes, I’ll be there on Monday at 5 p.m.

Sorry, I can’t make it.

Thanks for all you do.
–Kimberlyn C., MoveOn member

P

Above is a picture taken by my friend Will Davis of the Monroe County Reporter in Forsyth, GA.

Forsyth only has 4,000 people. 700 of them turned out to speak to Congressman Jim Marshall (D-GA 08) about healthcare.

The line was long. The day was hot. More and more people came. Congressman Marshall, a Democrat running in a decidedly Republican congressional district (he’s also my former law school professor), was patient.

Marshall, like the people in his district, opposes the healthcare proposals winding their way through Congress. Marshall went so far as to say he’d vote against all five of the present proposals.

The crowd got a little rowdy, but people feel passionately on the issue. You’ll see though that they were not really a mob. They were not really protestors. They were citizens turning out to tell their Congressman they are greatly opposed to Barack Obama’s agenda.

And he listened. The media, of course, will not cover gatherings like this because there really is no news and it is not in a major metropolitan area. But peaceful assemblies like this are far more common than those we’ve seen on television — and even those were not chaotic masses of angry people as the media would have us believe.

This is American democracy in all its glory.

Consider this an open thread.

Promoted from diaries - Moe Lane.

Very rarely do I get to actually talk about my own hometown in a discussion on national politics. Very rarely are the goings on of Douglasville significant enough to merit a mention beyond the local papers.

However, that rant by Representative David Scott was one of the exceptions to the rule. As someone who spends a good portion of his year in that district, I can tell you that his little tantrum wasn’t the only time that Scott has behaved in ways unbecoming of one granted the public trust that comes with being a Congressman. There’s a similar incident where someone showed up at his house to discuss the healthcare issue with him:

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Karen Handel, the Georgia Secretary of State, will be running for Governor of Georgia next year. She has been a leader in pushing for voter identification and proof of citizenship in elections, with tremendous success.

Her presentation at the Redstate Gathering was wide ranging, discussing the role of Secretaries of State, the recent push by Democrats to target these offices in swing states, and the challenges Georgia has in dealing with the Voting Rights Act.

Erick was proud to announce Redstate’s endorsement of her candidacy.

Karen Handel from David Thompson on Vimeo.

Meet Ashleigh Kenny. She’s a student at Valdosta State University in South Georgia. She presented Congressman Jack Kingston with a t-shirt that said “R.I.P. The U.S. Constitution” on one side and on the other side had a this quote from Ronald Reagan: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

Oliver Willis, a real activist, i.e. subsidized by a Hungarian billionaire, put up a post on his website saying Congressman Kingston was, in posing with Ashleigh and her t-shirt, “embracing the fringe.”

They he let his commenters have at Ashleigh. A sample:

She’s also pregnant with her cousin’s child (they got married after the first one) and gives those Tee shirts away at the local strip club where she works (to avoid the military service which might pay for her education).

That’s one of the less crude ones.

And this is what unknown people who care about this country and believe Barack Obama is sending us down a terrible road are being subjected to. They are beaten up by SEIU thugs, savaged on blogs, and ridiculed on MSNBC. All they did was show up at a townhall and express their opposition to socialized medicine.

Ashleigh has written a response to the vitriol she’s been subjected to. I put it below the fold. Remember Ashleigh Kenny. She is not alone. Like the rest of us here, she fights for freedom.

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Now this should be what worries proponents of health care rationing: citizens showing up in much larger-than-anticipated numbers to complain about an issue - to legislators who agree with them.

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., learned constituents were more engaged than he may have thought.

Hundreds turned out in Waycross for a town hall meeting Wednesday on House Resolution 3200, the House bill on reform - a discussion Kingston’s staff thought would draw only 50 or 60.

Kingston heard worries over the effect of the bill on businesses, lack of health care choice, and the degraded quality of coverage. Kingston himself said there was too much big government and too much cost in a universal plan.

Via The Campaign Spot.  The aforementioned health care rationing supporters - which is to say, “Democrats” - should be worried for two reasons.  First off, it helps put the lie to the Democrats’ sad allegations that the other side is also faking up grassroots support.  Jack Kingston won his R+16 district by a comfortable margin last year; GA-01 is about the last place you’d choose for astroturfing GOP support for something.  Secondly - and more importantly - stories like this indicate that the Republican rank-and-file has gotten a taste for showing up for events like these.  Which is great… for the GOP, because we don’t have to spend many resources at the moment to get them there and keep them there.  Not so great news for the Democratic party, which will have to have its union contingent spend even more resources to match what we’re doing now.  Which means that anybody from a GOP district should go to their town hall meetings, too.  Not that you should forget your cameras.

Just in case.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

I introduced Max Wood to Liz Cheney at the RedState Gathering this weekend. Max is a real American hero. Appointed by President Bush as the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Max packed his bags and left behind his office and family to volunteer in Iraq with the Department of Justice. He helped the Iraqis set up their judicial system. From a press release, “His responsibilities in Iraq included overseeing the efforts of over 400 Department of Justice employees and contractors working in the region at that time, serving as the United States Ambassador’s Liaison to the Iraq Judiciary, and heading up the joint U.S./Iraqi Major Crimes Task Force.”

Max has decided to run for Georgia Attorney General. He is a super nice guy and a terrific neighbor. I wholeheartedly support him.

By the way, Max is the guy who prosecuted Malachi York of the Nuwabian Cult. I remember that prosecution. We had the safest street in the city given all the death threats he was getting.

Max is an outstanding patriot.

Stu Rothenberg, a paragon of Inside the Beltway Conventional Wisdom, really screwed up some very basic facts in his story on Georgia.

First of all, in a Republican primary where the clear front runner in the most recent polling is the Insurance Commissioner, John Oxendine, Rothenberg calls Ox and the President Pro Tempore of the Georgia Senate, Eric Johnson, “long shots.”

Who does Stu think is the front runner? Why the Congressman, of course. Only in Washington, D.C. would a Beltway Pundit survey the landscape in Georgia and conclude that the guy who lives closest to him is the guy most likely to win.

But more egregious, Stu uses Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s opponents’ talking points to dismiss her. When he finds out the talking points aren’t true, he does not correct them.

This passes for credible political journalism in Washington.

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John Barrow (D-GA) is in one of those swing districts that in 2010 will be very vulnerable. Barrow, for years, has had trouble balancing his liberal tendencies with his more conservative district. Thus far he has done it successfully. But it has gotten harder and harder to the point where he can’t make up his mind what he regrets.

You will probably recall that the Obama Department of Justice has decided not to pre-clear Georgia’s verification process for voting. Under the process, Georgia’s Secretary of State cross referenced voter registration information to drivers license and social security data to make sure what a person claimed was verifiable to ensure only citizens voted in Georgia.

When Georgia ran the test, which the Department of Justice helped design, 2,100 people were called into question for legitimate reason. Undeterred, the DOJ is now saying the verification discriminates against minorities — even though there was no way to tell from the process or reports it generate what the race of any person is.

Georgia’s Secretary of State is asking people to lend their voice via petition to let the DOJ know we should be allowed to stop non-citizens from voting.

Go here and sign the petition. Let your voice be heard.

Last year, two federal courts ordered the State of Georgia to implement a system to verify the citizenship of registered voters. This arose after Karen Handel, Georgia’s Secretary of State, sent letters to 4,771 voter registration applicants whose records at the Georgia Department of Driver Services indicated they were not U.S. citizens.

Federal law requires the Secretary of State to make sure the information is accurate. Nonetheless, several groups filed a lawsuit over the letters, but two separate federal courts ordered the Secretary of State to continue verifying citizenship. The procedure the Secretary of State established was put together with the help of the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the November General Election, 230 voters had their ballots rejected because there was no proof they were U.S. citizens.

Here’s where it gets tricky.

Though the U.S. Department of Justice helped craft the verification procedure, the procedure had to be pre-cleared by the DOJ pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

As the pre-clearance review was going forward, the Presidential administrations changed. And now Barack Obama has denied pre-clearance. In other words, if the Georgia Secretary of State wishes to make sure people voting are citizens of the United States, she is going to have to sue the federal government.

Georgia’s Inspector General is presently investigation 30 different cases of non-citizens casting ballots in 2008’s federal elections in Georgia.

The verification process has raised flags on the attempts of 2,100 different people trying to register to vote in Georgia.

Secretary of State Karen Handel, in a statement released by her office, noted:

“DOJ has thrown open the door for activist organizations such as ACORN to register non-citizens to vote in Georgia’s elections, and the state has no ability to verify an applicant’s citizenship status or whether the individual even exists. DOJ completely disregarded Georgia’s obvious and direct interest in preventing non-citizens from voting, instead siding with the ACLU and MALDEF. Clearly, politics took priority over common sense and good public policy.”

Secretary Handel will talk about this and related matters at RedState’s August 1st gathering in Atlanta.

I prepared amendments naming each of them as honorary members of Macon, Georgia’s City Council, on which I sit.

The amendments were filed in response to a resolution naming Barack Obama an honorary member of Macon’s City Council.

Sadly, the amendments died when I dropped all 101 of them on the Ordinances and Resolutions Committee. Fortunately, they had the intended effect of killing off the Obama resolution too.

More here: http://tinyurl.com/d5dggg

Consider this an overnight open thread.

Promoted from diaries by Mark Impomeni.

From this story in The Northeast Georgian newspaper on April 16, we learn about another Tea Party that crossed swords with local government. Indeed, Habersham County government took issue with the 75 patriots upset over the growth of government…by telling them they had no right to use government property.

The first relocation, off [Habersham County] courthouse grounds, came at the instruction of Habersham County Commission Chairman Gerald Dunham through County Manager Janeann Allison.

Contacted Thursday, Dunham said, “We’ve asked our attorneys to develop an ordinance or a use policy. The situation yesterday was such that they didn’t ask us for permission. In fact, we didn’t know that it was going to happen.”

What is curious is that, as Gerald Dunham even points out, there was no ordinance to prohibit the peaceable assembly of citizens on government property and, point in fact, only after the Tea Party assembled did someone decide they had to leave immediately (even though event organizers were told by courthouse security officials almost two weeks before the event there was no permit required to assemble on the grounds).

“Obviously we defer to our attorneys on that issue, and basically we’re following their advice,” Dunham said. “We didn’t want to take a chance on not adhering to their advice and it having possible legal ramifications for the county.”

Right. Well, the problem is that County Manager Janeann Allison can’t explain what law was being enforced when they kicked people off government property, either.

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Update by Jeff: Perhaps this comment will shine a bit more light on the import of this issue.

WHO SHOULD HAVE CONTROL over your medical care: your family doctor, or a bureaucrat you’ve never met whose sole job is to look out for the government’s financial bottom-line?

That question, which is the subject of today’s AOL Hot Seat poll, is being debated in court right now, as three states are currently seeking a ruling from a federal judge that the final say in an individual’s medical treatment lies with the government, not with that patient’s doctor.

In March, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama joined in an appeal of a 2008 U.S. District Court ruling that a patient’s physician was better positioned – and better qualified – to make decisions about that patient’s medical treatment than state bureaucrats.

The case centers on Callie Moore, a disabled teenage girl living in Georgia. A stroke Callie suffered in utero left her suffering from multiple conditions, including cerebral palsy and mental retardation. For the last decade, she has received around-the-clock in-home nursing care for her medical conditions.

IN 2007, THOUGH, the state of Georgia cut coverage of Callie’s in-home care by 15%, from 94 hours a week to 84 over the objections of her attending physician, who was intimately familiar with her case and her needs. State officials (who were not medical professionals) cited disagreement with the attending physician about just how much care Callie needed as the primary reason for this reduction in care.

Callie’s mother filed suit in 2007, arguing that the state had no right to contradict the orders of her personal physician and limit her treatment. However, because Callie receives her medical treatment under Medicaid, the joint federal-state administered health coverage program for low-income individuals and families, Georgia officials argued that Callie’s care was subject to rationing, as state bureaucrats’ need to ensure Medicaid resources were allocated “fairly” superseded her doctor’s care prescription or her personal medical needs.

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Out of Georgia comes a heart warmer about the Boy Scouts for a change. Instead of radical gays attacking this noble organization, instead of extremist left-wing politicians trying to make a name for themselves by attacking one of America’s finest youth organizations, we have a story that makes you smile. And you can bet it won’t make national news.

Rodrigo and Rosa Cano moved to the United States in 1980. A decade or so later Rosa gave birth to David who the proud parents enrolled in a local Boy Scouts troop when he reached his tenth year. They hoped that young David could further help them assimilate in their new home as young David brought home his Scouting experiences.

Young David set a goal for himself as a Scout: to win every merit badge and every Eagle Palm award that the Boy Scouts offered. And, finally at age 17, David became only the third Boy Scout ever to win all 121 Boy Scout merit badges. Cano earned all 20 Eagle Palms, as well.

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Atlanta thought it had a great idea. Instead of its citizens being accosted by bums and panhandlers in the street, the idea was to set up parking meter-like machines for people’s donations instead of handing the money straight to the bums. Then, the money collected from Atlanta’s well-meaning citizens would be used to enlarge government programs for the homeless.

After six months the donation meters have only netted $500, a sum that won’t go too far especially in the over priced world of government programs. In fact, the machines themselves cost far more than that. So, the meters are pretty much a bust. In that case one might think that the Atlanta city council would quietly shelve the idea as one born of that good ol’ college try, but a failed one nonetheless.

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April 15th was going to see a big tea party in front of Georgia’ Gold Dome, but it just got bigger.

Tonight on Fox News, Sean Hannity intends to announce that he’ll be live from Atlanta that evening covering the Atlanta Tea Party in front of Georgia’s State Capitol Building.

He’s asked me to be there with him. I’m looking forward to it.

If you’re interested, be at the steps of the Capitol in Atlanta by 6pm on April 15, 2009. We will make sure the nation hears that we’re sick and tired of out of control government, both from the Democrats and the Republicans.

Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) took to the floor of the United States Senate and extolled the virtues of the “Serve America Act,” which many on the right view as a compulsory service bill. Among the objections are that

the legislation will, in many circumstances, force our children to participate in charitable activity as part of school – and that activity may well be chosen by or approved by a bureaucrat. The bill causes a federally chartered, Washington-based institution to, essentially, pick priorities and winners and losers in the charitable universe – undoubtedly putting many charities at a significant disadvantage.

Isakson speaking out on this is going to royally hack off the Republican base in Georgia, perhaps even more so than Saxby did. This is a “hill to die on” piece of legislation for many conservatives and libertarians.

Already radio host Mark Levin is on offense against Isakson. It’s only a matter of time before Limbaugh, Hannity, and local radio hosts in Georgia go after him.

Isakson has been a part of every unpopular compromise with the Democrats in the past few years — from immigration to energy. Being on the ballot in 2010, you’d think he would have learned from Saxby Chambliss’s mistakes.

Isakson has just become more beatable. Now the Democrats just need to find a credible challenger.

Candidate Barack Obama promised the American people more transparency in their government. In fact, BarackObama.com still posts his pledge that, “As President, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”

However, the President signed the trillion dollar stimulus bill into law without adequate congressional or public scrutiny. You’d think $1 trillion would buy you time and a better debate — particularly considering that the heavy price tag will be paid for by future generations who do not have a voice in the discussion. Are liberals so fiscally jaded that that the “T” in trillion no longer sounds alarms?

Today, President Obama has the opportunity for redemption by keeping another promise to the American people: veto bills containing earmarks. In Oxford, Mississippi, then Candidate Obama said, “Absolutely we need earmark reform. And when I’m President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” I urge President Obama to keep his promise to reduce wasteful pet projects by vetoing the massive spending bill, loaded with nearly 8,000 earmarks, that the House passed and the Senate is considering. Following this Administration’s failure to keep their promise of transparency during consideration of the stimulus, it is critical for the President to keep his word on earmarks and veto this pork-plagued bill.

Now is the time for the policies of this Administration to reflect, or at least resemble, their rhetoric. We all must work together with the President to deliver immediate relief for families and put America on a path towards economic recovery. However, I am troubled that promises made are not being kept. While I want to work together for solutions, I’m going to sound the alarm on provisions that move America towards socialism and burden hardworking families.

There’s a Reuters story that popped up this morning that’s rather alarming.

Georgia is appealing for help in discouraging Russia from what appears to be a military build-up in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

As I’ve opined before, the Russians are in a big hurry for their own reasons, and they long ago figured out that President Obama is a weak leader who can be rolled.

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