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Ben Pershing is out this week. Morning Fix is cross-posted from The Fix, by Chris Cillizza.
Morning Fix: Arlen Specter and What Lebanon Meant
The back and forth between Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter and several attendees of a town hall in Lebanon, Pa. earlier this week may well become the lasting political symbol of the summer of 2009: a politician and a constituent standing inches away from one another as they angrily debate the merits (or lack thereof) of President Obama's health care reform plan.
The exchange between Specter and one man -- captured on film and broadcast relentlessly throughout the day on cable television -- culminated with the incumbent senator asking whether the man would like to leave the meeting and the man responding: "One day God's going to stand before you, and he's going to judge you and the rest of your damned cronies up on the Hill" to applause from some in the crowd.
Close observers of Pennsylvania politics agreed that the showdown in Lebanon marked a turning point in what to date has been a rocky period for Specter who switched from the Republican to the Democratic party earlier this spring in advance of his bid for a sixth term in 2010.
Read more at The Fix.
By
washingtonpost.com editors
|
August 13, 2009; 8:09 AM ET
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Posted by: swhite3 | August 13, 2009 6:13 PM
It is arguable that Obama has unconstitutionally appointed his 31 Czars. He certainly has avoided congressional approval of them.
But, you are missing the whole point of the protests at town meetings. Many just want the government to leave them the hell alone!
Many don't want ANY socialist programs.
Count me in on that.
Posted by: jack29 | August 13, 2009 11:43 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
The man who stood next to Spector and shouted at him was interviewed on MSNBC later. Asked what he believed was violating the Constitution, Mr. Miller said that "President Obama had appointed 31 czars". The man apparently thinks Russian Czars are being appointed in this country. Mr. Miller was simply pathetic. It is too bad that your article did not include the idiotic and crazy claims he was making.