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How to Stop Teabagging Hooligans: Call 'Em Out

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Virginia's Congressional delegation is home for the August recess, with several members holding town hall meetings on the push for national health insurance reform. Rep. Tom Perriello has an exhaustive schedule of meetings across his district, with Rep. Jim Moran and Rep. Glenn Nye also planning events. (Bobby Scott and Gerry Connolly don't have events listed on their websites; Rick Boucher stupefyingly voted against health insurance reform in committee despite overwhelming need in his district).

Democrats in these districts need to come out to show their support for President Obama's push for health insurance reform. But the members themselves need to be ready for the bizarre bands of Tea Baggers that have been invading events across the country.

Don Briggs writes on DailyKos about his successful efforts to defuse the Tea Baggers at a recent town hall meeting in Indiana. He called their bluff in front of the crowd, providing this rough transcription of his opening remarks:
Meetings like this one continue a democratic tradition more than 2500 years old, that of the ancient Greek "Ecclesia." The term means "those called out"—called out to discuss and decide civic matters, and to defend their ancient Greek city-states, to defend their democracy. And you all were called out by notices in the local papers, radio stations, by e-mail and internet, to discuss Health Care Reform and Clean Energy with our Representative tonight.

So know this: efforts to disrupt and thwart public discourse on civic matters are profoundly anti-democratic. But, that's an obstacle we face tonight. It's public knowledge that groups known as Tea Baggers intend to disrupt and thwart the public discourse on Health Care Reform in meetings like this during this month's Congressional Recess. They want Democracy to fail. So, let's face this obstacle together.

The Tea Baggers' instructions are also public knowledge. If some people stand up, shout out and sit down; if some try to rattle us and the Congressman; if some pretend numeric superiority; if some try to stifle intelligent debate; then we can compare that behavior to the Tea Baggers' instructions and draw our own conclusions.
Tea Baggers, like school bullies, have been relying on surprise and intimidation. Time to tell them we know their plan and we won't be intimidated.