Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Wow, what the hell is wrong with these folks?

Posted by: Ramel | August 21, 2009 9:28 AM

She said "you ought to be the most against president obama"

Posted by: Ramel | August 21, 2009 9:36 AM

Jesus fucking Christ.

Posted by: Dave Blake | August 21, 2009 10:03 AM

Once again, the burning stupid is too much for me.

Posted by: Orac | August 21, 2009 10:08 AM

I wish the clip were slightly longer. At the very end, the woman appears to mock the man from Israel as a crybaby when he says that, being without health insurance, he was personally charged $8000 for two hours in an emergency room.

Perhaps she has lots of money or she has insurance or she believes she'll never need medical care, but it's still painful to see that she seems utterly indifferent to the burden on a person without health insurance.

Posted by: JuliaL | August 21, 2009 10:27 AM

I object to your wording, Ed: Saying "To show you just how utterly insane and pathetic these townhall protesters have gotten" implies that they were at some point less utterly insane and pathetic, whereas they clearly have been right from the start. These people are clueless dupes of highly paid marketing professionals and their astroturf organizations, some of whom - see Dick Armey and "Freedom Works" - were formerly highly paid corporate lackeys as members of Congress.

And yes, I said "highly paid corporate lackeys." Direct bribery is hardly required when elected officials can be rewarded for their votes with huge campaign donations, extensive and expensive shmoozing by lobbyists, and the promise of lucrative careers when they leave elected office. Our country is broken.

Posted by: G Felis | August 21, 2009 10:44 AM

Alright, can we just stop having these stupid town halls? They're a national embarrassment.

Only because certain impressively stupid people are making them so. In general, they're a good way for we mere mortals to get a reasonably direct line to elected officials. Obama's Montana town hall was a good example of that.

Posted by: schism | August 21, 2009 11:04 AM

There is a longer version - after the man finishes talking to the interviewer, he argues a bit with the woman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHsUi2Hu4Ug&eurl=http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/08/israel_is_just_like_hitler.php&feature=player_embedded#t=344

Posted by: Mark Marijnissen | August 21, 2009 11:25 AM

Reminds me of Orly Taitz accusing that Shuster guy of being a "brownshirt" on the air. He didn't take to it too well.

Is this symptomatic of endemic Holocaust denialism, or indicative of terminal invasive stupidity?

Posted by: wheatdogg | August 21, 2009 11:47 AM

Is the woman really doing mock-crying in response to him saying he had to pay $8000?!? Dude... somebody needs to take away everything this woman owns, throw her out on the street, and then when she complains, just go "Waaa waa, poor baby".

I really shouldn't have watched this clip. I struggle not to slip into misanthropy, and shit like this does not help.

Posted by: James Sweet | August 21, 2009 12:23 PM

It's fascinating how much the woman goes on and on about her own dire health care situation, claiming $15,000 in out-of-pocket expenses and a husband with no coverage. And yet all she can see is money being taken away from her to give to illegal immigrants and abortionists; it's just beyond her comprehension that she would be one of the very people who most stands to benefit from health care reform.

Posted by: Scott Hanley | August 21, 2009 1:27 PM

@Spidergrackle: No, I don't think it's staged, especially with the follow-up interview (what I posted @10). She seems to be - to use the newly coined term from a few days ago - kettle-blind.

Posted by: Umlud | August 21, 2009 2:17 PM

Sooo..

Anyone care to speculate on what will happen when the Republicans fail to "take back America" in 2010, which will almost certainly happen as long as they keep the crazy turned up to 11? I think the hyperbole and hystrionics will be unlike anything we've seen at even the most absurd "town hall" meeting.

Posted by: Disciple of | August 21, 2009 2:23 PM

Kristine, kindly unwad your underoos. I merely made an observation that it's a bit odd that someone shouting anti-Semitic crap isn't often seen wearing clothing advertising the Israeli armed forces. If merely mentioning that is enough to drive you into fits of apoplexy, maybe you need to get away from the keyboard and have a breath of fresh air.

And do you honestly believe that no one is capable of orchestrating an angry confrontation for the media's benefit? Have you not been paying attention to the organization of these so-called "grass roots" protests? (Big hint: Google 'Americans for Prosperity') Turn the salivary glands off and the brain back on.

@Ulmud. Fair enough. It just seemed odd.

Posted by: Spidergrackle | August 21, 2009 2:47 PM

Aagh. And "odd that someone" s/b "odd. Someone" etc.

TGIF.

Posted by: Spidergrackle | August 21, 2009 2:52 PM

Is this symptomatic of endemic Holocaust denialism, or indicative of terminal invasive stupidity?

Yes.

Posted by: Azkyroth | August 21, 2009 3:43 PM

Here's the problem with universal coverage or some other expansion of government coverage of healthcare in the US. While proponents point to other countries that have universal coverage or some variant of government supported health care that works for the most part, these countries are usually pretty small relative to the US (except for Japan) and none of them are massively involved in 2 wars with a sprawling military empire and military contractors that suck almost a trillion dollars a year from the treasury, piling up debt year after year.

I wonder why the hell we are even talking about universal health care and rearranging 1/6 of the economy of the US while we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well, since the health care "debate" really kicked up a few months ago, not too many people are out there talking about war, torture, and spying on citizens.

Why don't we roll back the Bush policies first, then we can start enslaving people into the Nazi eugenics system, huh?

Posted by: Juice | August 21, 2009 4:21 PM

I wonder what Marshall MacCluhan would make of this? Clearly propaganda works on a certain (large) segment of the population in the same way that eletronic signals work on robots. We've had 50 or so years of relentless pro-libertarian capitalist/"Objectivist" social darwinist obedience training that people will wet themselves when the boss tells them too and stand in the puddle with a slack jawed vacant smile. They'll also yell Heil Hitler to an old Jew without having any clue at all what that means. And Obama's another Clinton.

Posted by: Sekhmet | August 21, 2009 5:04 PM

Another irony (found in the extended version of the confrontation) is that next to the woman wearing the IDF shirt yelling "Heil Hitler!" to a man who actually served in the IDF is another man (are they together? is he her unemployed husband?) with crossed arms who keeps repeating "That's communism" every time the Israeli advocates some sort of mandatory national service. Uh, what the hell does he think the IDF is?

Posted by: jpf | August 21, 2009 8:07 PM

Just looked at Umlud's link.

Keee-rist!

Her husband doesn't have health insurance, which proves that it is not a right, so she doesn't want the government involved. Obama needs to be removed from office because "those people" have been there so long they don't represent the people any more.

But she's a X-ian so everything's Biblical and if you don't agree with her you're both a Nazi and an Socialist.

And they let these fucktards vote?

Posted by: BaldApe | August 21, 2009 11:05 PM

Really interesting detail: the woman has an "Isreal Defense Force" T-shirt (that's the logo of the Isreal Army on her T-Shirt), but she's wearing crucifix earings.

Pretty safe bet that this woman got up in the morning and dressed herself for standing in front of a TV camera.

Posted by: Ed ROwland | August 22, 2009 12:56 AM

Demo - I would have thought they'd be extremely limber, what with spending so much of their time HUA*! :) - DJ

Posted by: DingoJack | August 22, 2009 6:19 AM

Anyone care to speculate on what will happen when the Republicans fail to "take back America" in 2010, which will almost certainly happen as long as they keep the crazy turned up to 11?

Are you kidding? They're prevailing with this stuff! The crazier they get, the more Obama's approval ratings drop.

Obama and the Democrats are caving to these people, and I foresee significant Republican gains in 2010.

Posted by: peter | August 22, 2009 8:58 AM

I think Peter extends his point too far, but he has a point.

The Democrats lack of courage to lead and stay on course due to mere craziness does risk their electoral chances in 2010. It's not the craziness that's bring down their poll numbers however like he infers, but I think the Democrats not fighting back but instead appeasing the loons.

Ezra Klein anticipates we're overstating the current situation. He argues that Obama will step in and really lead when it really matters, when the House/Senate bills are in reconciliation conferences/committees. We'll see, right now Peter's right that his approval ratings are going down, but I'd add the nuance it's because of the lack of leadership relative to the crazy talk, not the crazy talk on its own. A prime example is the Senate Finance Committee health insurance bill dropping the advance directive counsel funding (the so-called 'death panels'), that's going to cause even some liberals to not approve of the President which will bring down his approval ratings.

If advance directives and the public option is in the final Senate bill, than we'll know they're capable of leading, currently I'm skeptical.

Posted by: Michael Heath | August 22, 2009 11:02 AM

Yeah but the NHS killed Stephan Hawking!!!!!

Posted by: Ramel | August 22, 2009 7:31 PM

I saw the video. I respect his power of will; I would have punched the woman in the face when she did that cry-baby stuff.

Posted by: Christian A. | August 24, 2009 3:54 AM