Progress Illinois

Josh: How do you know those were conservatives booing?

FYI: Your video is marked as private.

The vid is public now. Working with new software that uploads them as private for some reason. My bad.

As for the "conservative" label, it's common knowledge that Ted Kennedy was derided by much of the conservative base. It seems a safe assumption that many of those who felt it was appropriate to boo him come out of that base.

I agree, how do you know it was a "conservative?" Almost all of my Democrat friends who are 100% Obama supporters do not support having the government take over health insurance by offering a "public option." Unfortunately, this back and forth partisan crap will preclude getting any sort of
health insurance reforms done any time soon. We could for sure get tort reforms, lifting of state mandates, tax credits for low income and laid off people who need insurance, eliminate pre existing condition restrictions, the list of what both sides already agree on it huge....yet some keep hammering that we have to have a "public option" while Medicare is poised to go bankrupt in 6 years.... let's get moving and get some meaningful reforms!

And, I don't care who booed Teddy Kennedy, that's pure lack of humanity and class.

Um, Anonymous, Kalven doesn't say "conservatives" booed Teddy Kennedy's name; he says "a good number of those in attendance." Read the piece again. Carefully this time.

I was there, and yes, Teddy's name was booed. Pretty nasty stuff.

You can read Marathon Pundit who was also at this event. He says the press area was booing and telling questioners to shut up if they didn't like the question.

I don't mind some slanted coverage. I like it when it's good. It's just the assumptions in the slant where the boat starts to sink.

Can't you just write "when Schakowsky mentioned Senator Kennedy a large number of people in attendance started to boo"? This conveys a fact without trying to attach an identity. You could even attach the conservative label simply by asking if the person that was booing was indeed a conservative.

Most of the conservative 'hit squad' base are simply cowards. If any one of them was sitting alone in a single chair you wouldn't hear a peep out of him. It is only because he is hidden by the crowd that he 'Boos.' Anonymity hides cowardice very well. Also it fits into the Gang mentality, i.e. nobody could identify one of the Boo-ers because he's lost in the crowd. "It wasn't me, it was that guy!"

"Almost all of my Democrat friends who are 100% Obama supporters do not support having the government take over health insurance by offering a "public option.""

Really? 100% Obama supporters who just happen to not support one of the major cornerstones of his campaign. Right. Nice try. I'm to believe you have a bridge as well?

Gotta give her credit .... Dick MIA Durbin is sitting this out......But sorry Jan and those who worshipped at the altar of Ted,, Outside of elitist extreme liberalism, he wasn't all that popular.

Marathon Pundit here. Actually, it was the people, likely first in line, next to the press area who were catcalling "the cons."

Hey, I heard about you on Milt Rosenberg's show Friday nite. Good job.

To hell with these people. Medicare for all! Now!

Important Questions:
Booing the name of Ted Kennedy? What has happened to respect? Has the radical right terrorist wing co-opted the Republican Party? Can we survive as a nation if we can't even disagree without the name-calling, shouting, and ugly demonstrations against our elected representatives?

The political air is a tinder box ready to be ignited by violence against those who disagree with others. Those who spread the lies and hate against others will be held responsible if and when violence occurs; and I fear it could happen at any moment.

I was there.
It was a bit depressing watching the Obama lemmings scream for socialism.
Reminded me - sadly - of the members of Orwell's INGSOC holding a 'hate week' session.
It was inspiring & encouraging to watch the American grassroots resistance stand up and say 'no' to the dismantling of the country.
I hope fervently in the days ahead that the general public continues awakening and puts an end to the Obama-Pelosi-Schakowsky socialist agenda.

Remember , this is the home of Hilary , Ted stabbed her in the back last year, Also , the extremists liberals ( progressives) really are in the minority here....remember 1980 when Ted was in Chicago and hung in effigy?.... The booing was not just those evil racist conservatives

Susan Mayer: Progress Illinois has now edited the original post. The word "conservative" was in the original.

There is no correction noted right now.

The editors should be able to explain.

Regarding Teddy Kennedy : maybe a few folks in the crowd were just remembering the End-Of-Life Counseling that Great Democratic Party Icon provided to poor, overlooked Mary Jo Kopechne.

Well the PI YouTube video is still titled "Conservatives Boo" so go with that.

I'm sure the PI editors will still post a notice that they changed the original words in the post.

Josh: This isn't the right way.

The mass majority of protesters at these town hall meetings are Republicans who wouldn't vote Democratic to begin with. The only reason they come is to help the Insurance industry who arrange for them to show up and disrupt the meetings and help the Republicans kill health care. It doesn't matter what the topic would be, these Republican shills would be against it, don't forget their the Party of NO. All this will back fire on the Republicans because it is a very small minority of voters and of this 98% are Republican who are making all the fuss, most people want health reform and a public option.

The one factor, which both Obama and Members of Congress, manages to avert is the massive fraud-waste-abuse syndrome facilitated by a private sector healthcare non-system. People complain about their taxes and the potential for increases. Nothing escalates their healthcare costs more than the unnecessary diagnostics, clinically inconsequential treatments, and fraud, which occurs and will proliferate if the insurance industry and other industry players remain in control healthcare.

I will leave it up to Josh to disclose the original words he used. He's an honest guy.

They knew what they were doing when they used the word Conservative... It was to rile up the foaming brownshirting libs... It gets picked up by HuffPost ( the Pravda of internet sites ) and Daily Kos , and AirAmerika to enrage the sheeple

Actually, I found most of the 'pro' folks to be the bussed-in Acorn types.
I, myself, am an independent -actually voted for Obama, but like many others, am not recoiling from my choice.
It appears the 'disaffected' ones are NOT a 'small minority' - and the 2010 election cycle will be one of those "back-up-the-truck" ones.

Oh for crying out loud, of course it was conservatives! Please stop with this stupidity. Conservatives hated him, progressives loved him, end of story.

The public option is absolutely necessary to bring insurance costs down. Those arguing that we'd be adding to the funding problem that Medicare is going through haven't thought things through. The majority of health care dollars go to care for the elderly (the only segment of the population that Medicare covers). If millions of people of all ages were to buy into a public insurance option, the risk pool would be greatly expanded, with younger, healthier people putting more money into the system and taking out less. A public option can SAVE Medicare.

And for those still screaming about "socialism", claiming that a public option will force private insurers out of the market, please get a grip. Even the conservative-leaning Congressional Budget Office estimates that only about 12 million people would purchase public health insurance. That would not even come close to putting private insurers out of business, but it's enough people to create some leverage to get private insurers to bring down their rates by cutting waste. It's called COMPETITION. And unless you make a million dollars a year or more, your taxes do not have a chance of going up to pay for any of this, so please calm down.

And by the way, if you average out recent polls (which all pose the question in a myriad of ways), you'll see that the majority of Americans want a public insurance option. The polls that accurately describe the public option that is being crafted in Congress right now show even higher percentages of support.

@ Rich Heitz replying to Seve Hanson

"Almost all of my Democrat friends who are 100% Obama supporters do not support having the government take over health insurance by offering a "public option.""

Really? 100% Obama supporters who just happen to not support one of the major cornerstones of his campaign. Right. Nice try. I'm to believe you have a bridge as well?

+++

Yep. Seve Hanson is making stuff up. I also wonder if his "Democrat (sic) friends who are 100% Obama supporters" punch him in the throat when he refers to them in that childish Republican way. I know I would but I don't have too many friends who are childish Republicans..

From Rasmussen :
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey show that 43% of voters nationwide favor the plan working its way through Congress while 53% are opposed.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11 .

Nuff said!

PS : It looks like Zogby is now also part of that 'evil right-wing conspiracy'!

Zogby Interactive: Loss of Democrats' Support Helps Bring Obama Job Approval Down to 42%

Several Core Constituencies Souring on Obama
UTICA, New York - President Barack Obama's job approval rating is down to 42%, with a decline in approval from Democrats the leading factor.

The hypocrisy of liberals knows no depths. You trot out the bloody shirt of yet another dead Kennedy in hopes that it will sway public opinion an are shocked, SHOCKED, that people are tired or this crap.

Kennedy, my senator for virtually all of my life, was a bloated, alcohol swilling, misogynistic hyper-partisan who had no problem ruining the lives of his political enemies with blatant lies while he used high priced lawyers to bail his ass and those of his family out of murder and rape of women who were unfortunate enough to cross their path. A man who was as staunchly pro-life as his uber-Catholic family until it became politically convenient for him to throw away what ever moral pretense he had to become one of the most pro-abortion politicians in the land.

If you want to wail over this disaster of a human being then have at it. But don't wag your finger at those of us who actually know his record and hold him accountable for it when you try to play the morality card. He's dead and that's a shame for his family. To try and use it for political gain is despicable and typical of liberals.

"a good number of those in attendance felt it necessary to boo at the mention of his commitment to expanding health care access."

I resent that remark and must protest.

I wasn't booing his commitment to anything.

I was booing him as a person.

"Less than a week after the Massachusetts senator passed away and two days after his funeral, a good number of those in attendance felt it necessary to boo at the mention of his commitment to expanding health care access."

::shrug::

Remember Tony Snow, and comments after his death... which were about him, and not attempts to make his death useful?

Booing Schakowsky's attempt to exploit Kennedy's death is nothing compared to that.

I'm sure all you left wing terrorists/fascists would get up and cheer if someone brought up Ronald Reagan. The hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty on the left is truly stunning!

The conservatives are afraid of Teddy, dead or alive.
I am sure that he would consider any boos coming the birther/deather crowd to be a compliment

My 72-year-old mother today is listening to some talking head or another laud Kennedy, and she thinks about it for a few minutes and then says: “You know, it’s pretty darn easy to dedicate your life to ‘the poor’ when you’re born wealthy, never have to work a day in your life, never have to worry about paying a bill, making a mortgage, sending your kid to college. What the hell else are you going to do with your life? Where was his sacrifice? What price did he pay for all these supposed good works except a thousand pats on the back? And when he helped the poor, he did it with my money! His life was essentially a testament to himself and his own greatness, and he did it on someone else’s dime.”
Wish I had said this - I believe it sums up nicely the way many conservatives feel about Ted Kennedy.

>>The conservatives are afraid of Teddy, dead or alive.
I am sure that he would consider any boos coming the birther/deather crowd to be a compliment

Yea, we're terrified.

Every time liberalism rears it's ugly head in this country, always when conservatives in power lose their way and get punished for it, liberals think the country is longing for their intoxicating mixture of economic insanity, totalitarian rule and a healthy, heaping dose of stupid.

Carter was a true believer. He lasted one term until the country was done with his insanity. BJ Clinton was smart enough to denounce the left and govern as a center right. Obama's unprecedented plummeting in the polls, all polls, ought to be a lesson to him. But I'm betting on him doubling down on stupid and staying true to his roots and going even further to the left. One term.

Liberalism isn't a political philosophy, it's a sign of ignorance.

maybe they were booing Schakowsky for shamelessly using Kennedy's recent death to further her political agenda. But then again I'm sure Kennedy gave them the ok to do so before passing. This toothless healthcare reform is worthless without a true government run public option. The legacy Kennedy leaves is one of programs that appear to be liberal and progressive, but lack any substance, or in fact, as in the case of NCLB, actually do damage to the children it was supposed to help. Either way, your admonition to stay classy could just as easily be addressed to Schakowsky, or even Kennedy himself.

Ted Kennedy is a perfect example of the stupidity of the Left. He tried to foist this disaster on America for over 4 freaking decades. How many times does the American public have to tell you nimrod communists: "NO BUT HELL NO.".

Damn dealing with this nonsense is worse than being STALKED by an insane ex-girlfriends.

NO, MEANS NO!!!!!!

Something the Kennedy's obviously had a very hard time accepting from dates and American citizens.

Again :
Regarding Teddy Kennedy : maybe a few folks in the crowd were just remembering the End-Of-Life Counseling that Great Democratic Party Icon provided to poor, overlooked Mary Jo Kopechne.

But a NEW DAY looms!

From Rasmussen :
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey show that 43% of voters nationwide favor the plan working its way through Congress while 53% are opposed.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11 .

Zogby Interactive: Loss of Democrats' Support Helps Bring Obama Job Approval Down to 42%

Maybe it was Mary Jo Kopechne booing from beyond the grave. Isn't that was ghosts say? Boo?

It's a shame she couldn't have been there to boo in person.

You wonder why we conservatives were booing Ted? I wasn't there, but here are two possible reasons:

1. Maybe they were booing the idea of using ANY politician's corpse as a prop to ram through a tyrannical pile of crap that will bankrupt the country and screw up health care for the 95% of us that have coverage. If she had said "Harry Truman made this his life's work" maybe they would have booed that, too...and conservatives like Truman. Maybe they were in the mood to boo pretty much anything Schakowsky said because she's lied her butt off about this issue and advocated destroying a whole industry so she can get single payer health care.

2. Three words: Mary Jo Kopechne. Two more words: Waitress sandwich.

Oh...and then there's this:

http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/55719277.html?blog=y

I do agree for God sake it is common knowledge that progressives supported Kennedy, and conservatives don't! But my question is why is granny so against what she so freely enjoys. We should drop granny from medicare if she is so against socialized medicine. To hell with these people!

Ted Kennedy deserves to be ridiculed and dismissed - I'm proud of those Americans who scream in outrage at the canonization of the murdering cad by the left. About Mary Jo Kopechne:

"When Kennedy drove off the Dyke Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, his car landed upside down in 7 feet of water. Some ten hours later, when he had contrived a statement of the occurrence, the senator, who had been partying with the young woman and volunteered to drive her home, said he had been able to swim free of the vehicle, but wasn't able to save his passenger. Evidently, he also wasn't able to summon help from those who might have been able to save her life. In fact, he didn't even report the accident until conferring with friends and aides who assisted him with his statement.

During that time, which records indicate took about ten hours, Ms. Kopechne remained in the water. Two amateur fishermen, who came across the overturned car about 8 am, the following morning, called authorities, who immediately sent a diver to investigate. During testimony at the subsequent inquest,the diver said the woman's body was huddled into a spot where an air bubble must have formed. His interpretation was that she had survived in that bubble "for at least two hours down there." Furthermore, he concluded that, had he received a call soon after the accident, "there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car."

And Teddy never apologized to her parents. Never.

Liberal hero? You betcha.

Shane,

Quit pretending to give a rip about Mary Jo Kopechne--you don't. Rather you are exploiting her to make political cheap shots at Ted Kennedy. You sad, pathetic person. Ted Kennedy did more to support women in just about every aspect of American life--sports, workplace, health than anyone else. You don't really know anything about Ted Kennedy, which is why you gleefully bring up Kopechne. Shame on you.

After a respectful week of slience: BOOOOO!

Kennedy deserves to be booed now and forever more.

Not to speak ill of the dead, but this adoration of the man who was really not a nice person is going too far. The media is making it sound like he was a saint. FAR FROM IT...... Trace his life and you will see the bad and all the coverups far exceeds any good he MIGHT have done....... He's main purpose was to take from those who work and give it to those who do not. How much of his estate did he leave to those who need it? How much of an example was he? ..............

RE: Booing Ted Kennedy - you're all mising the point! I was booing for her for her calculated manipulating of public sympathies (using Ted's recent passing) when things weren't going her way in town hall meeting. And Ted was NEVER as popular as liberal left is now trying to spin to their advantage to push this thru into law in "honor" of Ted who was for national healthcare since '70s. It's just all jjust political manuevering! We were booing the political manuevergin. So don't put your liberal left spin trying to discredit conservative right and divert attention from the real issue of oppositiion to this bill. You wouldn't have this country today if it weren't for the conservative right as you call it - who do you think the Puritans and the founding fathers were anyway!!!! I agree that that healthcare needs a LOT of fixing... but NOT the way these conglomerate of bills that are being pushed down our throats. That would be going backwards and putting us in same position as original colonies, subject to the King.

We fought two bloody wars in 18th & 19th centuries to break free and stay free from that kind of tyranny. Why give government that position of king or god in our lives again? That is dishonoring to the blood of all who fought for our original freedom and to maintain it into the 20th century. Already I feel Americans have been "trained like sheep" to obey blind commands instead of thinking for themselves, and that is why so many eagerly accept this bill without understanding the true consequences and what it truly means. We have been lulled into complacency by our "nanny government" imposing more and more restrictions into our personal lives. It always starts out with good benefits to got a foothold.

How can we be expected to agree to something that isn't even fully architectured, and therefore subject to change with things we may totally oppose? And how can the legislators promise anything to us when the bill isn't even finished and ready to sign? That's called lying! You can't make promises on things that are not even in final form! That to me means I am being hoodwinked - someone is trying to get me to be agreeable so they can pass whatever comes along. Congressman and Senators work for me! And should be voting what I want - not what the party tells them to vote! And on this important issue that will fundamentally change how healthcare works - the senators and congressman should be polling those they represent to make sure they VOTE AS THE PEOPLE WANT - not as the politicians, or even what they themselves want. They need to listen to the people, not to the politicians.

AMERICAN FREEDOM, you make a good point. America reacted with horror to the Dems using Paul Wellstone's corpse, and Wellstone was by all accounts a very decent man...certainly not someone who had ever had a girl drown in his car or participated in a waitress sandwich. His death made me, a rock-ribbed Reagan conservative, very sad, but if some Congresscritter had said "Let's pass this bill for Paul Wellstone" I would have been booing until the worthless bag of crap either apologized or left the stage.

Memo to libs: Whether the corpse you use led a life that was wonderful or reprehensible, we aren't going to accept Big Brother Health Care because some guy who wanted it died. Keep your Kopechnecare, we ain't interested.

Thank you Thank you Rep. Schakowsky!! We have medical insurance; we pay $1000.00 per month through our employer. yet the insurance (Blue Shield of California) constantly deny, delay or backwards pedal on medical necessary services for our son. We pay out over $20,000+ annually for medically prescribed therapies. Our son walks today because of these therapies and help from California Department of Developmental services. I may as well throw the $1000.00 premium in the garbage for what good it will do. The public option is working for our family. Taxpayer's money allocated through the Department of Developmental Services is providing the medically necessary services for our son. We have the flexibility to choose our own providers, hospitals the likes of Stanford, UCSF. Like it or not taxpayers are already paying for medical services for both insured and uninsured individuals. I say drop the insurance companies and put those exploited premiums into a public pool where it will do more than just line the pockets of the insurance CEOs.

Poor Wingnuts. It's going to be a long 8 years. Try not to blow up any Federal buildings this time. Or kill any more doctors. Or shoot up anymore churches. Or mail anymore anthrax....

i am a democrat and i am for a PUBLIC OPTION. It's the only way to reduce the escalating cost of medical care. It's the only way to help the incredibly high percentage of young voters who have no health insurance.
As for Ted Kennedy his legacy of helping the marginalized citizens,young and old, black and white is firmly supported by the facts. He's the greatest U.S. Senator in the 20th Century.

1.
"...........Eight percent of American corporations pay *no Federal taxes*. ...."

Overtaxing the companies that SUPPLY jobs and CREATE innovations results in fewer jobs, less progress, and more misery.

2.
".............As for Ted Kennedy his legacy of helping the marginalized citizens,young and old, black and white is firmly supported by the facts. He's the greatest U.S. Senator in the 20th Century...."

Sometimes, all you can do is shake your head at comments like these. That boozy coward treated women like manure - when he was not busy actually getting them killed and avoiding responsivility for the deed.

3.
".............Thank you Thank you Rep. Schakowsky..............!!

P.T. Barnum was certainly right.

May I present a few details that are missing from these reactions:
1. the auditorium was totally filled. The total number reported inside was 1300, the number of seats in the facility. Overflow and loudest protesters from both sides remained with police supervision outside.
2. The school, Niles West, is indeed in Niles Township (the way school districts are constituted in IL.)
The town, however, is Skokie, home of the new museum which remembers and honors the Jewish victims of World War II.
3. The event was welcomed by the High School Superintendent of Schools. She reminded the audience that students followed a behavior code when in the building. She detailed it and pretty much demanded that they follow it. Unfortunately, she had noone to enforce transfer to the B.A.C. (Behavior Adjustment Class.) There should have been at least one asst. principal to remove rowdy students from the assembly.
4. Courtesy and respect both failed several challenges during the shouting matches that recurred with many BOOing sessions.