Democracy is the belief that the common man knows what he wants and deserves to get it good and hard.  Congress is poised to pass legislation that Americans clearly do not want.  But the margin was equally clear when American voters gave Democrats control of both Houses and when they sent Barack Obama to the Oval Office.

Perhaps it is that Republicans proved so inept at doing what they said they would do and listening to voters that those voters decided to try out the opposition.  What will November look like?  We’ll know a lot more about that forecast shortly, but the big question is going to be this: Is even this enough to jolt complacent Americans into some cynicism about those who come before them pleading for power?

Walking past Cannon House to the Capitol Lawn

The pro-Socialized Healthcare squad

Dora the Explorer is a 'No' vote.

The East Balcony, just before 14:00

A make-up caked Charlie Rangel strode by, smiling and (not kidding) signing autographs.

An awesome rejoinder to those who confuse fighting for freedom in making personal decisions with judging people on immaterial accidents.

Life is distinctly not a pre-existing condition. For one thing, a pre-existing condition is used to differentiate amongst individuals in a pool. And one can't differentiate using a criterion that applies to every person in the pool. For another thing, if we all lived, pre-existingly, philosophy pretty much would have no questions to answer. As it is, we all came into being at some point...

The man was a mass murderer, a torturer, a child-killer. How great a liberator can he have been when no one survived liberation?

In the land of opportunity and ambition, a special contempt is reserved for those who promise heaven and deliver hell. We Americans are not kind to latter-day Icarus.

Hmmm, love the sentiment, but doesn't the concept of recycling presume that it's possible to mash and pulverize garbage, or Congress, until it becomes valuable again...?

Meanwhile, some Socialist outfit was shilling books, threatening to ruin a perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon with quotes from, 'Castroism and the Politics of Petty-Bourgeois Nationalism'.

Socialists have got a nasty habit of stopping their thinking at whatever point in history suits them, but, seriously? Yugoslavia? Still?

Of course, the Socialists were out, giving away inspirational literature for their cause. If, by "giving" one means selling at grossly inflated prices.

Selling a dusty old paperback for $20 to the huddled, exploited, workers? What are they teaching the at kiddie komrade kamp these days? If it looks like Capitalism, and talks like Capitalism...

But not this guy. He was selling American flags out of a suitcase for $1 each - to the pinkos and the veterans, the fat Union members and the skinny drug reformers, to angry pubescent entitlement monkeys who wanted acne cream covered by Uncle Sam and angry middle-American housewives who couldn't understand why they were punished for working hard, to color-coordinated GLBTers and confused Japanese tourists. Welcome to America - all things for all people, for $1 each.

Stragglers at day's end.

The way this town has balconies, you'd think a production of Romeo and Juliet was in the offing.

LIVE FREE OR DIE.

Three GOP representatives make an appearance on the balcony of the House wing, carrying “KILL THE BILL” placards

A small (as in 30-odd people) crowd gathers near the Capitol to protest in support of the takeover bill.

As Michael noted in his post, we as press were only allowed to shoot photos and videos for the first five minutes of the event, due to contractual limitations on same between the speakers and the Distinguished Speakers Board.  Which is a pity – while the speakers themselves were entertaining, I really would have liked to have captured the sneering, self-righteous, and morally-preening comments of the audience members near me — priceless.

Unfortunately, despite the impressive attendance (10,000+) and clearly expressed voice of the people – at the rally and nationwide – against this “worst bill ever” the U.S. House did pass the bill the following Saturday at midnight (or just before).

Subsequent events – the Fort Hood massacre, commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Josh Penry’s withdrawal from the Colorado Governor’s race, Veteran’s Day commemorations (plus technical delays in processing the videos) have delayed publication of PPC’s coverage of the event.  Which is a shame – because PPC correspondents got some fantastic coverage of the rally itself and even better interviews with many of the participants - and even got in to speak with a Colorado Congressman’s office (the Congressman, Ed Perlmutter, was conspicuously absent – but PPC did sit down for an interview with his point man on healthcare, before Perlmutter’s chief of staff rather brusquely pulled him away).

PPC Video interviews of rally participants (and congressional staffers) follow – for video coverage of the rally itself, view “House Call on Congress” part 1)

(“House Call on Congress” – All the way from Albuquerque)

(“House Call on Congress” – A colorful interview)

(“House Call on Congress” – interview with local citizens)

“House Call on Congress” – a brief appearance by Ron Paul)

(“House Call on Congress” – interview goes to the dogs)

(“House Call on Congress” – Code Pink Protestor)

(“House Call on Congress” – interview with a Rumanian-American citizen. A very articulate view, informed by personal experience with a Socialist government-run economy. Part 1 of 2).

(“House Call on Congress” – interview with a Rumanian-American citizen. A very articulate view, informed by personal experience with a Socialist government-run economy. Part 2 of 2).

(PPC interviews House Call on Congress attendee who grew up in (and emigrated from) Columbia. Articulate exposition of the dangers of “crony capitalism” and the power of “pull”)

(PPC correspondents are not exactly received with open arms at the office of their congressional representative, Ed Perlmutter)

(PPC interviews Perlmutter staffer on healthcare positions following the House Call on Congress rally)

(PPC interviews Perlmutter staffer on healthcare positions following House Call on Congress rally)

Unfortunately, despite the impressive attendance (10,000+) and clearly expressed voice of the people – at the rally and nationwide – against this “worst bill ever” the U.S. House did pass the bill the following Saturday at midnight (or just before).

Subsequent events – the Fort Hood massacre, commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Josh Penry’s withdrawal from the Colorado Governor’s race, Veteran’s Day commemorations (plus technical delays in processing the videos) have delayed publication of PPC’s coverage of the event.  Which is a shame – because PPC correspondents got some fantastic coverage of the rally itself and even better interviews with many of the participants - and even got in to speak with a Colorado Congressman’s office (the Congressman, Ed Perlmutter, was conspicuously absent – but PPC did sit down for an interview with his point man on healthcare, before Perlmutter’s chief of staff rather brusquely pulled him away).

Videos of the “House Call on Congress” rally follow (view the participant and congressional interviews on part 2)

(Opening remarks by Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 2)


(“House Call on Congress” clip 3)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 4)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 5)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 6)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 7)

(“House Call on Congress” clip

(“House Call on Congress” clip 9)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 10)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 11)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 12)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 13)

(“House Call on Congress” clip 14)

(For more coverage of the “House Call on Congress” rally – interviews with participants, and with Congressman Ed Perlmutter’s office – view “House Call on Congress” part 2)

Sergeant Friday tells a delinquent (President) that it’s not right to steal, no matter how “noble” the cause:

Just the facts, Ma’am – just the facts.

Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 5:25PM

Subject: , this is unbelievable!

Hi,

This is absolutely stunning.

My co-worker, Mike Ditto, went to Congressman Ed Perlmutter’s Town Hall
meeting on Saturday to listen to him talk to constituents about health
insurance reform. While he was there, his car was badly vandalized.

The side mirrors were smashed off. Big dent on his hood. And
scratches and dents on every door and nearly every other panel of his car. All
because he had an SEIU Healthcare Rally flier in his car.

The health insurance reform rhetoric has become heated over the last few
weeks, but to bash someone’s car because they believe differently than you?
That’s just wrong. It gave Mike quite a shock. And a hefty repair
quote–nearly $3,000.

So we’re asking you to help us cover the cost of Mike’s car insurance
deductible. And once we’ve reached the deductible, we’ll put all your
donations to work fighting for meaningful health insurance reform.

Help fix Mike’s car and support our efforts for healthcare reform.

Health insurance reform doesn’t need a bandaid. “Just say no” is not a plan
for reform. It needs to be fixed so that everybody gets covered–regardless of
a health condition, regardless of their age, or their gender.

Stand up for health care reform today and start by fixin’ Mike’s car!

Thanks,

Bobby, Alan, Brittney, Jen, and Liz

I suppose that Mike should be glad that his car (supposedly) was damaged, and that he wasn’t beaten up for speaking his mind. But then, he’s part of the thug organization that seems to be doing the beatings, so I guess he’s safe.

You’ve got to hand it to Huttner’s astroturf brigade, though: it’s a novel means of fundraising.  Hmm…..maybe at the next anti-war protest (does the left still do those, now that their Messiah is in the White House?), I should drop my camera, blame it on the crowd of angry daddy-hating trust funders or delirium induced by patchoulli fumes and body odor, and use the catastrophe to solicit funds for PPC…

Sadly, this was typical of the level of understanding of first principles I heard all afternoon from the collectivists promoting Obamacare.  There was much discussion about “social justice” [sic] and emotion-based “arguments” from the left, but little to no reflection on the readily foreseeable negative unintended consequences of socialized medicine.  Likewise, any attempt by the pro-liberty attendees to promote free market solutions or warn of the aforementioned consequences to liberty and choice from the socialization of healthcare fell on deaf ears on the other side of the discussion, since it is an article of faith unquestioned on the left that capitalism cannot solve any problem.

I think this interview perfectly illustrates the mindset of the average Obamacare supporter — meaning, loyal Democrats who blindly support Obamacare because they are preached to that it’s the “right thing to do” and constantly told that it’s the only way to fix the system (whose problems, ironically, are rooted in too much government intervention in the first place), rather than because they’ve looked at the details and likely consequences of the plan, given fair consideration to alternative plans, and come to their position through a careful examination of their philosophical and political principles.

This guy is plainly acting as an organizer for the Democrats attending the event, handing out pre-printed fliers for them to wave.

Fliers which have been professionally designed using the 2008 Obama campaign’s typography.

Fliers with a generic message on them that can be used for any similar event: thanking the targeted Congressman for supporting Obamacare and asserting unity of support for the package through the deceptive slogan “Standing Together for Health Insurance Reform”. Which of course implies that the fliers have been created for use across the country by some coordinating organization.

What organization might that be? Well, the fliers themselves bear the URL healthcare.barackobama.com.

Which of course is a subdomain of Organizing for America, the “successor organization to Obama for America”, the 2008 Obama presidential campaign website.

Now…what was it the Democrats and the legacy media have been saying about the center-right grassroots being “astroturf” and being “centrally organized” and funded by out-of-state groups and the like?

Not that any of this should come as a surprise…after all, what is Colorado Democracy Alliance and its many, many tentacles of supposed “grassroots” entities if not a vast plastic savannah of Progressive astroturf?

Michelle Malkin has more astroturfing hypocrisy from the left.