RNC Chairman Holds Town Hall Meeting In Columbus
NBC 4
RNC Chairman Michael Steele shares his frustrations with the Obama administration during a town hall meeting in Columbus Thursday night.
Published: September 3, 2009
Updated: September 4, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Earlier this week, Ohio Democrats showed their support of President Obama’s health-care reform plan.
Ohio Republican’s answered back Thursday night with a stop from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Steele said he’s frustrated the current administration doesn’t pay any attention to those opposed to health-care reform and that something should be done about it.
“To have that leadership thumb their nose up at you, to me, is nothing more than the arrogance of power, and what that means for us to do is say, ‘I put you in that job. I can take you out of it’ “, said, Steele.
Outside of the town hall meeting, about a dozen demonstrators in favor of health-care reform held signs and chanted pro-Obama slogans.
President Obama plans to be in Cincinnati Monday to discuss health care with members of the AFL-CIO.
President Obama will give another push for health-care reform as he gives a speech to Congress next Wednesday night.
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Reader Reactions
Lovin50 ~
The Michael Steele event was not publicized at all. One of the reasons the presence of reform supporters was in the double digits instead of triple digits is because it was unannounced, a paid event (only Republicans were permitted to buy tickets and enter), and the reform supporters didn’t even find out about it until about 24 hours in advance, and then it was through a leak. The arrival time for the event was during working hours, so our people would have had to have had more notice to leave work to attend. Yes, we do work.
On the other hand, the huge Health Insurance Reform event at the Lausche Building had been publicized. I heard about it for days in advance on the local news. It was held at 7:00 PM, so more people could plan to attend. My Republican friends knew about it at least a week in advance.
Another “Yes” ~ I do have Republican friends. They just happen to be level headed, reasonable people who are not so filled with hate that all they can see is the lies being told about insurance reform. If they oppose reform, they oppose it for more principled reasons than the Republicans who are getting so much press with their vitriolic speech. They are Wall Street Journal, CNN Republicans, not Rush Limbaugh, FOX News Republicans. They are ashamed of the fact that extreme right wing people are getting all the press and making them all look like John Birchers and ranting fools.
At the Michael Steele event, no one screamed or yelled (except for a Steele supporter who came outside in the middle of the event to scream and yell at a few members of our crowd)
President Obama has distanced himself from the investigation into illegal interrogation and torture. He has been criticized by some on the left for being too soft on the previous administration. Torture is illegal by all standards. It has not been proved to be effective, and it goes against everything America stands for. The Bush administration used Executive Privilege more than any administration ever has, and they used it to cover up activities regarding torture and EIT. They freely admit this.
And don’t even get me started on Blackwater/XE!
As far as shady backgrounds are concerned, be careful what you ask for. Haliburton? Iran Contra? The list goes on and on and on. There are a lot of skeletons in the closets on the right.
How many of these “Czars” have questionable backgrounds, for that matter look at the whole administration and their ties to radical pasts. I have never in my whole life seen so much controversy regarding suspicious pasts as I have this administration. It is too the point of creepy, let alone scary. There is nothing in the Cyber bill that determines when Obama can shut it down. There should be nothing in it at all that lets him shut the whole thing off, only gov’t sites should be included on this. If this is passed it is unconstitutional.I feel it is also unconstitutional to open up anything that should have been “highly confidential” by the CIA. HE has let the terrorists and all countries know our procedures, which to me is treasoness. By doing this he has opened this country up to the biggest security risk we have ever faced. You cannot put these men and women at risk, let alone scare the heck out of them doing their jobs. They have opened up this country and those individuals to harm and this country also.
The Democrats have cowardly hidden their town halls and mtgs or only had invitees only. They have hidden away from the public. I am sure that the 72% on Americans left that approve of Obama’s plan will see the truth along with Obama, his administration, the Senate and House on 9/12/09. This along with denying National Prayer Day, but observing the muslim holiday, and wanting to make 9/11 insignificant should tell all of you what is in the making! A socialist dictator that will demand martial law when he is not going to get his way. It’s coming!
Lovin50 I agree our Constitution is in trouble!
for the naysayers and those stating with childish comments “How’s it feel” this is not a pay back situation that you or anyone should be joking about! We spoke out against the Patriot act you just didn’t notice! If im not mistaken didn’t BO condemn the patriot act during his campaign! why is he now using it! why didn’t he repeal it or modify it?
as far as BO’s pending new power to shut down the internet I want to know what criteria will be used to make that determination, the bill as it is written now is so vague and really does not state that anything really needs to be going on for him to do this
Van Jones his Green Jobs Czar is a radical, self confirmed communist
participated and was arrested in the Rodney King Riots, is a 9/11 truther,
that needs to go! Do you want a full list to date of of the things he has said and done I will gladly post it since the MSM is ignoring this
he along with most of the other 36 Czar’s I mean advisers need to go
this health care reform they are wanting to cram down our throats needs to be stopped and ask your self why are the unions pushing this! god forbid this thing passes the unions will have the largest labor organization in the world they dont care about Health reform they are thinking of their bottom line look at all the initiation dues, and weekly dues they will receive with this newly formed organization!
another thing why have the house, senate and whitehouse been excluded/exempted from having to sign on to use this plan?
why will some one be penalized/taxed by the IRS up to 2.5% of their gross pay if they do not participate or not have what they deem enough coverage? in at least 5 different places in this bill it mentions tax and fines for individuals and companies as a whole look at the jobs that will be lost
if this bill is so good for us WHY does the administration and our elected officials feel the need to use name calling and race baiting to try and guilt us into silence
im sure most think that what he is doing is ok its just this or that they are doing no biggie
in the meantime ask yourself this
how is what he/they are doing today going to effect us down the road will another president (some one you may not agree with or have voted for) be able to use these new laws bills against us all in the name of national security or to get their agenda into place because of what is being done today
I will see you in Washington on 9/12
Lovin50 ~
Do you mean that a pending bill, on which our legislators will vote, and the purpose of which is to ensure our country’s security against cyber attacks is worse than the wire tapping program that Bush and Cheney vigorously pursued without legislation? All you needed to do to appear suspicious and have your e-mails and phone calls monitored was to make calls or send e-mails to people in other countries. The eavesdropping program did not require a vote by our members of the legislative branch of our government. It was hastily pushed through by the executive branch.
Under the eavesdropping program, anyone with relatives overseas was a good enough suspect. The families of our troops were among the people whose phone lines and e-mails were monitored most. To date, there is no evidence that the eavesdropping provided our government with one single viable lead on terrorist activity. None that were reported, anyway.
The Cyber Security Act of 2009 hasn’t passed legislation. It is not something that has been proposed to allow the government to spy on us or intrude in our lives, but to protect our country and our industries from cyber attacks. It must be voted on first, unlike Bush’s eavesdropping, which has since been ruled by the courts to have been unconstitutional.
Back to the subject of the article though. I was at the Knotty Pine on Thursday, and there were far more than one dozen supporters of the President’s plan. At any given time, some of us were in the back of the establishment and others were in front, so it might have appeared that there were fewer of us than there actually were, but at the height of attendance there were around 40 people there. We have pictures of the full crowd. It appeared to us that there were more reform supporters than Steele supporters. We saw people arriving at the event, and we saw them departing, and it wasn’t enough to equal a good dinner crowd on an average weeknight.
Let’s remember that there were over 2,500 supporters at the Democratic event on Tuesday night at the Lausche building, and only about 20 in attendance to oppose reform. It looks to me like central Ohio is in favor of health insurance reform, hands down.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 which allows the President to shut down the internet, not just Govt sites, is the worst idea I have ever heard. It takes away our freedom of speech. The Health Care Reform is going to demand that all Americans have insurance, no where in the Constitution does it give the gov’t the right to do this. This Administration and the Senate, have over borrowed on our credit, and they in my opinion have overstepped their boundaries in regard to the Constitution.
Uh, what sort of bills are pending that are going to take away our rights? Please be specific on what these bills are and what rights you will be losing. And also, please tell me, did you voice similar concerns during the past eight years about our government?
I do not feel this is a laughing matter. Our Constitution is in jeopardy with this administration. Our country is pretty much bankrupt, people are losing jobs, and more. I find nothing funny about the economy or our rights being taken away. I did not say I was with a party, I am not, and I pray that things turn around for both you and me. There are bills being proposed in the Senate that will take our rights away, the same rights that you and yours have rode the line on for years, is now going to be crossed. Laugh if you want, but is is sad.
Ha ha Lovin! Nothing like a taste of your own medicine. I’m loving seeing people like you get to feel how many of us Americans have felt over the past few years.
This administration has not only thumbed their nose at us, but they have done so with deep seated arrogance. They have lied, cowardly hid, and called us horrible names for standing up for our country. Rasmussen shows only 28% believe in Obama. He can’t see this? HE said he doesn’t pay attention to polls, make him pay attention to us!
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