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Murphy Booed, Jeered For Backing ObamaCare

Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 1:55 am Posted by Steven in National 1 Comment

Phony “Blue Dog” Democrat Congressman Patrick Murphy was booed, jeered and forced to hear the concerns of his constituents during meetings in Morrisville and Levittown after returning home from DC for recess this weekend.

Murphy supports the risky health insurance scheme known as ObamaCare.  The Bucks County residents he’s supposed to represent: Not so much.

Any doubts about the political leanings of the crowd in Morrisville were put to rest when Murphy, explaining that he works with, not for, President Obama, added, “I happen to think he’s doing a pretty great job.” The restaurant erupted in a chorus of boos and catcalls. It was the Murphy line that got the most vocal reaction at either location.

What’s most striking about the Bucks County Courier-Times article, though, is the incredible pro-Murphy bias. The Courier-Times folks have, for as long as I have read it, been left-wing toadies. But Andy Vineberg’s article goes beyond bias to flat-out unprofessional editorializing.

I understand from poking around that Vineberg is an Entertainment writer.  I don’t know how he got tasked with writing a front-page news article on politics.  I don’t want to slam the guy.  It’s actually the editors that are responsible for the balance in the articles.  I’ll just say that, as a news reporter, Vineberg is a good left-wing blogger.

The entire article is written from Murphy’s point of view, presenting L’il Pat as a beleaguered hero and focusing much more on how artfully Murphy handled the situation and the participants than on the actual issues surrounding the socialization of America’s health insurance or the concerns expressed by the overwhelming crowds.

Here are a couple of the more egregious passages.

Murphy’s about-face (in his opening remarks, he specifically told a woman “this was not a town hall meeting”) resulted in a 90-plus-minute, frequently contentious Q&A session with voters clearly emotional about health care. But the congressman kept his cool, listening to people’s concerns and defending his plans while occasionally asking hecklers “to be respectful.”

[...]

He defended, to a point, the national health care bill that was passed, 31-28, by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, setting the stage for a floor vote in the fall.

[...]

“A national healthcare bill would rob us of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Gary Gibson of Newtown claimed at the Acme.

“You’ve had your say. Now shut your mouth,” a supporter of the bill interrupted.

“Let him speak,” Murphy said, proving he was open to hearing opinions on both sides.

But, to read Vineberg’s account, everyone left just as pleased as punch with how wonderfully Saint Patrick the Magnificent handled the entire situation.

Regardless of political opinion, people at both locations seemed pleased with the revised format – even if they didn’t always get the answers they were looking for.

“Deciding to open up the question to the full crowd was a good idea,” Jim Mossholder of Lower Makefield said after the Morrisville session, “but I think many people are still confused as to what the bill is trying to accomplish. The question is, what type of health care will be available to citizens, and at what price?”

Bill Appleton of Levittown said he supports the single-payer system but he doesn’t think the United States is ready for it. He thought Murphy did a good job handling the crowd on both sides.

“If I was in his shoes, I don’t think I could have done it,” Appleton said at the Acme. “He was very respectful and did a good job trying to keep tempers down.”

Comments about the article provide a more balanced take on Murphy’s meetings.

s_adams: I attended the event in Morrisville. He didn’t discuss cost and how it will be paid for. And he didn’t address the fact that the CBO said that the House bill will cost MORE after 10-years, not less, as Obama keeps saying.

RLugz: I was at The Meeting that Patrick Murphy held yesterday in Morrisville, Pa. I strongly believe that he left there knowing that his days as a Congressman are numbered. The crowd composed of Doctors, Nurses, Lawers and also Union Members let him know exactly how they felt about the Goverment Health Care Plan he supports and voted for.

The article failed to mention a British born citizen who happens to be a doctor with his practice here in Bucks County that told Mr. Murphy ” If you havent realized it yet what is presently occurring in the US is a Tax Revolt["] and when he said this the crowd went wild. [H]e also went on to explain how the Health Care in England is totally inferior to [what] we enjoy here in America.




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  1. edit35 says:
    August 4, 2009 at 8:29 am

    Actually, Andy Vinberg is a sports writer … or at least he had been for the past 15 years when I was a reporter. He is a really nice guy, and I always considered him my friend.

    That said, he couldn’t write a hard hitting political piece to save his butt.

    I was at both Murphy events, and Murphy literally didn’t answer one single question. Not one.

    Every single answer was an obfuscation, a generality.

    At the Morrisville “street forum”, the crowd repeatedly shouted out “Answer the Question! Answer the Question” as Murphy repeatedly used the phrase, “Listen, we all have to sacrifice” to which some woman kept shouting “That’s socialism!” as the crowd erupted in cheers.

    I have some video of the early questions, but my camera malfunctioned. It was hilarious when one of the first shouted uestions to Murphy was ‘When are you gonna have a real townhall meeting about healthcare?” to which Murphy said he couldn’t get it together and said “If you have any suggestions about holding a townhall meeting) let me know” .. to which the crowd erupted in boos again.

    It was hilarious. Murphy claimed repeatedly that since he had already held ” 79 of these (one on one drive by forums)” in the past that he was doing a good job.

    The only progress, if you can call it that, was that Murphy at the end of the Acme meeting finally was badgered into claiming he would put himself and his family on the “public option” if this Obama plan passes. But that was after three or four denials that he would.