Sometimes, I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind
Better leave her behind with the kids, they're alright
The kids are alright
The kids are alright
The kids are alright
--The Who
Today Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio held a health care townhall at an urban High School in Cleveland, OH. Lots of supporters showed up, and we got to find out that America's youth, even in the heart of struggling Cleveland, get it! The kids truly ARE alright! Find out what happened after the flip!
First of all, kudos to Senator Brown for holding a town hall up in Northeastern Ohio, where his strongest support lies. The urban, mostly minority public school near the liberal Heights/University Circle area turned out to be an excellent pick as well. Not only did it have excellent facilities for this event, it was close for many of his supporters to attend. It also had the unintended (but beneficial) side effect of keeping a lot of the racist teabaggers away.
The choice of location also allowed the Cleveland school district to show off their newly renovated John Hay High School, truly the jewel of the struggling Cleveland School district. (It really is a beautiful building!) But, the real treasure of John Hay High School lay not with its exterior structure, but with the students inside... More on that in a moment!
There was a good turnout. The Plain Dealer newspaper guy said that the turnout was much better than expected being in the middle of the day. Several hundred, at least, made their way into the large auditorium. There were no protests outside, which was refreshing. There was a small, isolated teabag contingent, who mostly sat in the back. One of their leaders was off to the front and to the side. She was busy with notes and preparations and coaching her "plants". The teabaggers behaved for the most part, only clapping when the isolated wingnut talking point broke through... their handlers must have decided to put them on a leash as part of a new strategy. Regardless, they were the vast minority (although, you wouldn't get that from the local news stories, of course).
It was a good diverse crowd... lots of seniors, which would be expected for an afternoon town hall, almost all of them in strong support of reform. Students from nearby Case Western Reserve University and John Hay high school itself were invited to attend (the high school closed early, so no controversy). There was also a strong union contingent as well...
Senator Brown entered with a standing ovation!! After hearing stories from local families and business leaders about how dysfunctional our current health care system is, Senator Brown pulled out names from a box for open questions.
Unfortunately, the first question was from one of the teabag plants. The teabag leader was exceptionally pleased that one of her minions has been picked. His statement could have been written by Luntz himself. He had a sympathetic story to tell, but angled it to right wing talking points (even quoting Rasmussen). He was from one of the richest parts of town, so it's no surprise he felt that way. He did well, and the press ate it up, although the crowd was decidedly not pleased. The teabag leader even stood up to shout, "Decorum, please"!, AS IF!!! The question was on all the news channels, of course. The teabag leader was pleased as punch, and they both left immediately after the questions was answered, mission accomplished. Fortunately for us, Senator Brown did a great job rebutting, and that was on the news, too!
The next question was not going to be on the news... it was from a single payer supporter, which got practically a standing ovation!!! Sadly, no one outside the room was ever going to hear it.
There were lots of questions from various people, mostly supporters. Someone who worked in hospice was worried about medicare cuts. We had a hippie who preached that not eating meat was the answer to all our health care problems (must have been the Whole Foods, Inc. CEO's son or something... even the liberals in the room were groaning). There were questions about the medicare "donut hole", questions about treating the blind, all sorts of decent questions...
There were many questions on the public option, and to this, Senator Brown stated:
The public option is possible, if the president wants it. If he pushes for it, we'll get it in the end. If the president asks Senators to at least vote for cloture, they would be hard pressed not to. There still is a greater than 50% chance of a public option in the final bill
This isn't as sanguine as he was on TV on Friday, but still good to hear nonetheless.
At the end, they asked the students in attendance to ask questions. The college students were a disappointment for the most part. The first guy was obviously some young republican form New York spouting off right wing talking points... He made a fool of himself when he said he didn't trust Sarah Palin to run healthcare. Senator Brown kindly reminded him that she is not in government anymore, and the whole room laughed at the young republican derisively. Of course the press chased after him at the end of the forum--gotta get those right wingers on TV, you know! The next guy was a Ron Paul kid spouting nonsense that Senator Brown was able to dismiss easily. At least the last guy was a med school student who had a great question about primary care reimbursement. Senator Brown really was on top of his game today... he did a great job of answering friend and foe alike.
The best questions, though, were saved for last, when the John Hay high school kids were asked to speak...
The first kid (dressed in a jacket and tie for the occasion--nice touch!) asked a very basic, but profound question. He said that he heard Joe Wilson tell the president, "You lie!", so he decided to look it up. He found, of course, that it was Joe Wilson who was lying. Exasperated, he asked why Republicans are simply allowed to continue lie like this and get away with it? He got a huge ovation! Senator Brown praised the young man for taking the time and effort to be informed. He said that if everyone took the time to stay informed as this inner city high school kid, we'd have a much stronger democracy. This student certainly shattered many stereotypes today, and I'm sure made the school district very proud! Everyone was murmuring how impressed they were with this kid, even the teabaggers, I'd imagine.
The next kid just made a very simple, straightforward statement that was just perfect. He recalled the several questions asked about running out of money. His statement was concise and profound. "I just don't understand how we always seem to have enough money to go find WMD's that don't exist, but there never is enough money for things the people really need." He then mentioned how he can't even get to see a doctor to get a physical, but we can still keep looking for nonexistent WMD's...
Great questions by both of these kids, and what a great ending to a great town hall... at the very least, after hearing these kids, my faith in the future is very strong!
Good night, and thank you for reading. May the force be with us!