Congressman Patrick Murphy PA 8 had no intentions of attending the Recess Rally held in Doylestown PA today. His spokesperson made that very clear:
"This (Saturday rally) is a nationally-organized protest orchestrated by insurance company lobbyists to scare seniors and stifle legitimate debate about meaningful health insurance reform, and Congressman Murphy believes that Bucks County residents deserve better than a circus," Hansen said.
Despite Hansen's allegation the rally was staged by insurance company lobbyists, there were many rallying FOR Obamacare who appeared to have been organized. Free Republic had a post stating PennAction would be rallying for ObamaCare and suggested there be opposition there to surprise them. Having lived in the community for 12 years, I can say there were plenty of local people there on their own volition. The Intelligencer Now reported 300 protesters rallied against ObamaCare. It seemed like a larger group to me. This picture is on both The Intellligencer Now and The Courier Times Now and was taken by Staff Photographer Rick Kintzel:
Notice who has the had made signs and who has the pre-printed ones. It seemed more like the groups were standing across the street from each other than intermixed like this. I thought I would have noticed something like that. Though there was no violence, it did get heated. Police were present which kept people from pouring in the street. You can see more hand made signs in the next photo:
In fairness, there were hand made signs from those who supported ObamaCare. I wonder if Murphy's spokesperson thinks they were brought in for a circus organized by insurance lobbyists too. Murphy might be surprised to see the guy holding the sign that said "HOLD A TOWNHALL U COWARD," Murphy has met with the Chamber of Commerce. The public, however, is notified of these events after the fact. Despite an editorial from the board of The Intelligencer, calling for a large town hall forum, Murphy has not scheduled one. He's decided to phone it in on August 27 in a joint effort with the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer and the AARP. I guess he figures he will need reinforcements and protection from his constituents even over the phone.
More photos online at: The Intellligencer Now I will upload more as I get them.
UPDATE: Murphy made an appearance in Bristol where a smaller group of 40 rallied. Bristol tends to vote more for Democrats than other sections of Bucks and the group had more who supported reform than against. This was reported in today's Intelligencer Murphy spoke for 90 minutes and answered questions. In my opinion, Murphy's appearance in Bristol was political theater. He fooled no one with this spineless attempt to avoid dealing with the much larger group gathered to voice their opposition. He can try all he likes to paint a picture of a moderate fiscal conservative open to addressing the concerns of his constituents, his actions and voting record speak otherwise. Murphy will return to DC and vote with Pelosi, he always does. We'll make sure he hears from us in 2010 at the polls.
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