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On Wednesday evening, as he has in earlier gatherings, U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry began a Lincolnton town hall event with a sound effect – a 1,000-plus-page copy of the House of Representatives' health care bill, which the congressman dropped to the floor.
The thwap was loud enough to snap heads to attention, an unnecessary gimmick at the Lincolnton Citizens Center auditorium, where 450 people already were rapt and ready to criticize that stack of pages on the floor.
Like town halls across the U.S., McHenry's N.C. District 10 events have attracted hundreds of angry opponents of health care reform to overflowing venues this month. While some Democrats have dismissed those nationwide protests as organized by special-interest groups, Republicans are pointing to rural events like McHenry's as evidence of a grass-roots stirring, of dissatisfaction with the Obama administration and, perhaps, of Republicans being reminded why they're Republicans.
“I think what's happening is that this health care reform has woken us up,” said Patsy Davis of Iron Station, who attended Wednesday's event.
McHenry, before the Lincolnton gathering, was reluctant to say whether the crowds signaled the beginnings of a conservative renewal. “I don't know if there is a larger political context here,” he said. But, he noted: “They're very angry about the direction Washington is taking.”
McHenry's town halls have been tamer than similar events hosted by national Democrats, where fights have broken out and legislators have found themselves regularly confronted by constituents shouting their displeasure with Obama's health care reform. The discourse has prompted some N.C. Democrats, including Reps. Larry Kissell and Heath Shuler, to schedule tele-town halls in which questions are asked by phone, eliminating the possibility of in-your-face dialogue.
Veteran Democratic Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte said many of those who've called to ask him to schedule a town hall meeting on health care are more interested in disruption than honest discussion. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who has faced angry constituents at two town halls, told reporters this week that angry protesters are “not necessarily representative of America.”
Polls show Americans are split in their opinion of health care reform. In North Carolina, a survey this month by Raleigh firm Public Policy Polling found that 50 percent of N.C. voters opposed Obama's health plan, with only 39 percent in support.
“You would have to be tone deaf to not hear the voices of Americans saying, ‘Stop – slow down!'”said Republican Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte.
McHenry has seen that dissatisfaction spill forth in his town hall events. In Lincolnton, audience members declared that health care reform would result in fewer health care choices and unqualified professionals administering care. They asked McHenry about the health care bill resulting in rates rising and seniors being denied coverage. Reform proponents dispute such characterizations. McHenry, more than once, pointed at the bill on the floor. “There is no guarantee,” he said.
Audience members also were passionate about illegal immigration and harshly critical of economic stimulus plans and other Obama decisions. “He's a liar,” said one, while McHenry stood silent. But when the audience began to shout down a fellow participant who expressed support for health care, McHenry tamped down the confrontation, asking that everyone's opinions be respected.
Earlier, as he prepared to enter the auditorium, he remembered similar town hall rancor a few years back, when a liberal group sent people to question legislators pointedly about the Iraq War. The questions weren't easy for Republicans, McHenry remembered, but they were, he says now, “good questions.” That opposition eventually grew into a larger dissatisfaction among Americans that helped elect Obama last year.
‘It has woken a giant'
This month, participants in McHenry's town halls have regularly struck a similar note to those once-despondent Democrats, fretting for their country and railing against a president they fear is threatening it. “They are going to give this country away,” said one. “I'm afraid my country is gone,” another said.
McHenry's answer to each was similar. “Part of what's going to change the policy in Washington starts here,” he said Wednesday. “People being engaged.” He asked how many of the audience had never been to a town hall before. Most of the crowd members raised their hands. “New blood,” he said, with a nod. “New enthusiasm.”
One of the raised hands belonged to Davis of Iron Station. “For too long, we were happy,” she said when the town hall was finished. “Everyone had jobs, the economy was good. We voted, but we didn't get involved in politics. But now the economy is bad, we're losing jobs, then this. It has woken a giant, and we're mad.”
Observer staff writer Tim Funk contributed.
