45 Comments - vole - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:34 pm: Nothing but loud mouth jerks. Ironic considering they wave copies of the constitution while displaying brown shirt tactics. Tea party porn. - Ghost - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:35 pm: It is part of our culture, I am not happy with it, but its not going to go away. I am just waiting for the canidates to start filming these events themselves so they can post counter videos of the conduct…. welcome to the age of you tube video wars - A.B. - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:36 pm: Both sides have these type of people and while I respect their right to do this, I also find them to be irritating morons. - steve schnorf - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:38 pm: As the general public has seemingly accepted riding the tiger of non-accountable social media, they are going to be reminded of the tiger’s appetite. - 47th Ward - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:43 pm: Stay classy Tea Party! Nice political discourse you have there guys. I guess they think their opinions and rights are the only ones that matter. - Pot calling kettle - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:43 pm: Did they ever call her office and ask to set up an appointment? Whenever I see something like this, I do not get the impression the folks with the video cameras want an answer. The best way to get this kind of video is to show up someplace where you know the target has an appointment and cannot stop to talk. It’s also good to bring along a crowd of belligerent people with cameras. Shouting questions is a nice touch as well. On the other hand, I have had excellent and informative discussion with office-holders and candidates from all parts of the political spectrum. It turns out that if you are respectful, ask someone for a few moments of their time and engage in thoughtful discourse, most of these folks will answer your questions and listen to your concerns. - VanillaMan - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:44 pm: This is nothing more than editing. Nothing new. It used to be print editing when quotes were taken out of contxt. It used to be editing of audio. It used to be editing via photoshop. It is still being debated on Internet blogs. It used to be editing by television executives and editors. Now that everyone has the power to create media and traditional media is no longer trusted enough we are seeing this on the Youtube era. Porn? No. Nothing new except empowered citizens behaving badley. It does not matter the politics anymore. - NW - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:54 pm: This is a sad outgrowth of the new angry movement. This reflects the tone of what you can tune into all day on AM talk radio. Shouting, uncivil behavior. There has to be a better way to have a debate or discussion, but for now this new “everyone’s a film producer” moment we’re in invites this BS. - Louis Howe - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:56 pm: I am reminded of the political maxim…”Sometimes when you are arguing with a fool, they’re doing the same thing.” This is nothing but political gotcha politics and the candidate has every right to walk right by them. - Jay - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:57 pm: Not sure about your dumbocrat readers Rich , but if offered a constitution I think every elected official should take it . Kind of a simple act . Last parting shot ………. CODE PINK . This is kiddy play compared to the 06-08 junk the left pulled . - OswegoDem - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 12:58 pm: Neither fringe has a monopoly on virtue nor vice. Leftist extremists are the same as those on the right. The only difference is whom they hate. - Jake from Elwood - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:00 pm: I guess these folks fancy themselves as the vigorous defenders of truth and wisdom, but they are simply trolling for attack soundbites. This “propagandarazzi” behavior may keep more good and decent people from running for higher political office. - CircularFiringSquad - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:00 pm: The best part of these videos is the amount of time folks spend watching themselves and showing friends, etc In the meantime real candidates and volunteers can be out talking to voters. Let’s give TParteeeers a freee video camera! - CookDem - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:03 pm: I am so sick to death of these Tea Bag loons waving around constitutions and spouting off about the intent of the Founding Fathers. If they ever read a history book they would know the President Washington fought for a strong, vigorous central government and many of our nation’s founders were the radical Left Wing rabblerousers of their day. BTW, the “original intent” of the Constitution included giving only land-owning white men the privilege to vote. So shut up Teabaggers! - Jay - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:06 pm: Politics is a full contact sport in Illinois . If those “good people” don’t want in the game then”oh well” Do you think Springfield or DC are for the faint of heart or the weak ? - Anonymous - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:08 pm: Bean has more class in her little finger than this group of stalkers….that includes jay with his dumocrat Comment. - Anonymous - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:11 pm: Demuzio got the same treatment last week from the Tea Party folks. Preserving free speech is fundamental in our democracy. Perhaps such groups should respect and preserve the rights of others to listen, and to be heard. It doesn’t matter which side you’re on….show some respect by letting others speak uninterrupted. - Demoralized - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:15 pm: @Jay: I’m surprised Rich hasn’t yanked your comment yet. It appears you don’t follow this site much. Your kind of blogging is exactly the kind of crap most of us here despise. No substance. Strictly partisan. Anyway, as to the video, it has no effect on me. I wouldn’t talk to people like this either if I were an elected official. You have a right to speak in coherent sentences, but if I’m an elected official I’m going to ignore your badgering, no matter who you are. Talk to me - yes. Paparazzi me - no. I’m frankly also tired of having the Constitution thrown up in everyone’s face as if certain individuals have a monopoly on what the Constitution means or does not mean. Political disagreement is fine, but the discourse for the last several years (on both sides) has digressed to personal hatred and absolutely uncompromising ideological loyalty. - Squideshi - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:21 pm: I agree with Pot calling kettle. DID they call her office and request an appointment? I understand trying to catch her en route if she refuses to meet with you, but it’s just plain rude to accost someone in the streets and expect them to drop EVERYTHING to answer you. You might be able to say that she should try not to run late and, in fact, always leave extra travel time in her schedule for surprises like this; but I don’t think that’s realistic. In addition, I suspect that she wants to screen who she meets with. Ultimately, it did not seem to me that these citizens were at all interested in asking serious questions or making her aware of their opinions. They already knew what they thought on the issues and they already knew what they thought of the representative and her actions. For these reasons, this was more of a protest than an interview to me; and protests are, and should be, handled differently than interviews. Incidentally, with all this recording going on, people need to be REALLY careful. One of these elected officials is going to get wise and have a police officer at their event. Should one of these citizens accidentally record the police officer, they’re going to be breaking Illinois law and could be arrested and/or fined. I don’t agree with this, but it is the law in Illinois. - Jake from Elwood - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:22 pm: If you are comparing politics to a professional football game, these doofuses are equivalent to those shirtless drunken halfwits who run onto the field during the game until security pounces. They are not journalists and they are not freedom-fighters, they are obnoxious opportunistics rudely stalking political candidates. Stay classy. - Anon - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:25 pm: But here’s a quick question — why are we talking about these people as if they’re just ordinary constituents with a disinterested desire to speak to their representative? Aren’t they avowed partisans? Aren’t they, as part of a group that has explicitly backed and endorsed this lady’s opponent, part of the campaign? Does an elected official have a responsibility to stop and answer all the questions of a rival campaign whenever they show up? I thought that was why terms for debates were negotiated and planned out. - Linus - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:26 pm: Off-the-cuff take, after watching the Bean clip: I’m guessing these protesters include some of the same folks who acknowledge Muslims constitutionally have a right to open a facility near Ground Zero — but will insist Muslims should exercise some restraint and understanding in actually using this right, and say they need to go build elsewhere. - Rich Miller - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:32 pm: Demoralized, I left Jay’s comment up for a reason: To show what an [deleted because I was probably over the top] he is. Feel free to pile on. lol - Skeeter - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:32 pm: Completely classless. And Jay, I wouldn’t take ANYTHING from people like this. I would have zero contact with them. She was amazingly polite. But I love Jay’s comment summarized as “the Dems are the same.” Is that what we’ve come down to? “The other side is obnoxious too” is considered a valid defense? - Cosmic Charlie - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:35 pm: These people read the Constitution the same way they read the bible… Start with a conclusion and then selectively pull out segements to fit my conclusion or the omission of segments to fit my conclusion. On a certain level I envy them and their simplistic way. Sometimes being a thoughtful person can be a bit overbearing. - Anonymous - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:38 pm: If you’re Melissa Bean, why waste your time being harangued by angry partisans who will never consider voting for you in the first place? I guarantee you she’d be out there talking to them if they were actually undecided voters, or otherwise susceptible to persuasion. - Liandro - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:42 pm: The initial questions I have no problem with. The harassment after she moves into her scheduled event is too much. Granted, she may have been pushing off these answers forever, I don’t know, but this is getting fairly aggressive. Are they frustrated with her unwillingness to address regular voters? Officeholders who take that strategy (no town halls, avoiding reporting to the people on their votes, etc.) should expect lash-back. That’s part of why Bill Foster earned so much of my ire. We still have to be careful in our approach, though. Which runs me right into the Hultgren/Foster link Rich posted. The important quote: “According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, Hultgren was hired to oversee one fund, and when the company diversified and began offering other funds he was not marketing, the description on the website became inaccurate.” So the smear is more blatant then even I thought it was. I would have found it mostly irrelevant if Hultgren HAD been working on that fund. If anything, it would have put him in an even better position to comment/criticize on the financial aspects of those issues. But lo and behold, Foster wasn’t even right on that. I’m sure Foster (and his supporters that have been posting here?) are going to be rolling out the apologies any moment now, lol. At the end of the day, both Foster and Hultgren have voting records and established positions, and it is clearly Foster who is running from his record and is smearing his opponent. I’d have more respect for Foster if he ran ads touting his votes for TARP, the Health Care Bill, etc. I may disagree with him on those issues, but at least he’d be fighting for what HE believes. - shore - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:42 pm: congressman kirk was subjected to this for years, so it’s not a surprise bean is getting it now. There’s nothing you can do about this other than to make sure your communications people have you well prepared for it and a proper plan to deal with it. - shore - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 1:47 pm: that footage isn’t great. it pictures her literally turning her back to her constituents and walking away. oof. - Give Me A Break - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:01 pm: Shore, it showed her literally turning her back on a group of people with no concept or regard of how to approache anyone, let alone a lawmaker trying to attend an event. Pretty sure she had constituents in the room where she was going and most likely entered the room facing them. - Jay - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:02 pm: @Rich Miller I would say the feeling is mutual , but I actually like you . - Anonymous - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:12 pm: I love, love, love this line: “Where in the constitution does it say that Obamacare is legal?” It’s like a spoken word version of one of their crazy signs. Dems need to encourage this stuff to turn off independents. - Ghost of John Brown - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:13 pm: I think the trouble with these videos come when people of some report actually pay attention to obvious slips of the tongue and mis-stated notions. I think a lot of it actually started with Dan Quayle. Although Mr. Quayle is really a very intelligent man, he could NOT speak off the cuff. People had TONS of fun with some of his comments, and it has only escalated since then. I think there needs to be more people speaking up when some try to make issue with some of these goofy videos. - Justice - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:14 pm: It ain’t pretty but it is now a fact of life. If you venture into public you can expect this type of encounter. No doubt you’ll be taped at every function you attend, every dinner, pretty much everywhere you go. It’s fair game until a law is broken or one loses their cool. Melissa Bean kept her cool and was really “sweet” with those darlings of bad etiquette. “Have a great morning.” Boy, that had to burn them! Can’t say as I like it, but that is our new reality. - Skeeter - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:19 pm: One note of irony here: The right hates Michael Moore, but the general tactic used dates to his “Roger and Me.” Of course, there is one big difference: Moore was funny and entertaining using the tactic. - Louis G. Atsaves - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 2:31 pm: Dold is now getting what Kirk used to get from the Seals campaign. A knucklehead following him around and shoving a camera in his face while he tries to talk to individuals. It got pretty bad during the Dold “bus tours” this summer with the knucklehead actually being tossed out of a Deerfield restaurant by a manager for blocking aisles using a tripod camera. I know all campaigns employ bird dogs and other types of professional stalkers, and I remember Obama introducing one of them who followed him into the bathroom during his campaign for President, but that stuff and the astro turfing stuff in my opinion really doesn’t work and sways not a single vote. - Team Sleep - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 3:08 pm: Oswego Dem has the best comment on this topic. This is silly. There is a reason that Members of Congress and Senators have indirect channels of communication. There is also a reason why most elected officials do not announce all events or meetings through the press or via a newsletter. Ms. Bean and her handlers were as gracious as expected. I would expect the same from someone like Congressman Schock or Manzullo if either of them were confronted by liberal protestors. - Who Cares - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 3:08 pm: Kudo’s to Bean for ignoring these loons. It was very clear from their behavior that they couldn’t conduct themselves in a reasonable matter so why talk to them. This type of behavior is childish and obnoxious. - say what - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 3:30 pm: At the end the narrator says “of course you had to pay to be in her presence” — strange coming from a Tea Bagger from this area — you have to pay to attend their forums such as that held last summer at the Holiday Inn in Crystal Lake. Just saying. . . - isaac ellwood - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 3:43 pm: Videos like this can’t possibly be meant for persuading anyone. All it does is preach to the choir and feed the faithful who are already against whatever or whoever with the latest example that fits their preconceived ideas. Shouldn’t the politics of outrage tire people out at some point and people’s reactions start diminishing? - Cal Skinner - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 3:52 pm: Actually, Patriots United, the sponsor of the health care forum to which Con. Don Manzullo spoke, along with others, did not force people to pay. They were trying to cover the cost of the ballroom. Later in the year there was a free town hall meeting on the same subject held by Manzullo at McHenry County College. Melissa Bean did not hold a similar event. - Wensicia - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 4:30 pm: Of course, when reporters chase down and shout out questions at politicians as they leave buildings or try to exit news conferences, it’s different? And perfectly legitimate? - Rich Miller - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 4:55 pm: Yes, Wensicia. It’s different. Not always legit, but it’s different. One reason is, we aren’t actively campaigning for his/her opponent. - ela observer - Friday, Sep 24, 10 @ 6:20 pm: This was a $15 chamber of commerce breakfast. Attendees paid the chamber, not Bean, for their breakfast. I know; I paid. Tea Party supporters of Joe Walsh can’t afford $15 and a Chamber membership? Most of them are quite well-off — just ask them. Joe Walsh, on the other hand, probably can’t afford it. He can’t even afford to pay his staff! - Newsclown - Saturday, Sep 25, 10 @ 12:34 am: What that crowd did is not the same as what Journalists like Rich and others do. When a journalist asks a pointed question, he has to leave the door open for dialog about the answer. They weren’t interested in Bean’s potential answers. Sure, some less scrupulous or less non-partisan reporters editorialize by framing questions as editorial statements all the time. Exemplified by the “Have you stopped beating your wife yet? : type question. But then those editorial comments framed as questions can be ignored by the politician, and someone else asking a real question then usually takes over the floor. Bean could have stopped what she was doing and tried to engage each of those jerks One-0n-0ne, and I’m confident she would have made short work of their debating points. There is great youtube footage of a crowd like this accosting Al Franken, and Franken actually stands his ground and engages them and very politely and graciously takes each one of them apart, not just beating their arguments point by point, but overturning a few of them and showing how they’ve been lied to by the folks that wound them up like toys and set them marching at him. But it wouldn’t have accomplished anything in Bean’s case. Those people were partisans out to disrupt and embarrass and make a scene and to try to goad Bean or her security into an exploitable scene of physical conflict, not to engage in dialogue. Heck, dialogue is the LAST thing they’d have wanted; they were hyped up on a few prepared talking points but obviously not briefed deeply on the topics They would have been unprepared to go beyond the handful of catch phrases they’d been rehearsing. They knew going in that they wanted to make a scene and they were *counting* on Bean NOT stopping to answer back. Had Bean stopped to answer back, certainly her remarks would be edited by them later in a way that made her look bad, or deleted completely. They want to completely control the perception of the event no matter what, so Bean never stood a chance of a fair hearing about anything, her voting record, her principles, mattes of objective fact, none of this mattered… You can’t win with a crowd like that one; it is like mud-wrestling a pig. There are new internet terms for some of this stuff that have evolved into popular shorthand. The crude yelling of that opposition task force is commonly referred to these days as “wharrgrble”, and the ginned-up and irrelevant talking points lacking factual basis are known in internet parlance these days as “derp”. New names for things and practices that were in existence as far back as Lincoln’s day and before that. Look up the “Wide-Awakes” for example. Only technology has accelerated and intensified the magnitude of the bad behavior now. The manipulation of ill-informed crowds into ugly mobs spoiling for a fight is nothing new at all. Its just that now you launch them with a mouse click. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.