Griffith Still Channeling Conservatism, Union Thugs Minority at Town Hall
FLORENCE-- Last night in the University of North Alabama's Norton Auditorium, Parker Griffith boldly declared to a crowd of 1200 that he opposed and would vote against HR 3200.
"I don't want to repeat Cap & Trade." said Congressman Griffith referring to Waxman's committee adding 300 pages to the Cap & Trade bill while simultaneously not giving the Representatives time to read the bill. "I hope it dies in the Senate."
"Congressman Waxman promised me that the healthcare bill would be on our desks for at least 48 hours. The bill hit on Thursday and they wanted it voted on that Friday. Waxman has lost all his credibility."
Griffith declared, "All insurance companies must compete across State lines." He also said that insurance companies ought not be able to disapprove for pre-exisiting conditions. Griffith strongly supported small businesses having the opportunity to pool their resources together in order to get competitive bids from insurance companies to pass on to their employees.
Click here for slideshow
Problems with the Bill
Speaking directly concerning language in the bill, the Congressman had this to say: "It's not a good idea to take money from Medicare for the public option. Medicare isn't overfunded in Alabama. We can't take money from Medicaid. The money will have to come from somewhere else or Medicaid will have to die."
"There's no tort-reform in the bill. When I asked Waxman why tort reform was missing he said 'We don't have time to talk about it.'" This despite the bill being 1018 pages long going into the committee.
"Healthcare is too important to have an arbitrary date and try to ram it through. I appreciate that people here in District 5 are willing to think about it."
Union Thuggary Not Welcomed with Southern Hospitality
Despite multiple warnings sent out by the Florence Tea Party that MoveOn.org and union thugs would be in attendance, there was only three of them bold enough to make any real noise after being booed straight off the bat when they cheered for HR 3200.
The only time that the town hall got even remotely violent was when the Labor Union rep had his turn at the mic. He quickly resorted to yelling that Labor helped Griffith get in office and started threatening political action.
Every un-American idea he espoused was booed, including his claim that the economy went down the drain in 2001-2 because the oil and energy industry was deregulated. Instead of ginning up support for his cause, the auditorium erupted in applause when he screeched that Griffith voted against the Stimulus bill.
"Rising interest rates, inflation and loss of jobs will kill the family unit faster than anything else. The Senate removed E-verify from the Stimulus bill. We didn't know if we would be stimulating Americans or illegals. That is why I voted against the Stimulus bill."
Later when this union thug heckled a Conservative's time at the mic, the Conservative reminded him that "you're in the minority here tonight." which was met with wild applause.
Parker Griffith, Superman!
"I will do what i think is best for the Fifth District. It's more complicated than one or two votes. Make no mistake: I will take on leadership of my party and of the Republican party and anyone else who wants to harm District 5."
Griffith reiterated this position during a later question. When asked by community organizer Christie Carden, "If you are re-elected, would you vote for Pelosi for Speaker of the House?" Griffith immediately responded with NO!
The Congressman astonishingly argued in favor of supply-side economics as being a large part of the solution to the problem. "We have a shortage of physicians. Thirty-five percent of our physicians are trained overseas because they can't get into medical programs here. Of those accepted, only two percent choose primary care."
Originally published at http://alabama.newsplatoon.com/2009/08/25/griffith-still-channeling-conservatism-union-thugs-minority-at-town-hall/