Unions To Take On Conservative Groups Health Care Town Halls

The nation's largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess.

In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney outlined the blueprint for how the union conglomerate would step up recess activities on health care reform and other topics pertinent to the labor community. The document makes clear that Obama allies view the town hall forums as ground zero of the health care debate. It also uses the specter of the infamous 2000 recount "Brooks Brothers" protest to rally its members to the administration's side.

"The principal battleground in the campaign will be town hall meetings and other gatherings with members of Congress in their home districts," reads the memo. "We want your help to organize major union participation to counter the right-wing "Tea-Party Patriots" who will try to disrupt those meetings, as they've been trying to do to meetings for the last month. ...

I never wanted to post another topic on ATS, but these strong arm tactics are making me livid.

UPDATE: AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka sends out a scathing statement about the town halls, hitting on Sweeney's themes and calling the events corporate funded.

Every American has the inalienable right to participate in our democratic process. Our politics is passionate, heartfelt and often loud -- as was the founding of our nation. But that is not what the corporate-funded mobs are engaging in when they show up to disrupt town halls held by members of Congress.
Major health care reform is closer than ever to passage and it is no secret that special interests want to weaken or block it. These mobs are not there to participate. As their own strategy memo states, they have been sent by their corporate and lobbyist bankrollers to disrupt, heckle and block meaningful debate. This is a desperation move, meant to slow the momentum for change.

Mob rule is not democracy. People have a democratic right to express themselves and our elected leaders have a right to hear from their constituents -- not organized thugs whose sole purpose is to shut down the conversation and attempt to scare our leaders into inaction

We call on the insurance companies, the lobbyists and the Republican leaders who are cheering them on to halt these 'Brooks Brothers Riot' tactics. Health care is a crucial issue and everyone - on all sides of the issue - deserves to be heard.

www.boston.com...

www.npr.org...

[edit on 033131p://bThursday2009 by Stormdancer777]

This is going to end up turning really ugly I can already see it.

Saying that these people are corporate shills? And to counter this they are going to send in their Union shills?

I hope these things don't turn into violence, but it has ever possibility to do so.

As this make yous livid it does the same to me, makes me want to pull my hair out.

www.youtube.com...

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson

This is Obama's transparency?

He is doing this ,

The uniter is the great divider.

reply to post by Hastobemoretolife

Saying that these people are corporate shills? And to counter this they are going to send in their Union shills?

These are average Americans, voicing their opinion, many have worked hard all their life and fear they are going to get the shaft.



[edit on 023131p://bThursday2009 by Stormdancer777]

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Oh for sure, the voices in protest are the voices of informed voters that have realized they have made a grave mistake by staying quite for too long and letting the government do what it wants when it pleases. They have now awoken to stop the storm that is coming.

I was just pointing out the hypocrisy by trying to say these people are "Brooks Brothers protesters" so to counter that they are going to send in their union shills.

This isn't going to go over very well at all. The pot is about to boil over. You know they were doing such a good job of slowly bringing the water to a boil then Obama decided to come in and turn it on full blast and now the frog is trying to jump out the pot.

I just hope they remain verbal fights and they don't break down into physical violence.

Somehow I have a very bad feeling that this is not going to turn out very well. Reminds me of the Red Guards vs the White armies during the Russian Civil War.

I just hope they remain verbal fights and they don't break down into physical violence.

Can you imagine?

There are a lot of veterans at those meetings, a lot of older folks, Democrats too, can you imagine the videos of union thugs bulling old men and women?

Oh I forgot, they wont air that on TV.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


The sad thing is that they won't.

I'm erring on the side of caution saying this, but this could very well be the start of a civil war or a revolution.

The people that are tying to speak up now want answers to their questions not the run around they keep giving.

Just the think the veterans are the ones with all the guns, ugly ugly situation.

WTF do the Unions care!?!? They're already exempted from this horrible uber-socialist take over of health-care - because they have "Contracts". Question, didn't the creditors to the auto manufacturers have "Contracts" as well? Obama didn't have a problem shredding those though. It figures, he's mobilizing his brown shirts!!!

reply to post by kozmo

he's mobilizing his brown shirts!!!

And that is what makes me nervous. This is not going to turn out well, I hope things will stay civilized, but I'm not counting on it.

The people speaking up are watching everything they ever worked for being stripped away from them at break-neck speed, and they aren't going to stand for it anymore. Now the union thugs are going to come in and try to bully their way to silencing them?

Not good.

reply to post by Hastobemoretolife

The people that are tying to speak up now want answers to their questions not the run around they keep giving.

I don't think the Obama supporters realize they are going to lose as much as the rest of us.

I knew he was like this, I know what happened when he was a state senator.

Issa: Rahm Emanuel using Chicago 'playbook' to intimidate others
www.digitaljournal.com...

Washington DC is becoming an increasingly nasty place, with White House bullying tactics designed to intimidate and wear down opposing legislators and governors across the country - at least this is the assessment of House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa.
In a press statement released on Tuesday, Congressman Issa claimed that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been resorting to a Chicago-style "playbook" that acts as a "scare tactic" against legislators and governors who question the approaches of the Obama White House.

Originally posted by kozmo
WTF do the Unions care!?!? They're already exempted from this horrible uber-socialist take over of health-care - because they have "Contracts". Question, didn't the creditors to the auto manufacturers have "Contracts" as well?

Obama didn't have a problem shredding those though.

It figures, he's mobilizing his brown shirts!!!

he's mobilizing his brown shirts!!!

That is exactly what is happening, with all the evidence we have put forward on this forum if people still have doubt, there is no hope for them.

reply to post by Hastobemoretolife

The people speaking up are watching everything they ever worked for being stripped away from them at break-neck speed,

Yes,

My husband a Vietnam Vet, who has worked hard all his life and now close to retirement age, what about all his tax dollars?

Maybe you guys haven't seen this yet, or maybe you have, but check this out, this is one of the dots that leads me to think the way that I do about this situation.

Really?

Now I'm not trying to say it was intentional or anything, but the similarities are striking.

Then when I read threads like this, it makes me question my sanity.

It's really coming down to it.

Barack Obama. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, Rule Number 14,

Pick the target, freeze it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

I have experienced the character attacks on this forum.

I am going to look further into this, I have not up to now, but he really is using Rules for Radicals, isn't he?

Originally posted by Hastobemoretolife
Maybe you guys haven't seen this yet, or maybe you have, but check this out, this is one of the dots that leads me to think the way that I do about this situation.

Really?

Now I'm not trying to say it was intentional or anything, but the similarities are striking.

Then when I read threads like this, it makes me question my sanity.

It's really coming down to it.

Yes I saw that topic, and it makes you wonder, I believe he is pushing Eugenics in his healthcare plan.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


My friend you forgot to add the link, unless the tube link is the news stories.

I am very surprised that unions are to take to this task, after all what the unions had to do with all this.

I am just wondering, still when you have angry people nobody is going to stop them from protesting.

reply to post by Stormdancer777

I have experienced the character attacks on this forum.

I am going to look further into this, I have not up to now, but he really is using Rules for Radicals, isn't he?

We have all experienced those tactics on here, the thing about it is that they are taught these tactics they learned, most of them have just picked up on it they don't even know what they are doing and where it originated.

And yes, they are using the communist playbook line by line.

We read recently about his "Ministry of Truth", his "list of enemies" and now the mobilization of his Brown Shirt thugs. Hmmmm, for all of the hoopla that the damned liberals threw around linking George Bush to the Nazis... Somehow Obama has drawn many more striking similarities - methinks!

It's obvious that he's desperately trying to foment race and class warfare in this country. That in and of itself is downright treasonous!

Let's see

Obama promises to help union

Union helps Obama during protests

Obama makes sure Union gets help


All politics on the Union side. All they care about is their Union, not America as a whole.