Claire McCaskill Town Hall, Blue Springs MO

The event was dubbed, “a kitchen table talk”, which seemed odd since it was held in a library, but it was basically a town hall.  400-500 people showed up to talk to the Senator, only to find out that she was actually in another part of the state, and a staffer, (Kimberly Jolley?) was taking her place.

I don’t envy her for having to face 400+ very skeptical, very displeased tax payers with very few answers to their questions. We were told that the questions were being taken down, and that Senator would post answers on her website in the coming days. We’ll see.

I got there late, (of course), and found a place in the back to snap some pictures:

This woman, from the McCaskill group led the proceedings with a very ….charismatic prayer that went so long, that a few people in the crowd randomly shouted out, “Amen”! before she was finished. People weren’t there for a revival meeting.

I forgot what this woman asked, but she started by asking people to stay calm.

This woman is a refuge from the Canadian health care system. She moved to the US in 2005, and said it was the best thing she ever did.

This man said that Senator McCaskill didn’t need to bother reading any of the various health care bills floating through congress…

The only thing she needs to read, he exclaimed, is the Constitution.

The staffer was respectful, and poised, but didn’t have many answers to our questions.

I asked a question, myself. (Man, was I nervous!) I asked if Senator McCaskill would support tort reform in the Senate bill, and she said she didn’t know. I did get her to confirm that the Senator supported the public option. I then faced the audience and said, “I think we all know, because Obama has said so himself on several occasions that the public option would necessarily lead to a single payer, universal health care system”. I said that many Democrats had admitted this, including Jacob Hacker, the Berkeley professor who designed the plan. He said, ‘this isn’t a Trojan horse…it’s right in there!’ I went on, “Now, nevermind that the White House has been…*thinking feverishly for a more delicate term, and failing*…lying profusely about what he has said, the bottom line is, the American people do not support a universal health care plan” (Applause). I turned to her and asked, “Does Senator McCaskill support universal health care? She shook her head no.

This woman is a retired teacher, if I remember right.

One person, when it was his time to ask a question  asked the crowd if a bus had taken them down there, or if they were on anybody’s payroll. “NOOOOOO!”  they bellowed.

I almost brought some signs in, myself, but I thought it would be kind of weird in the library…

On my way out, the kiddo I was with was hungry for din-din.

Well, the experience was not terribly edifying, but at least I can now say that I am officially part of  “the mob”.