Rep. Giffords a no-show at her own event due to Tea Partiers — then lies and says she never meant to go!
August 7, 2009 by Robert Mayer
Filed under News
On August 6 at 7 p.m., Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) hosted an outdoor movie night at La Placita Cinema downtown. However, because she has been hiding from her constituents and has so far refused to hold a townhall regarding the healthcare bill, we all figured it would be a good idea to show up and let her know how unhappy we are with the bill.
She was supposed to show up for the movie event — it’s her event, after all! — but then told a Fox 11 reporter that she was not going to attend because she feared the protesters would “disrupt the movie”. Apparently she thinks that supporters of the Tucson Tea Party are part of an unruly mob!
All I saw were 200-300 concerned citizens!
Then, on the Fox 11 broadcast that night (video here), she accused the Tucson Tea Party of misrepresenting the event as a town hall and said she never intended to go to the event at all!
Nothing could be further from the truth. Gabrielle Giffords sent out a message in her “Cactus Roots Connection” newsletter about her intended appearance at the event, saying: “Come join me and others in watching this classic film… Hope to see you there! Thank you again for your support! Sincerely yours, Gabrielle Giffords.”
A copy of the message is posted on the LD26 Democrats blog. The La Placita Cinema’s Twitter feed also says: “Thurs. Aug. 6 our Congressperson Gabrielle Giffords will be at CLP to see ‘Mr. Smith goes to Washington’. Come say ‘hi’ and see a movie!”
UPDATE: The LD26 Democrats blog has taken the blog post down, likely out of fear that it will hurt Gabby. A copy of the same message can be found at this blog instead.
Gabrielle Giffords is hiding from her constituency at a time when she needs to start listening to them. She showed true cowardice by failing to appear at her own event in the face of public protest.
She did the exact same thing in Douglas, where she forced constituents to wait in line to talk to her one-on-one before turning the rest away rather than speak openly with her constituents (video here).
The reality is that there was no unruly mob, which was apparent to everyone who attended. There were only concerned constituents who showed up to the only public appearance she planned to make in Tucson during the recess. And the only reason we were there was to ask her for one public townhall in which we could voice our concerns.
In fact, rather than disrupt the movie night, Tea Partiers helped the La Placita Cinema set up their chairs!
By not showing up to her own event because of fears that her constituents would “disrupt the movie”, Giffords showed not only cowardice by failing to defend her position on government-run healthcare, but disrespect and disdain for her own constituency. Essentially, she is calling the protesters uncivilized and not worth her time.
I also invite you all to check out the videos, pictures, and news coverage of the event and judge for yourself if these people are part of an unruly mob (posted below “Protest News”). I just don’t see it where they get that idea.
More Protest News:
Several groups will be protesting outside of Giffords’ office on Saturday, August 8 at 9 a.m. Her office is located on the SW corner of Pima & Swan. While this is not a Tucson Tea Party organized protest, I know that many of our supporters will be there and feel that it is important for other Tea Partiers to know about it.
The Tucson Tea Party will be participating in the Nationwide Recess Rally in front of Giffords’ office. While the nationwide rally will be at noon on Saturday, August 22, we believe there are significant disadvantages to that time including the heat, lack of traffic, no news media on hand, and nobody present at Giffords’ office.
Therefore, The Tucson Tea Party rally will take place on Friday, August 21 between 4 - 7 p.m. at Gabrielle Giffords’ office on Pima and Swan! The last rally on July 17 had 500 people attend. Let’s make this one 1000 at least!
Please check TucsonTeaParty.org and our Event Calendar for more information.
UPDATE: <a href=”http://www.tucsonteaparty.org/?p=277″>Now Gabrielle Giffords is calling the Tucson Tea Party racist!</a>
Videos, Pictures, and News Coverage
Arizona Daily Star: Jamar Younger did a good job providing fair coverage of the event.
Fox 11: Gabby lies and says that she never intended to be at the movie event.
Flickr Pictures: Check out this Flickr set to see pictures from the protest.
Videos: Here’s a video of the protest around 6:00 p.m. and another of Jon Justice speaking.
The page is already pulled down. Hopefully you have a screen shot.
But this new post is classic:
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Me-First, Screw-Everyone-Else Crowd
Posted on Aug 7, 2009
Truthdig
By David Sirota
I know I should be mortified by the lobbyist-organized mobs of angry Brooks Brothers mannequins who are now making headlines by shutting down congressional town hall meetings. I know I should be despondent during this, the Khaki Pants Offensive in the Great American Health Care and Tax War. And yet, I’m euphorically repeating one word over and over again with a big grin on my face.
Finally.
Finally, there’s no pretense. Finally, the Me-First, Screw-Everyone-Else Crowd’s ugliest traits are there for all to behold.
The group’s core gripe is summarized in a letter I received that denounces a proposed surtax on the wealthy and corporations to pay for universal health care:
“Until recently, my family was in the top 3 percent of wage earners,” the affluent businessperson fumed in response to my July column on taxes. “We are in the group that pays close to 60 percent of this nation’s taxes … Think for a second how you would feel if you built a business and contributed more than your share to this country only to be treated like a pariah.”
This sob story about the persecuted rich fuels today’s “Tea Parties”—and I’m sure you’ve heard some version of it in your community.
I’m also fairly certain that when many of you run into the Me-First, Screw-Everyone-Else Crowd, you don’t feel like confronting the faux outrage. But on the off chance you do muster the masochistic impulse to engage, here’s a guide to navigating the conversation:
What They Will Scream: We can’t raise business taxes, because American businesses already pay excessively high taxes!
What You Should Say: Here’s the smallest violin in the world playing for the businesses. The Government Accountability Office reports that most U.S. corporations pay zero federal income tax. Additionally, as even the Bush Treasury Department admitted, America’s effective corporate tax rate is the third lowest in the industrialized world.
What They Will Scream: But the rich still “pay close to 60 percent of this nation’s taxes!” Click here for the rest of the column. © 2009 CREATORS.COM Read more!
Posted by 26 Dems at 10:25 AM
I’m guessing she didn’t read the bill….
…but she read the handwriting on the wall!
Giffords is quite simply a coward just like so many others in congress.
The David Sirota piece mentioned by Don is found here:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/08/08/sirota_selfish/
Replacement of logic with liberal fanaticism….
Yep. That piece by Sirota is posted verbatim on the LD26 Dems website.
Folks,
I was at La Placita on Thursday night and I showed up there not as a congressional candidate. I simply wanted to ask Rep Giffords a question about energy. Instead, she blew us off. Seeing this, I put my campaign hat on and talked with the crowd for a few minutes. I got an overwhelming show of support, so thank you to all of you who were there.
She WAS supposed to be there. She sent an email invitation to her supporters and I’m trying to get a copy of that email now. I know it exists because my wife saw it!! If I am able to get a copy, I’ll post it on my website at http://www.carlsonforcongress.com.
This type of “representation” has to stop! These people work for us, not for the SEIU, not for Pelosi, not for ACORN. Help me to help Rep Giffords to the unemployment line! Let’s Rescue the Republic!
The babe theory of policital movements: http://hope4america.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-babe-theory-of-polical refers to this:
“Its a well written article … fun to read … and then along the right hand side are picture from the same web site, showing picture of cute babes (see picture on right. Link to original picture).
I really think the tea party movement is going to be successful due to the babe theory of political movements.
See here for an explanation of the babe theory of political movements:
I don’t recall which P.J. O’Rourke book it was (I think it was this one), but he once opined on the “babe theory” of political movements. It was his observation that the movements that are bound to succeed are the ones with the pretty girls. The reasoning behind it is they are more likely to woo a large number of male supporters, hoping to impress said pretty girls.
[Not sure how to create a trackback from Ning blogs, so just posting this as a comment]
Sorry, previous post (awaiting moderation has wrong link).
Correct link is: http://hope4america.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-babe-theory-of-political
And I can’t see how to edit previous post.