Just got back from a Braley town hall.

[justgamma]

Congressman Braley sponsored it. They had The whole 8th grade class come. They were able to ask questions. One brave girl got up and said that people don't want anyone to come between her and her doctor. She ask, but what if her and her doctor decided that she needed an abortion. Brave kid. He answered about saving the life of the mother.

One guy asked if abortions would be paid for. Braley said "no". Then the man said that Cardinal so and so said they would. "Was the Cardinal lying?" I think Braley didn't respond.

One student said that she heard that he hadn't read the bill. I think that irritated him, but he took his copy of the bill and showed her how it was highlighted, and marked up and had stickies on it.

Of course they brought up Tort reform. He explained that it was a really small savings. Then he had a fantastic answer. He said "I trust you people to make the right decisions about a lawsuit. I don't want the government to make those kind decisions."

We had one doctor that got up and bitched about TriCare. He sometimes had to wait 30 minutes to get the ok to treat.
Braley said " I know how frustrating that is. I had knee surgery and we went through the same thing with my private insurance"

Then I got up and said "I know a lot of people here don't trust the government. Well, I don't trust the insurance companies! You don't know if you have bad insurance until you have to use it." Then I asked him "Since the insurance companies are exempt from anti-trust laws and anti-price fixing laws, if we don't have some real competition, how will we get them to reduce their costs?"

Unfortunately, I'm such a coward and was amazed that I got up in front of all these people and spoke, that I don't think I heard one word of his answer, but I bet it was good.

All and all it was pretty civil. There was some hooting when he explained the savings that we would get. And of course they didn't believe that their taxes will not go up.

Some guy was handing out very professional looking business cards advertising a teabagging event by the "Silent Majority". I just threw it back at him. They are not silent and they are not the majority. False advertising.


Oh at the one Monday in Clinton, they talked about how long the bill was. Braley had a great answer. He said "I sponsered a bill to make them use plain language so everybody can understand. You know how some of those elite Ivy leaguers like to show how smart they are" lol