Meeting Sat with Sen Kerry, Rep. Tsongas in Lowell

[TayTay]

Anyone who can make it is most cordially invited:

Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Time: 9:00am - 10:30am
Location: Brad Morse Federal Building at Middlesex Community College, Assembly Room Street:
33 Kearney Square
City/Town: Lowell, MA

Join Senator Kerry, Congresswoman Tsongas, State Senator Steve Panagiotakos, as well as civic, business and labor leaders for a discussion on jobs and the economy in the Merrimack Valley.


I will be attending. Roger Lau is back, btw, working for the good Senator from MA. (Am asking for someone to video this. At worst, I can have an audio recording.)

[karynnj]

1. Cool

That may be exactly what is needed - real discussions on the real issues that people care about. Great that Kerry is doing this - I hope that this and subsequent things she does helps Tsongas establish enough support that she is safe in November.

[Luftmensch067]

2. Wish JK Media Source was outfitted to help right now!

But our videographer is out of state, as you know. Hope someone will film it -- it sounds like it needs to be done. I saw that Roger was publicizing THK's GMA appearance on Facebook and I'm so glad he's back on the team. He seems to really understand the need for communication through all media.

I hope he can be an influence to ensure that there is consistent official video coverage both shot and posted online. Senator Kerry does such amazing events all the time and they deserve to be widely available and known! There has been and will continue to be blogger coverage and it's needed, but most bloggers just don't have the funds or resources to be there every time, and I hate the thought that the record of these fantastic events are lost to constituents who couldn't be there.

[wisteria]

3. Soooo, how did it go today? n/t

[TayTay]

6. Well, the LaRouchies were there.

There were 3 of them and 2 got to ask questions and this ate up at least half the question time. These rude people won't let anyone else speak and they interrupt the answers and monopolize the conversation. They really have to have the moderator announce at the beginning of question period that everyone get 1 question and 3 minutes, otherwise no one else gets to speak and we have to put up with "the crazy" instead of real questions from real people.

These 3 LaRouchies were waiting outside of the hall to talk to attendees after the event. They began their spiel when my husband and I came out. I let these folks have it, verbally. The woman in charge was the same woman who got into it in Barney Frank at a health care forum last summer. (She is now running for Barney Frank's seat, btw.) I cannot stand these people. Their "Obama as Hitler" (or Bush as Hitler, etc) posters are an abomination.

That was an interesting moment. I flat out told this woman that she was crazy and I had no interest in talking to her or her buddies. Oddly enough, she contested being labeled "crazy" and got defensive. I told her that anyone who belittles the Holocaust or the suffering of millions of people under the Nazis wasn't deserving of serious discussion. I told her and she and her LaRouchie buddies were disgusting. (And I think I called them friggin bastids as well.) Their point is to cheapen discussion and demean anyone who disagrees with them by likening them to the worst murderers of the last century. Then my husband pulled me away before I got entangled in a further discussion with crazy people. (Have I ever mentioned that I can't stand LaRouchies?) I did get a lot of approving looks from others in attendance and some smiles from people I knew there.

[wisteria]

8. You mean she took offense at you calling her crazy? LOL.

How was it that they got to ask two questions? Is it that they are pushy? It is a shame they are only there to ruin the event. Surely, they get no converts with behavior like theirs.

[TayTay]

9. The Senator called on them

and he didn't screen the attendees. I have no problem with anyone asking questions, even the LaRouchies. (John Kerry can handle them, he is a seasoned pol after all.) I have a problem with their disgusting associations of everything with the Nazis and with the monopolizing of the conversation. They assume they are right and everyone else is wrong and proceed to shut down discussion from everyone who isn't them.

[wisteria]

11. Being fair I am sure, but they shouldn't be allowed to dominate the Q&A. n/t

[sandnsea]

13. rotfl

So that's how you do it. You save up that venom and then spit at the people who really deserve it. I see. I've been going about it all wrong. No wonder I get in so much trouble. lol.

I've got no LaRouchies in my town, that I've seen anyway. It never occurred to me it could get crazier than it is, lol.

[karynnj]

15. I saw them in two different places in NJ in 2005

The funny thing was that even though it was in two nearby towns within a few weeks, their version of what they were for changed radically. I argued with them because they did seem to be impressing some teens - and they were lying through their teeth.

[karynnj]

4. Nice coverage from Richardhowe.com - which seems to be a Lowell Blog

Both the op and at least one commenter went - so this has a huge amount of content. http://richardhowe.com/2010/01/30/senator-kerry-in-lowell/

More than 120 people jammed into the Assembly Room at Middlesex Community College’s Federal Building in Lowell this morning to hear Senator John Kerry, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, State Senator Steve Panagiotakos and others talk about job creation and the state of our economy. While other participants made brief remarks (which I’ll cover in a separate post), Senator Kerry said much that was interesting, relevant and informative so I’ll concentrate on his remarks here.

Senator Kerry began by observing that the great relationship that now exists among Greater Lowell’s local officials, statehouse delegation and our representatives in Washington is a key ingredient to solving the problems that currently plague us.

After commending President Obama for his lengthy and public exchange with Republican members of Congress yesterday in Baltimore, Senator Kerry criticized what he called “the perpetual campaign.” He said the Republican strategy in Washington today is “let’s stop everything so that people will get angry and blame the party that’s in power.” Kerry reminded us of the when Obama took office, we were already losing up to 800,000 jobs per month and the deficit had exceeded $1 trillion. The Recovery Act (aka “The Stimulus”) proposed by the President and enacted by Congress has worked. He urged us to ask our police and fire chiefs how many layoffs would have occurred their departments if not for the Federal stimulus funds. The same is true with teachers.

Senator Kerry next spoke about health insurance reform. Increasing the number who are covered is critical because “the more people that have health insurance, the more you spread the risk.” Regarding the Senate bill, he said “Our bill got caught up in a lot of lies by people who just wanted to whack it to just beat up Obama.” He said there were no cuts in Medicare in the Senate bill; in fact, it would extend Medicare by 10 years, all of which would be paid for by a 1% tax increase on people making more than $200,000 per year. He highlighted the equity of this arrangement by pointing out that the current Medicare tax we all contribute to is capped at $106,000 in earnings meaning that low-income taxpayers are now subsidize the Medicare coverage of the wealthiest Americans.

I hope the Senator did not say the last sentence - but rather just said it was fair - mentioning the cap. n% of $106,000 is higher than n% of say $50,000 - so they are clearly not being "subsidized.

[karynnj]

5. An interesting, and not completely negative view that seems to be from Republicans

From a blog called the "right side of Lowell" (Tay is this as the names suggests, Republican?)

Then Senator John Kerry held forth for the majority of the time, standing away from the podium and without his crutch (that is, the thing he uses to walk). He notes that political power on Capitol Hill is moving to the Southwest, as population grows in that area, but extols the local Democratic Party Representatives for helping to hold the line. He does note that to bring the economy back we need a local, state and federal partnership and the involvement of the tax paying public.

The Senator talked about the President meeting with the Republicans in the House yesterday and then talked about GOP intransigence. To save time, it is all the fault of Republicans, especially George W Bush, but also including Ronald Reagan. He also talked about being in a war we didn't need to be in (incontrovertible fact), but he didn't mention which one, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines or some other place. (Jack Mitchell's favorite line from the meeting was from Senator Kerry: "'Bush borrowed money from the Chinese to give the rich a tax break.")

<snip>
One of the points Senator Kerry made was that we need to change our energy policy and we need to include the "price" of having a carbon based economy. He noted that a couple of weeks ago he had had himself tested for heavy metals and his body was at 4 times the EPA upper limit. The Senator noted we need to push for US energy independence. Later, in the Q&A the question of energy came up and the Senator said that we would be dependent on current energy sources for 30 or 40 more years, but that we needed to be working on green energy and green energy jobs. When asked about fusion, he noted that he had recently talked to both the Secretary of Energy and the President's Science Advisor, both Nobel Prize Winners♥, and both said that fusion is still a long ways off (Blogger Comment: can't we have some sort of Manhattan Project for this?).

< snip and from a comment: >

When Kerry laid blame, he said something like, "it started under Reagan and continued until W." This was related specifically the the pillage by Wall St. and implicitly charged The Big Dawg, Clinton. Maybe you missed the velvet shiv Kerry issued.

(this same commenter suggested it would be better if Brown were there - but then suggested he could be seen as the "hollow teabagger cupie doll" he is - so, it might be that commenter is not on the right.)


Both accounts actually have great similarities and a lot of detail.

[TayTay]

7. It was a very good forum

The Lowell Sun also had a http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_14306072?source=rss">write-up about it and even quoted my husband on a question he asked. The coverage on Richardhowe.com and the Sun and the Repub blog was very good and complete. (Except that the LaRouchies dominated the Q&A. What the hell good is a moderator if they don't, I don't know, moderate. Yeesh!)

My husband and I both thought the Senator looked tired and drawn. I don't know if he is getting over a cold or not, but he looked like he could use some rest.

The Senator is still unmatched on policy details. He was precise and forceful in making his points.

I thought it was a good, thoughtful forum.

[wisteria]

10. Your husband asked a very good question. n/t

[karynnj]

12. Nice article

One question, how can anyone say a Senator who responds as reported -

"One resident questioned the banking bailout and Obama's proposed fees for big banks, asking whether those costs will be passed to the consumer.

Kerry responded, "We saved their asses. They've come back, but they haven't been loaning to the little guy. Don't you think they need to pay the amount they owe us?"

- is not down to earth?

Kerry did sound like he had a bad cold at the Haiti hearing, where he was very very good.

PS I can picture your husband pulling you away from the La Rouchies! But, SOMEONE needs to question them. I really can't believe that nitwit thinks people would vote for her to take Fran's seat. Not because Frank is powerful and far smarter, but because she really was obnoxious enough that people who didn't like Frank - liked him saying he would prefer to argue with his dining room table.

[Mass]

14. BlueMassGroup has videos of the event.

http://bluemassgroup.com/diary/18750/let-us-talk-about-jobscongresswoman-tsongas-and-senator-kerry

[Luftmensch067]

16. Thank you so much for the link!

I love the way JK describes the effort it takes to turn a big ship around. That's the exact kind of image that's needed to get through to people.

[karynnj]

17. Thanks - they really do have a lot of video there

and they are right the La Rouchies are nuts - the second one was weirder than the first. The Senator has an enormous amount of patience to deal with them as he did.

[ProSense]

18. Great stuff. Senator Kerry knows his stuff.

OMG, the Larouchies are nut cases.

:rofl: