Allen West: ‘Medicare as it is now will destroy America’
From Joy Reid, who is keeping her eye on…Allen West defends his vote to replace Medicare with vouchers at yet another town hall, this time admitting how he really feels about the program that’s so important to his Palm Beach constituents.
WPTV in Boca Raton captured the action:
BOCA RATON, Fla. – If those opposed to U.S. Rep. Allen West have their way, the 2012 election will be fought on his recent vote to privatize Medicare starting in 2023.
They got loud during a town hall meeting the congressman held Wednesday night in Boca Raton.
To see the story that aired on WPTV, click “Video” in the upper left hand side of the screen.
The man designated to read questions from audience members read one word a lot: “Medicare.”
And if you know Congressman Allen West and what he thinks of Medicare, the program that delivers health care to 38 million seniors and that national polls say is largely supported, his response was what you’d expect.
“I gotta tell you something: if you support Medicare the way it is now, you can kiss the United States of America goodbye,” said West.
The town hall featured still more people being tossed out for trying to ask questions, since West has now refashioned his town halls, by designating a question reader. Daniel Tilson has more on the “fix”:
The vote to end Medicare is arguably the single most important political event so far this year. Democrats should continue to make Republicans pay for it, every day, the way their constituents are making them pay at every town hall.
Meanwhile, once the recess is over, Senate Republicans will get a taste of what the House is going through, when Sen. Harry Reid puts the Paul Ryan vouchercare plan to a vote in the upper chamber.
The YouTube video is a cut and paste hack job created by a professional. I watched him film at the town hall using a $5000 pro video camera (check out his other pro videos on YouTube). The woman interviewed had no knowledge of the process. Congressman West answered 64 questions in one town hall and about 70 questions in another. This was about five times the number answered the previous month. Last month people lined up for over an hour and didn’t get to ask anything. Worse, many people repeated the same questions and killed time lecturing the audience. Elimination of duplicate questions and covering many topics was a major enhancement to the process.
Another important point: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TOUGH QUESTION for Congressman West. You may be confusing him with his predecessor. At the first town hall in Deerfield, Allan West asked for anyone in the audience who didn’t vote for him to come forward and tell him why. Allen West immerses himself in dialogue. The subjects in the town halls included Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, national security, support of Israel, immigration, opposition to Federal bailouts(this is were some of his detractors actually started listening to him), eliminating the IRS, flat taxes, the debt ceiling, development of energy resources, Libya, radical Islam, and many others. What exactly was left out?
Congressman West continues to connect with people because he is speaking from his heart: he represents all Americans. Many of the most vocal people in the town halls actually started listening as they heard the Congressman covering details on each topic. Constituents can attend town halls and see for themselves — West is the real deal.
As an update, check out the following at http://tinyurl.com/3rmppmu at the Palm Beach Post “Did Allen West duck tough questions in Boca Raton? Moderator doesn’t think so”
Allen West is the real deal.