Mike Wilson's Observations of the Driehaus Town Meeting

Dear Fellow Citizens and Taxpayers,

This is a long, but very important read. This first section is a recap of the forum on Monday night.

About 160 members of the Cincinnati Tea Party and Cincinnati 9/12 Project attended a healthcare forum with Steve Driehaus this evening. We met prior to the event at Mecklenburg Gardens where we had dinner, distributed questions, and went over the rules of engagement.

I had been made aware during the day today that the local Democrat party had sent out a call to supporters because of expected tea party attendance. Here is the text of that email:

Please be aware that there may be some organized opposition appearing from the Tea Party crowd, so your presence and support is important tonight. Take note of the sort of instructions being circulated in some parts of the country to people planning to disrupt event like the one tonight. * Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: "Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington."* Be Disruptive Early And Often: "You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early."* Try To "Rattle Him," Not Have An Intelligent Debate: "The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions."

Note that the Democratic email does not directly attribute the quotes to us (The Cincinnati Tea Party) (they are actually from a group called Freedomworks). Our goal in this meeting as previously stated was to, "learn more about his position on the issue, ask questions, and reiterate our opposition to government-run healthcare." I reiterated this message in our meeting at Mecklenburg and asked everyone to be respectful and to maintain decorum at the event. I pointed out we would have a chance to protest as some point in the future, but that was not that night.

Upon arriving, we found that the event was full - mostly with Driehaus supporters and that a limited number of us were allowed in. The crowd sat rather quietly while waiting for the event to start. A woman from the group hosting the event welcomed us and said, "There's an elephant in the room." She then called us tea baggers and read the above quotes from Freedomworks while attributing them to us. She also told us we should be ashamed of ourselves for trying to interrupt civil debate.

In spite of this, the atmosphere was tense, and there were occasional catcalls from the crowd, but anyone who says there was organized disruption is quite frankly lying. A few people were loud at times, but I do not believe they were affiliated with our group and they were certainly not part of the leadership. In fact, I think our restraint was admirable in the face of provocations.
I sat next to a gentleman (I use that term loosely) who cursed at me repeatedly, called me a greedy son of a b****, and said I was probably a racist too. I am certain I wasn't the only one to experience that level of hate.

Driehaus began the event with a 10-minute summary of the process and his position on the issue. At one point, he was interrupted by the crowd at which point I rose and asked that all who stand with me allow him to speak. He then allowed questions.

The audience was allowed to submit questions via index cards which were sorted by the group hosting the event. He also took questions from the crowd due to some frustration with the process. The first seemed rehearsed very well and likely to be a plant, but the rest were fairly random and I give him credit for taking some tough questions.

Some he dodged, some he answered well. A few quick bullet points on the questions that I remember: He was pressed on funding for abortion in the bill and said he would not support a bill that had funds for abortion

He was asked about coverage for illegal aliens in the bill and pointed out that they already received coverage at hospital emergency rooms and that it was not Catholic, or Christian to refuse them.

He was asked if we would be forced onto the public option if we lost our jobs and he answer that coverage was mandated.

He dodged questions about debt/deficit by blaming Bush tax cuts, the wars, and the economy
He dodged questions about what happens if their expectations for savings don't materialize and said there is a trigger in the bill, but did not clarify.

I was finally recognized at the end and asked given that every time government healthcare has been tried we've end up over budget, why would we expect it to be any different this time and how would they control costs without rationing? He responded with the savings/trigger argument. I then pressed on about the trigger wanting to know what happens when the money runs out - isn't that rationing? He finally admitted that they still needed to figure that out.

At some point near the end, cops entered the building. They also came forward at the end to escort him to the back door of the building as many in the crowd were anxious to ask additional questions.

All of this was captured on video and it is a priority for us to make it available as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Mike Wilson
Founder/President
Cincinnati Tea Party

I know our Tea Party strategy is working because my wife heard an Obama supporter say, "These people are everywhere, they ruin everything." I guess what is good for the goose is not good for the gander, I guess only Acorn Democrats can be activists in this country!

My fellow citizens our nation is more divided than ever. Where is the division coming from? The sin of slavery caused division and a civil war in 1860 and I guarantee you if we divide Israel and divide Jerusalem and give it to Jewish enemies bent on the destruction of the Jewish people God will divide our country even further.

What is a trillion dollars? If we spent $1,000.00 a minute from the time Yeshua was born until now - 2,009 years - that would equal a trillion dollars. The Lord calls upon us to be good stewards of our money and blessings and we are squandering our nation's gifts. Once these blessings are gone we and our children will never see them again. Have you ever known an empire or nation to be in such debt and survive? All those empires are gone from Rome to the monarchy in France.