Mass Strike Ferment Continues at Town Hall Meetings; At Least 11,000 Turn-Out for Aug. 27 Events

Aug. 29 (LPAC)—The continuing, unprecedented turnout for Congressional town hall meetings around the country reflects the growing mass-strike ferment in the American population. The reports below are for 19 events on Thursday, Aug. 27, unless otherwise indicated, and report a participation of at least 11,000-12,500 persons.

Central States

* Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) exclaimed, "We're almost reaching a revolution in this country!" at a town hall meeting in Chikasha. He said he didn't need to read the health care reform bill; he knows what's in it, and will vote against it. One citizen said: "no more compromises...we're losing our country." Inhofe said that concepts included in reform bills, are "completely foreign to our country." (The Express Star)

* Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) faced a packed house of more than 600 people who flooded the Convention Center in Ardmore, Oklahoma. (KTEN.com)

* Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) was confronted by over 500 people attending a town hall meeting at the Louisiana National Guard outpost in St. John the Baptist Parish; chants of "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" rose several times before and during the 90-minute session. (Times-Picayune)

At another Landrieu meeting, a capacity crowd estimated at 600 filled the Army National Guard Readiness Center in Reserve, LA. A fire marshal shut the doors, forcing the remaining attendees to listen in the lobby. (dailycomet.com)

* Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN) town meeting in Lake Elmo, MN had more than 400 people in a school auditorium, plus a couple of hundred more in overflow room in cafeteria watching video feed. (KSTP-TV)

* Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) town hall meeting on health care in Racine, had to be moved to the Roma Lodge, due to expected large crowds. More than 500 people filled the room. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

* South Dakota. Not a Congressional town meeting, but indicative of the times: A hastily-organized meeting by a college student in Watertown, SD, with locally-known conservative speakers, drew 250. (nco)

Western States

* Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): Nearly 600 people came to Medford's Abraham Lincoln Elementary School to hear talk about health-care reform in a town-hall meeting. (Medford Mail-Tribune)

* Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) had 400-500 people show up at the La Plata County Courthouse on Thursday to attend the town hall; more than 300 people lined up outside, in addition to the 140 who were allowed into the meeting itself. (Durango Herald)

* Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) held a 3000-person event in Bakersfield; advance planning included a secret escape route, and front-row plain clothes contingent. The venue had to be changed 3 times for bigger space.

* Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), who also opposed the bill in the Education and Labor Committee, had 500 people show up for a town hall meeting in Walla Walla. (Roll Call)

Eastern States

* Rep. Marcia Blackburn (R-TN) had 1,100 people at a town hall — almost all in opposition to Obama's health care plan.

* Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Alabama) had "hundreds" in the "raucous" crowd at the Carter Phys. Ed. Center at Athens State University this afternoon, with lines of questioners snaked all around the gym. This was his second event this week.

* Rep. Mike Castle R-(DE), who voted against the health bill in the House Education and Labor Committee, nevertheless faced a a crowd of about 250 in Newark, Delaware. (Roll Call)

* Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) faced a packed house in a Chocowinity restaurant; according to the Beaufort "Observer", he was asked about out-of-control government spending, and responded: "I'm not sure anything can be done about it unless the American people continue to express their outrage as we have seen in the last few weeks, and I'm not even sure Congress will listen to that. I worry that it will take a total collapse of our financial system before we get something real done about it."

* In Rep. John Murtha's (D-PA) district, local papers say 110 or 130 people showed up for town hall in Johnstown sponsored by Tim Burns, Republican, who's challenging Murtha. The discussion was not only on health care, but about government in general. "They're supposed to be working for [us] and they've forgotten that," said one participant. When Burns said he is "upset with the politicians in Washington," the audience shouted "Amen."

* Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH) held a town hall meeting in Green Township in Cincinnati area; according to a posting on FreeRepublic.com, "About one hundred conservatives attended ... The event was peaceful."

* Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) town hall in Erin had standing-room only, with over 100 people crowded into the town hall.

* Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) who supported the bill in the Education and Labor Committee, held a town hall in Farmingville, Long Island, according to "Newsday", with 900 people inside a local high school, and another 500 who didn't get in. The LaRouche contingent estimated 3,000 people total. Bishop left quickly after a rowdy, two-hour meeting. (Roll Call)

* New York. Coverage of Rep. Gregory Meeks (D) Aug. 25 event, in the Aug. 27 Queens Chronicle, reported on the opposition to the Obama health care plan by the LaRouche Political Action Committee at the meeting, including LPAC activist Jerry Pyenson saying, "This has nothing to do with health, it has to do with saving money...[If you cut Medicare and Medicaid, and bail-out Wall Street], Who Dies?"

* New Jersey. Coverage of Rep. Rush Holt (D) Aug. 26 event in Aug. 27 "Roll Call" in Washington, D.C.: "More than an hour before the event was to start, a line of more than 750 people ringed the Middletown Arts Center's parking lot. The crowd appeared to approximate the anecdotal mix of attendees at health care events throughout the country this summer: throngs of highly motivated activists with varying degrees of support for and opposition to Democratic-sponsored health care proposals, along with a handful of Lyndon LaRouche supporters displaying posters of President Obama donning Adolf Hitler-style mustaches."

* Pennsylvania. Today's "The Triangle" newspaper of Drexel University, covers "Rachel Brown of the LaRouche Youth Movement," in her exchange with Barney Frank, in a student essay.

* Washington, D.C. Today's "MediaMatters.org" complains that today's "Washington Times" editorial identifies the "Nazi policy" questioner of Barney Frank at the Dartmouth event, only as a "Democrat, in not as a "LaRouche" Democrat.