Whither Gregg Town Hall?

Checked His Senate Website (4.00 / 1)

Nothing on his Senate website. Although under the Latest Headlines banner is this:

Senator Gregg: Deficit is Soaring and Expensive, Unaffordable Health Care "Reform" Still on the Horizon

I guess we'll just have "guess" which side of the divide he comes down on the reform issue. I will call his office and put up a post about it.

"... the milkman left me a note yesterday: Get out of this town by noon, you're coming on way too soon, and besides that we never liked you any way." -- John Prine  

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by: The Grand Panjandrum @ Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 16:56:08 PM UTC

I actually called Gregg's offices: (4.00 / 1)

The DC office said the Concord office handled all the scheduling and that they, the DC folks, wouldn't know about any in-state events even if there were any such events.  The Concord office said they knew of nothing specifically but they would supposedly contact me when something was scheduled.  I have not heard back from them since then.

I have a little book with the Constitution in it which I am ready to wave in his face if need be.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 18:21:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The man with too many consonants apparently still believes (0.00 / 0)

that the supply of money is limited by how much gold and silver have been mined.  That the connection to a "relatively" scarce mineral is no longer relevant was, I would suggest, definitively demonstrated by the recent "bailout" of the banks which had tried to control the economy by sequestering the money we need to lubricate our transactions.  Neither Bush nor Obama had any difficulty dumping trillions on Wall Street.  

Really, every mother knows that "we don't have enough money" for this or the other desired treat is either a judgment call or the consequence of somebody having left his paycheck at the local gambling hall.

Republicans with a reputation of fiscal prudence to uphold should really know better.

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by: hannah @ Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 20:58:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

last time? (0.00 / 0)

when was the last time Judd Gregg held an open town hall meeting?  I truly can't remember.  Anyone have memory of one?

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by: veritas @ Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 19:47:22 PM UTC

Judd Gregg? AWOL? (0.00 / 0)

Will wonders never cease.

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by: elwood @ Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 21:58:06 PM UTC

Maybe he's hiking the Appalacian Trail n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: Vis Unita Fortior @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 03:41:55 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

LTE to Monitor (4.00 / 3)

Senator Gregg opposes health insurance reform because, among other reasons, it will add to the deficit. But over 10 years it can actually be revenue neutral and improve the finances of the country enormously by making our workers more productive and lower the cost of healthcare through more preventative medicine and less emphasis on expensive procedures and tests after people get sick.  It will also make our businesses more competitive in the global market place where many countries support their businesses by taking the healthcare burden off them.  In doing so revenue to the federal government will rise.  

However I would like to focus on the hypocrisy of Senator Gregg.  The New York Times analyzed the figures from the Congressional Budget Office about the source of the deficit we now face and you can see their excellent graphic here.

Matthew Yglesias made a handy pie chart which he posted on his blog.   The bottom line is that the recession is responsible for 37% (and I would make the case that Bush administration policies and the Republican controlled Congress are responsible for the recession), 33% is from Bush-era legislation, 20% from the continuation of some Bush policies like the Iraq war and tax cuts for the middle class, 7% from the stimulus bill,and 3% from the Obama agenda on healthcare, education,energy, etc.

Senator Gregg voted for the Iraq war and the Bush tax cuts which primarily benefitted the richest among us.  He didn't seem to be bothered by that, but when some policies that are much less expensive in terms of the deficit come along, policies that will help the rest of us, rather than his constituency, he suddenly becomes a deficit hawk.  Shame on him.


We believe in prosperity & opportunity, strong communities, healthy families, great schools, investing in our future and leading the world by example. We are Democrats; we are the change you're looking for.

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by: bloomingpol @ Fri Aug 14, 2009 at 22:34:58 PM UTC

Judd Gregg's Health Care Plan (4.00 / 1)

1. The Breeding Plan:  Be born to a rich daddy.  

2. Make the Most of Your Ill Health:  Leverage crippling medical conditions -- sleepwalking and severe acne -- to dodge the Vietnam draft.  (Judd supported the war, just for other people.)

3. Vote against Family and Medical Leave:  What's the point of that?  If a family member is ill, have your servants take care of them!

4. Screw Working Families:  Gleefully accept first-rate government health insurance for 30+ years, while doing your damnest to deny such benefits to tens of millions of Americans in need.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 02:20:04 AM UTC

on the subject of Town Halls (4.00 / 1)

This doesn't need a whole diary 'cause it's out of state and it's relatively unimportant.  I have a DailyKos diary up where I express the opinion (shared only by Sheila Jackson Lee herself) that the famous Jackson Lee cellphone video was a fake.  

http://bit.ly/YHaLi

I was roundly denounced by my fellow liberals for expounding such a wild theory.  We seem all too willing to throw Jackson Lee under the bus.  Sure she is a little nutty but she's 10 times saner than the average Republican in Congress.

The infamous video has a very suspicious jump cut at the 18 second mark.  And there are a few other signs of fakery.  We never see Jackson Lee and her questioner in the same frame.

I am sure Jakcson Lee DID pull her cellphone out of her pocket during the meeting.  But I believe the timeline may have been altered on the video.

To read more: http://bit.ly/YHaLi

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 02:37:20 AM UTC

A bimbo. (0.00 / 0)

Look, the interlocutor is a bimbo.  She's divorcing but she doesn't want any government help.  What does she think a divorce is but a government-supervised resolution of a personal relationship?

When whites are inattentive, it's because they have more important matters to consider.  When blacks are inattentive, it's because they're insolent (elitist is the new version of uppity).  

Who taught these people that it's appropriate to treat public servants with disrespect?  Is there more psychic satisfaction in dissing a black public official than in dissing an ordinary black?

I'm reminded that with Clinton "character" was a big issue.  How about making Republican "manners" an issue?

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by: hannah @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 17:20:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

and the bimbo's manners... (0.00 / 0)

The interlocutor (whose name is Tracy Miller although few other details have surfaced) was not exactly behaving flawlessly if we take the video at face value.  Miller was presumably looking right at Congresswoman Jackson Lee when she began asking her question, and Jackson Lee already had her cellphone out beforehand or she suddenly whipped it out in the middle of the question.  Either way, the polite thing for Miller to do would have been to wait for Jackson Lee to get off the phone.

Miller's manners were not exactly flawless, although she was behaving better than many people we have seen on video lately.

Jackson Lee gave a vague explanation afterwards of why she took her phone out.  She was looking for more information, she said.  BUT: the audience had no way of knowing why she had her phone out.  Maybe she was calling 911 because she saw a suicide bomber in the back of the room.  Maybe a family member was near death and Jackson Lee was expecting a call from the hospital with good (or bad) news. Maybe she was running late and she was caling ahead to tell her advance team that she was behind schedule. Or whatever... the point is, it was wrong to jump to the conclusion that she was just being a bitch.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 20:00:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Clearly a cut (0.00 / 0)

The camera whips over way too fast, and the color of the blur is consistent. It could be the light washing out the shot, but it looks more like a rapid pan of an empty room.

In other words, if the camera operator decided to pan from Miller to Lee, they would have done so far more slowly to maintain focus. It's also not likely that they could pivot that rapidly and end up with a perfectly focused, centered shot of the Congresswoman.

I am not an expert, but based on my camera experience, I say it's a cut.

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by: JimC @ Mon Aug 17, 2009 at 14:04:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Gregg press release courtesy of RedHampshire.com (0.00 / 0)

I saw this on our opposite color's web site.  One of the socalled forums is actually just a  meeting of the Portsmouth Rotary Club:

GREGG TO VISIT SALEM AND PORTSMOUTH TO
DISCUSS HEALTH CARE REFORM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20th  2009

WASHINGTON - On Thursday, August 20, 2009, U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) will participate in two forums on health care reform in Salem and Portsmouth. Full details for each event are included below.

As a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senator Gregg has long been a national leader on health care reform, working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address this important issue. He has focused on expanding coverage to the uninsured while reducing the out-year costs of healthcare, and ensuring that if people like their current insurance plan they get to keep it.

In addition to being a key member in the Senate HELP Committee negotiations, a participant of the bipartisan health care working group, and a co-sponsor of the bipartisan Wyden-Bennett bill, the Healthy Americans Act, Senator Gregg has proposed a comprehensive approach to health care reform called CPR: Coverage, Prevention and Reform. For information on this proposal please go to:

http://gregg.senate.gov/public...

Senator Gregg strongly opposes any attempt to move to a single-payer system or nationalized healthcare. He believes such an approach will put a Washington bureaucrat between you and your doctor, dramatically increase the cost of healthcare, lead to delays and rationing, and stifle innovation in the development of life saving new drugs and medical advances.

9:00 10:00 a.m. Health Care Forum at the Salem Senior Center

Senator Gregg will participate in a forum on health care reform at the Salem Senior Center which is open to the public. He will discuss the latest progress in Washington to reform our nation's broken health care system and take questions from the audience.

Location: 1 Sally Sweet's Way, Salem

12:15 p.m. - Portsmouth Rotary Luncheon

Senator Gregg will take part in the Portsmouth Rotary's monthly luncheon where he will discuss health care reform and take questions from the audience. The Portsmouth Rotary represents a broad cross section of Seacoast citizens. For more information on this event, please contact the Portsmouth Rotary at http://www.portsmouthrotary.or...
Location: Red Hook Brewery at Pease International Tradeport, 35 Corporate Drive, Portsmouth

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Wed Aug 19, 2009 at 16:10:20 PM UTC