Hey, Nancy: This anger is real! ~ By Henry Lamb

By Henry Lamb Posted: August 15, 2009 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 If Nancy Pelosi really believes that the anger displayed at town hall meetings is manufactured by "Astroturf" Republican groups, she is either stupid or totally disconnected from the real world. Democrats appear to be shocked by the intensity and the volume of the opposition they have encountered to the health care bill that awaits their return from August vacation. Of course, Obama knew there would be opposition; that's why he insisted that both the House and the Senate get a bill passed before the recess. Had both houses passed a bill, then all this opposition would not matter. The two bills could be reconciled in September, in secret, and passed into law without having to suffer the indignities of actually listening to the people. Voters really need to study the difference between the Democrats in campaigns and the Democrats in charge. During the campaign, the Democrats promised the most transparent, honest administration ever. Democrats in charge, however, demonstrate just the opposite. Obama promised that no bill would become law before it had been displayed on the Internet for five days, so people could register their opinions. What a laugh! The 1,000-page stimulus bill was passed just a few hours after it rolled off the press. No congressman could have read it. The people who are showing up at these town hall meetings are angry because the stimulus bill was shoved down their throats. They are angry because Speaker Nancy Pelosi forced the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill through the House with a two-vote margin, with no attempt at honest debate or citizen input. They are angry because they now see the Democrat leadership trying to force what they perceive to be a government takeover of the nation's health care. Nancy Pelosi demonstrates her hypocrisy when she hurls the "un-American " bomb at health care opponents, but remains silent when the students at Columbia University shout down a speaker from the Minutemen, or says nothing about the organized shout down of Rep. Tancredo at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Nancy Pelosi demonstrates her ignorance of grass-roots organizations when she calls opposition to the Democrat agenda the work of "Astroturf" groups. Astroturf is the correct term when applied to groups that are paid to produce a group of protesters at an event (rent-a-riot). ACORN is the best current example of this type of Astroturf. Another example of Astroturf is the appearance of a non-existent group that is created by a public relations initiative. Obama's chief adviser, David Axelrod, specializes in this activity. Grass roots, on the other hand, are people who join real organizations to work collectively to advance an agenda or to block someone else's agenda. These are the people who showed up at the April 15 and July 4 tea parties all across the nation. These are the people who are clamoring to get into town hall meetings with their congressmen. By the time Congress reconvenes in September, most members will know the difference between grass roots and Astroturf. Nancy Pelosi and the upper-echelon of Democrat leadership can't be bothered to learn the difference by actually listening to the people. Americans who got caught up in the Obama miracle and rushed to vote in the first black president ignored the signs that suggested he might bring with him a socialist agenda. Now that his socialist agenda has been unmistakably exposed, some of Obama's supporters are becoming the questioners at town meetings. [READ COMPLETE COLUMN]