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August 31, 2009
Irony writ large: I have met the enemy and it is me
Congressman Carol Shea-Porter made a name for herself crashing town hall meetings of her Congressman and rabble rousing about the Iraq War. She was even kicked out of a George Bush town hall for her activism.
What was principled opposition when she was doing it has morphed into disruptive behavior now that she's on the receiving end, as reported at Hot Air by Ed Morrissey:
This is a curious re-election strategy, especially for a Representative who made her name by bird-dogging her former Congressman at his town-hall forums. Consistency isn't Carol Shea-Porter's strong suit, apparently, as she demonstrates in this clip from the meeting she finally held with constituents after dodging them for most of the month. When one of her constituents challenges the presence of union enforcers in the crowd, Shea-Porter asks for police intervention:
As reported by Now Hampshire, police intervened to escort the man from the meeting (a retired cop) because he didn't have a "Golden Ticket" that allowed him to ask a question:
In the appended video, Shea-Porter can be seen instructing security to remove a man for standing to ask a question without a ticket. Shea-Porter previously held a lottery to determine who could ask questions. She can also be heard taunting the man on his way out by saying, "I do hope the movie theater can be a little quieter for you."Limiting free speech, using Gestapo tactics to silence critics, complaining about people engaging in the exact same activity that helped propel her into the public eye...
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Four years ago Carol Shea-Porter protested at the State House alongside people dressed as Nazis while accusing the federal government of trying "to brand us like sheep." On Saturday, she disparagingly referred to people who do not trust the same federal government to run our health care system as "these people."
And the inability to perceive the incredible irony of it all. Not granting the opposition the same treatment she so vigorously promoted just 4 short years ago puts the actions of this congressman in the sublime milieu of self-satire.
Put a dunce cap on her and sit her down in a corner.