Maddow has done a fine job exposing the source of Town Hall protestor rage... And a good portion of it stems from the efforts of several Republican / Health Care Lobby funded think tanks. One of them that Dick Armey chairs is called "Freedom Works" ...take a look at some of the stuff they're promoting. They actually have a kit you can download to go and protest at these town halls.
Today's Meet the Press debate on Health Care was interesting because it's very obvious that it comes down to some heavily entrenched interests vs. people. There's a lot of misinformation out there being spread by these industries, as we've seen with the ludicrous "death panel" claims and the even further off the deep end Obama as Hitler posters. It would seem that some type of Health Care reform is going to be passed regardless, so what do Republicans and their lobbies have to gain by sinking the bill... or stripping it of any kind of potency?
At one point during the show David Gregory asked Mr. Armey a question about a claim that the GOP doesn't really care about Health Care Reform one way or the other and the sole reason behind their opposition to just about everything the administration puts forward is to try and sink the Obama presidency. Both Armey and fellow Republican Tom Cowburn of Oklahoma scoffed at such claims as ridiculous... but I have a good memory.
Another thing I took away from this was the body language especially on Dick Armey, who was obviously on the defensive due to Maddow calling him out on his whole "Freedom Works" charade. When you connect the dots the group is an obvious partisan front pretending to be some kind of "grass roots freedom movement" - When asked questions Armey continually rubbed his hands together at as if to wash his hands of the millions he's probably taking from the Health Care industry lobbies to fund all this BS.
Senator Cowburn, also against any kind of reform (which in my book makes them instantly suspect) claimed to be a practicing physician, which is a great reason not to trust him either. Who wants to change a system they're already making a ton of money in? Imagine if we had a chance to "reform" AIG or Goldman Sachs of their addictoin to CDS' a few years ago... you think they would've gone quietly? Further, after years of being a doctor how many different connections do you think a guy like that has in the health care world that don't want anything to change either and have a lot of money to donate to Cowburn's campaign.
Tom Daschle was basically irrelevant, but did back the public option... which I feel like needs to be in the bill... but probably won't. In the end I sat through most of the show smirking everytime Gregory deferred to Dick Armey for obvious reasons... Daschle's underwhelming presence aside, this episode of Meet the Press really did feel like Rachel vs. the Dick Army.