Mary Landrieu's Town Hall Meeting

Well, here goes. Finally comes the post on the actual town meeting held by Mary Landrieu in Reserve, Louisiana, which I've been putting off for days, because, on the whole, the experience was most depressing, as you see if you read my initial post on the two hours waiting outside the door to get in. Part 2 is likely to be anticlimactic. This story has become what seems like a life's work for me, but it's been only a few days

What a relief at 1:00 PM, when the doors were opened, and we got inside the air-conditioned auditorium and off our feet into chairs. Of course, we were surrounded by anti-reform folks. The young woman sitting in front of us was a flight attendant for an airline on which I recently traveled. She said, "Hello," to me as though she knew me, and I responded. Although, she looked vaguely familiar to me, she lived in Baton Rouge, and I could not place her. I wondered if she had been an attendant on one of my flights in the last several months She was against health care reform, because, "I work hard for my money, and why should my tax money go to people who will not buy health insurance?" I asked about folks who couldn't buy health insurance, folks who were poor, folks who were sick and couldn't get insurance. She shrugged and said, "Well, I wouldn't want them to die on the street. They can to to the ER for free."

I asked her if she minded that trillions of her tax money went for a useless war in Irag. She said, "Oh, I love the Iraqi people. I love everyone in Iraq." One day, I will be found dead, and the cause of death should read (but won't), "Death by torture due to excessive exposure to non sequitur.

Once the man on my right learned that I was on the "wrong side" of the issue, he began to harangue me with his series of "facts" to attempt to turn me from my wicked ways. I pointed out that some of his "facts" were not true, and then, as he went on and on, I began to tire, and I said, "You will never convince me, and I will never convince you, so let's agree to disagree". He continued with his harangue, as though my words had never been said, with the folks nearby nodding their heads in agreement. Finally, I lost patience, and said, "Could you please stop. Just stop!" And he did.

The anti-reform folks took up their "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" chant from time to time and shouted one-liners against reform. I thought to myself, "I'll be really angry if I stood outside in the heat for two hours to listen to folks chant".


A little after 2:00 PM, the meeting began. The man in the purple shirt in the picture is the Roman Catholic priest who gave the invocation and benediction. He's only a priest, mind you, and there he is wearing a bishop's purple shirt. Imagine! (An insider comment for Episcopalians) The MC was a lawyer from the area, Larry Aucoin, pictured above, who, before he introduced Sen. Landrieu, gave a very good pep talk on civility, and allowing folks to speak, and hearing people out. He said that Sen. Landrieu was there mainly to listen, which was indeed the case. After he introduced her, she made a few brief remarks, and then it was on to the questions from the attendees.


Sen. Landrieu, who shall be Mary from here on, said she hasn't made up her mind how she will vote. Mary often does this. I'm not sure if it's actually the truth, if she likes to be wooed, or if it's a defense against a long period of criticism, should she announce her position too early.

There was a bit of chanting, which died down rather quickly. I stood up and glared at a group of noisy standing-room-only folks, and I'm quite sure that my glare made them stop. Early on someone asked her a question about "the bill" that I didn't understand, and apparently Mary didn't either, because she said, "I'm not sure what you're referring to." Then the crowd started chanting, "Read the bill! Read the bill!" She told them, "There's more than one bill." And then to the questioner, "Which bill do you reference?" The 1000 page bill that came out of the House committee is the only bill the antis seem to reference. She, along with several other senators, is co-sponsor of a different health care bill in the Senate. I hand it to Mary. She really listened, and she repeatedly urged the rest of us to listen. She asked every questioner about their health care coverage to see where they were coming from, and she asked questions to gain a better understanding of the questioner's concerns.

There were a few questions about tort reform, which some folks seem to think would drastically reduce health care costs. Texas passed a law capping the amount that individuals can collect for personal injury lawsuits, but health care costs have not come down. That's not to deny that we are far too litigious in this country. Some amongst us want a perfect outcome from every medical treatment, and that's just not possible, however tort reform is not the panacea that some see it to be.

One woman asked her if she would give her word that she would never vote for a bill that included federal funding for abortion. Mary replied that she had never been in favor of federally funded abortions, but that according to the Constitution, women have a right to choose. That was a pretty deft, although cagey, answer. She promised nothing, stated that she was against federal funding for abortions, and reminded the audience about the right of women to choose.

Another questioner, with his copy of the Constitution in hand, asked where in the constitution does it say that the government has a right to legislate on health care. Oh my! I didn't even hear Mary's answer because I was so distracted by the stupidity of the question. Where does it say in the Constitution that the president can fly around in Air Force One? George Washington didn't.

I had my hand up, but I never was called on, however, it really didn't matter, because others mentioned my concerns, that a single-payer system would be best, and barring that, at the very least, a public option. Others told sad stories of being denied coverage by insurance companies because of pre-existing conditions and being thrown out by their company after a serious illness. A couple of people said that insurance companies would not say beforehand whether certain procedures were covered by their policy or not.


I came away with the sense that a great mass of the citizenry of the US have no care or concern for the common good. I've got mine, the hell with you. What's so sad about the knee-jerk opposition to health care reform is that a good many of the people against reform would probably benefit from it.

I have a lot more respect for Mary since the meeting. Considering the hostile crowd she faced and the anger and the ignorance, she was calm and poised and treated everyone with respect. Give her points for courage. She listened well, and, for the most part, answered the questions well. She stayed past the allotted time, thereby permitting more folks to have their say. I understand what she's up against as a Democratic senator in a conservative, Republican state. Although, she has voted in a way that I would not have wanted more times than I like, the one vote that I'm most distressed about is her vote against the anti-torture bill. It seemed to me that she could have voted for it without taking too much heat. Most people who were against the bill already didn't like her as their senator.

I may write the senator a letter thanking her for holding the meeting and complimenting her on the manner in which she conducted herself. Mary is likely as good as we will get here in Louisiana. We could do a lot worse.

UPDATE: Another photo showing the mix of ages in the crowd.