This is the picture of a Town Hall Meeting on health-care reform hosted by D.C.’s non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton. No offensive signs. No angry shouting. No vaguely racist mob clamoring to get inside.
At recent health-care town halls hosted by other area congressmembers, like the one Rep. Jim Moran held last month, theatrics have been the order of the day. Far right-leaning protesters, suspicious of seemingly any Democratic policy agenda, have pushed these events to the front pages with their outrageous behavior.
But last night’s “Fact Check Town Hall Meeting,” limited to D.C. residents only, showed how much liberal, wonky Washington just doesn’t have that much to argue about. Instead, approximately 250 District residents showed up to an auditorium at the U.S. Department of Commerce on Tuesday to pose thoughtful questions about the future of health-care in this country.
“We’re the most civil people in the United States,” Norton quipped as she kicked off the meeting.
(Apologies for the poor image quality, my camera was out of commission so I had to rely on my phone’s camera).