Congressmen On Milk Cartons?

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, August 18, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Leadership: Scores of congressmen and women are trying to hide from their constituents this August recess as the revolt over ObamaCare continues. If you haven't seen him or her lately, you might try your refrigerator.

It's amazing how frightened of the community the party of the great community organizer has become now that the community has organized itself against his attempt to impose socialized medicine on the country.

They cheered when he told them to get in the faces of their opponents. Now they won't show their faces, period.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois at least had the courage to show up and announce he wasn't going to show up at such events. While having at least six meetings with health care officials, Durbin has chosen not to have a single one with his constituents on the grounds that when constituents refuse to act like sheep ready to be sheared, such meetings are "not constructive."

"Let me tell you, these town hall meetings have now been orchestrated by the tea baggers and the birthers to just be a free-for-all, make a lot of noise, go on YouTube and show discord," Durbin told the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet.

Last time we checked, the so-called birthers and Tea Party attendees were citizens of the United States whose petition of their government for redress of grievances did not automatically require a SWAT team.

Durbin did have time to go down to the state capitol of Springfield to unveil a new penny honoring Abraham Lincoln. Penny for your thoughts, senator?

On MSNBC's "The Ed Show," Rep. Jan Schakowsky echoed Durbin's sentiments, asking: "What about the ordinary constituent who's coming to actually learn something?" These are ordinary constituents, Madam, and they have come to tell you something — they aren't buying what you're selling.

Rep. Schakowsky has apparently dropped a few things down the memory hole, such as the "angry mobs" that greeted former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski over the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, which expanded Medicare benefits and funded the change with a supplemental tax.

The Chicago Tribune of Aug. 18, 1989, reported: Rostenkowski "was booed and chased down a Chicago street Thursday morning by a group of senior citizens after he refused to talk with them about federal health insurance. Shouting 'coward,' 'recall' and 'impeach,' about 50 people followed the chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee up Milwaukee Avenue after he left a meeting in the auditorium of the Copernicus Center."

What makes this interesting was that leading the protest against Rostenkowski 20 years ago was one Jan Schakowsky, who was then director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens. Today, she's the Democratic representative from Illinois' 9th congressional district and chief deputy whip to Majority Leader Pelosi. The vox populi she once led she now fears.

Her colleague, Illinois Democrat Melissa Bean, has a novel approach for filtering out the riffraff. She's willing to meet with the people and even invited them to a town hall breakfast — if they register more than a week in advance with her local chamber of commerce and pay a $25 fee.

Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., also agreed to hold a town hall to discuss health care reform. His first health care town hall was to be held inside the IBEW union hall in downtown Orlando. You never know when you might need an electrician.

Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., had something called a "health care reform rally" at the offices of the Service Employees International Union in Hicksville, N.Y. He felt safe in the offices of a union whose purple-shirted members beat up black conservative activist Kenneth Gladney as he was passing out "Don't Tread On Me" flags at a town hall meeting held by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., in St. Louis.

Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com has suggested we start putting the faces of our representatives on the side of milk cartons. He notes that the entire New Hampshire congressional delegation seemingly went into the witness protection program to avoid meeting constituents in an open town hall. Some offered a conference call "meeting" of sorts. New Hampshire ABC affiliate WMUR reported that Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes, who wants to run for the U.S. Senate next year, planned to attend a meeting on health care, one that will let only AARP members attend.

The state motto may soon be changed to "let live, flee, or die."