Congressman Kagen got a little more than he bargained for at those listening sessions this past weekend. At least it’s a safe assumption from what Jo Egelhoff observed.
Spillover from Wednesday’s Tea Party led to spillover in the planned accommodations at Rep. Kagen’s Appleton “Listening Session” Saturday. I didn’t do a good job of ascertaining the attendance – perhaps 80 to 100. Different from the 20 folks or so that may have been expected.
There was shock that his constituents didn’t agree with share the wealth.
Over and over Kagen referenced the bad guys from Wall Street or AIG bonuses or “punish[ing] all the crooks who took government money.”
Some in the audience pushed back at Rep. Kagen’s apparent “share the wealth” philosophy. They expressed that hard work should bring wealth – and not the threat that a huge portion of it must be shared with those less industrious. At that point, Kagen turned to the audience and asked: “How many of you would like to see a tax cut for those making $250,000 and more?”
I raised my hand and so did a good portion of the audience – a third to a half, by the estimate of some sitting closer to the rear of the room than I. Kagen was truly shocked at the response and took a moment to recover.
And the fact that Congressman Kagen doesn’t keep up with reading.
Interesting that several folks in the crowd mentioned they didn’t appreciate being referred to as “terrorists.” Others reacted unknowingly, and more than once, Kagen was asked to explain what the reference meant. He didn’t have a clue – and walked all around it.
Then there’s this fact that government is apparently our friend.
“Everyone should have a mortgage at 4%.” (What?)
“We’re making sure we have jobs in this country.” (Who’s “we?”)
“I’m against any form of socialized medicine…. ”
At what price is big government (and these statements are indicative of BIG government) our friend Congressman?
It appears as well that Congressman Kagen continues to claim he read the entire Generational Theft Act. But then he would have known about Senator Dodd’s insertion regarding AIG bonuses correct?
when he was then asked to explain where then were the AIG bonus exemptions and why did he vote for them after he read it? Kagen went into a rambling explanation of why “no one had the chance to see the bill after Senator Dodd [added his changes].”
So why not just admit that you didn’t read it Congressman?
Here’s another question why won’t your office share the logs of calls taken on the Generational Theft Act in terms of percentages for and against?
Better yet Congressman Kagen instead of continually referring people to your past comments on the Generational Theft Act why don’t you do actually tell us -
what was your takeaway from the nation’s Tea Parties – and indeed, the one in your own backyard that was, by all reports, attended by 2,500 of your constituents?
And how about your take on the one attended by 1200 of your constituents in Green Bay the first weekend of March as well.
Kagen even had a couple of hired hacks asking softball questions at the begining, taking up 20 minutes or so of valuable time. This one gentlemen, got up to the front and went off about where’s the money for insulating houses, more wind and solar energy power, blah blah blah. i was laughing so hard, I did not hear the whole ranting session.
I say we put out a call to everyone so we can take over the whole place and have people spilling out to the streets. I will monitor the time and date for the next meeting so we can get the word out much further in advance.
That’s not surprising to hear about the softball questions. I agree that more of those opposed to the liberal direction of things needs to show up at the listening sessions to “put the heat on”.
The key is keeping an eye on the press releases from his office. Even though the specific locations & times weren’t in the paper until the day before he had a press release back on April 2 mentioning listening sessions in Appleton, GB and Waupaca on April 18.
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