YouTube: Public Option Rally at Baltimore's Senator Theater

Organizing for America, an organization of the Democratic National Committee which formed after a merge between the DNC and ACORN’s Obama for America, hosted a rally for the public option at Baltimore’s historic Senator Theater this past Friday evening, October 23. The host was fronted by another subsidiary, the Baltimore Committee for Meaningful Health Care Reform.

The event featured performing artists and political speakers, including:

• Bill Henry, Baltimore City Councilman (D)
• Elijah Cummings, U.S. Congressman (D)
• Marvin Cheatham, President of the Baltimore NAACP
• Joseph Adams, Baltimore MoveOn.Org
• Roger Manno, Montgomery County Delegate (D)
• Fred Mason, President of the MD/DC AFL-CIO
• B.J. Shaneman, community health organizer
• Burdette West, Office of Health Care Disparities
• Caroli Mullen, Baltimore Committee for Meaningful Health Care Reform
• Carol Payne, Dept. of Housing & Urban Development

I interviewed several public option opponents who attended the event, either as protestors or quiet spectators. Cindy Sharretts of Jarrettsville is a grassroots activist. Tony Passaro of Bel Air is a Bel Air Tea Party organizer. Brett Bidle of Frederick is with FreedomWorks of Maryland. Jackie Auburn of Baltimore is a grassroots activist.

Observations
With a seating capacity of 900, a crowd count produced an estimate of about 120 people in attendance inside the theater. There were groups of protestors outside as well, representing both sides of the issue.

Those I interviewed estimated it was two to one supporting the public option over opponents. Brett said that 60-80 people came from FreedomWorks to protest.

What is interesting is that the audience was almost entirely white persons, even though almost all the speakers were black and the message seemed to cater to the black community.

According to Cindy, when she arrived at ten minutes before the scheduled start time, there were only about a dozen people in the auditorium. They delayed start for about 20 minutes to allow people to arrive.

Not informational, but emotional
Cindy: “It was not an informational presentation. Some of the information was not accurate. Rather, it was built on premises such as health care is a right, or that opponents are against health care for all.”

Tony: “The event was a monologue, not a dialogue. I wish there had been an opportunity for questions.”

Cindy: “The leaders that presented this information are so comfortable with their own territory, that they are not one bit embarrassed about using the ridiculous to further their agenda. And their audience enjoys it because it coincides with the message they want to hear, which is ‘You’ve been gypped, and we are going to get it for you.’ It really doesn’t matter about truth. It doesn’t matter about consequences of policies.”

Jackie: “I've been to three or four of their rallies and they have great speakers but never a question and answer session. You’re not allowed to ask questions. They hide all the facts. These supporters are being brainwashed.”

Cindy: “One of the singing groups was the Charm City Labor Corps. They took an African song and changed the lyrics which included, ‘We are going to win with health care now…Single payer is the way to go…The unions are behind us…We will win when everyone’s in.’ I thought, this is a comedy show. But it’s also horrible.”

Cindy: “Doc Cheatham said, ‘If we would have reformed health care ten years ago we would have saved 880,000 African Americans who died.’ He said, ‘The color of your skin determines the quality and cost of your health care.’ I found that to be an irresponsible statement.”

Tony: “I don’t want to see people without health care. We were being framed and vilified as the bad guys who kill people, and that’s not fair to us.”

Cindy: “Elijah Cummings is a congressman. I’d have thought he would have felt more about his responsibility to objectively present information.” Cindy felt he was inciting emotion and anger in his rhetoric. “Because of the wrongs done to people, he was free to do a blame-type of presentation instead of being objective. He quickly brought us to a place where he could yell at the audience and point the finger at the bad guys. As a legislator, this was irresponsible to lead an audience with this type of emotional anger inciting rhetoric which was not objective information.”

Brett: “It was information that was not correct at all, and didn’t have any backing evidence to support it. It was hard to sit there listening to lies and being screamed at.”

Cindy: “Every time someone said the word “profit” or “insurance companies”, a man sitting in the auditorium would yell out, ‘They’re greedy!’

Cindy: “They repeatedly pushed the idea that it is immoral not to support the public option.”

Hostility towards opposition
Cindy: “Some people were very hostile to the protestors, yelling things out at them. I was a little concerned that it might get violent.”

Brett: “People in the audience started cursing at us and threatening us when we tried to speak out. We didn’t see civil debate at this rally. We held back and didn’t face any confrontation. They made fun of us and made rude comments. They seemed like they were trying to provoke us.”

Tony: “They excoriated us [for not supporting the public option]. Some of the Obama people outside the meeting were hurling expletives at us.”

Jackie: “When I first walked in, I was told only supporters were allowed in the theatre and they insisted Fox news sent us.”

Cindy: “Bill Henry, in response to protestors, said ‘If anyone thinks this is a public place, this is being held in a private theater’. And someone yelled out, ‘But the event is open to the public.’ Mr. Henry was hinting at the idea that he had the power to make protestors leave. Don’t be fooled into thinking you have the same freedom of speech in this event that you might in a different situation.”

Brett: “Elijah Cummings was yelling into the microphone, saying we were enemies of America because we oppose the public option. They kept using the race card, which was pathetic. When we said we weren’t racist, one woman near me said, ‘don’t you have a clan meeting to go to?’”

Tony: “Some of the people outside were hurling expletives at our people. It was totally out of order and unnecessary. We were having a peaceful demonstration. Some were rather foulmouthed. As soon as we brought some of our men over to where they were harassing the women protestors, they disbursed.”

Brett: “They called us immorals. A lot of our people walked out and protested outside because they weren’t feeling safe.”

Brett: “It was open to the public, but at one point, one of the speakers said that if we got too wild, they could have us removed.”

Jackie: “Some of the speakers mentioned we were racist of course. Some said the Right was lying just like Fox does.”

Political Agenda
Cindy: “Several speakers stated very clearly that they really don’t want the public option, they want single payer. But they know they have to go ahead and support the public option and insist the legislators support it so they can get to single payer.”

Cindy: “Carol Mullen said they planned this rally in order to send a message to the Baltimore delegation in congress to let them know we’ve got your back if you want to vote for the public option and you better do it.”

Cindy: “Several speakers used their time to make fun of opponents in the room. They kept saying, ‘We won the election, so you might as well face it. We’re going to do all we want to do, it’s as simple as that.’ Bill Henry chuckled and said, ‘You know what, I think this is what winning feels like. We get to do what we want to do.’”

Opponents’ argument
Jackie: “Our goals were to talk to the supporters of this health proposal to enlighten them. Some didn't want to hear anything. Others insisted I was lying to them. We all did a great job of talking and trying to provide facts. It was clear from the start that all they knew was that we needed health care reform and the basics. They assumed we were against it, which we aren't of course.”

Brett: “We want health care reform, tort reform, competition, just not the public option.”

Jackie: “I told them this wasn't a reform and not affordable. I told them how we were going to be taxed if we didn't sign up for it. I told them how some businesses would go out of business if they were forced to pay for their employers health care or pay 8% penalty.”

Tony: “We agree with President Obama that we need health care reform. We disagree on tactical issues. We don’t support a public option, giving our government more control. We are for health care, it’s just a disagreement over delivery. I had an epiphany. All the sudden, I said, ‘Oh my God, they think we are against health care.’ We’re not. We believe health care starts with less government, because the government has not had a successful enterprise.”