You can learn a lot from Huntsville

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: July 3, 2009

If you are at all interested in what’s going on in Washington vis-a-vis health care reform (and if you aren’t interested, um ... hellllloooo, McFly??? Is there anybody home???), then you need to yourself to read this post over on Flashpoint.

My friend Brian, who maintains Flashpoint, attended the town hall meeting convened by U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith last night, and he gives us the 411 on what went down.

You may or may not agree with Brian’s philosophical assessment of the roots of the health care problems. But whatever your personal beliefs, here’s the upshot: Health care reform—the kind of massive, government-driven overhaul espoused at times by President Obama—simply isn’t going to pass without the support of moderate to conservative Democrats like Griffith. And if what happened last night in Huntsville is at all indicative of what other lawmakers are hearing at home during the break ... well, this line from Brian pretty much sums it up:

If that meeting is any indication of how people feel elsewhere then I’ll tell you right now - the safest thing any politician can do is stay away from the issue.  Everyone is EXTREMELY passionate and, often, quite irrational.