Congressman Patrick McHenry

There was a Town Hall Meeting held at the Mack Center in Mooresville North Carolina on August 26th. The Rally was hosted by Congressman Patrick McHenry. Congressman McHenry is a Republican.

The Congressman began speaking out against HR 3200 by throwing the bill on the floor so that everyone in attendance could hear a thump. Then the Congressman quoted The Lewin Group and shared that organizations view that private health care insurance companies will be driven out of business if a Public Option is passed in any form of Health Care legislation by Congress and the President.

Congressman McHenry had the opportunity to point out to his constituents that The Lewin Group is a subsidiary of United Healthcare. The Congressman had almost two hours to share that information. The Congressman either didn't know the foundation of his information or he knew it only too well and determined that some of the 195 attendees might question the validity of an analysis performed by a group funded by insurance companies.

http://www.lewin.com/Integrity/

Questions were invited from the floor and two lines were formed. The Congressman listened smiling as one after another stood to praise him for hosting the meeting, our Constitution and it's framers, and to voice their fears of reform and change, our government and Liberals.

The Congressman thanked a young high school student who rose to speak for not video taping him again for his opponent. The young man called on the room for communication regardless of party affiliation for the good of the country and when he mentioned the high cost of prescription drugs there were comments from the audience that the Congressman made no effort to quell.

Free speech and good manners do not necessarily go hand in hand.

It was not until a slight African American Lady stood with a homemade sign supporting our President and HR 3200 that the Congressman realized that time was running short and he interrupted that Lady several times. The Lady persevered, though, telling a room full of the fearful that President Obama did not deserve name calling and worse from people he was trying to help.

There were no protesters, no angry mobs, and, with the exception of a few catcalls directed at the single supporter of the President who rose to speak, everyone in attendance was well behaved. The Republicans in attendance listened closely to what they wanted to hear. The Democrats listened carefully, especially to the disparaging comments made by the Congressman regarding Congressman Barney Frank and the Speaker of the House.

Congressman Patrick McHenry did nothing to convince me that HR 3200 is a bad bill. He admitted to not having read it. He quoted The Lewin Group and kept that groups provenance to himself. And he did nothing to reassure the elderly in attendance that they had nothing to fear from the President or the members of the opposition party.

He told 195 constituents that abortion is mentioned twice in HR 3200. A search of the document resulted in zero instances of abortion being found. The Congressman seemed unaware of the Hyde Amendment. The amendment that Republicans passed that prevents federal dollars from being used for abortions.

The Congressman might not be a panderer and a bottom feeder. I simply can't make that judgment based on the performance that I witnessed.

Apparently there are Republicans who have stronger opinions regarding our Congressman:

http://republicansagainstpatrickmchenry.com/about/