Aug
28
2009

Carol Shea-Porter: Obsessed With …

A funny little story in my local paper, Foster's Daily Democrat, reports on the appearance of Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter in a tame venue: a "backyard picnic" sponsored by "Organizing for America, a grassroots arms of the Democratic National Committee, the SEIU, Health Care for America Now! and New Hampshire for Health Care." The NH GOP described it as "a secret party hosted by liberal special interest organizations." It's safe to say that nobody asked her any tough questions.

What stuck out for me was a certain verbal tic. See if you can spot it; I've added some emphasis to help:

  1. While mentioning her chance meeting with Kelly Ayotte, a GOP candidate for the US Senate next year:
    … Shea-Porter, a two-term Democratic representative from Rochester, said Ayotte "was speaking to the tea-baggers" …
    In fact, Ayotte was speaking to the Portsmouth Republican Committee.

  2. When talking about ObamaCare, and how to (in her words) "message" it:
    "Find those tea-baggers who don't like the idea of this and talk to them. You won't get all of them, but I think when they realize we're still going to be an employer-based insurance system in this country, and that it is a choice -- one choice among many choices -- it takes away that sense of fear, that sense that they're losing control over their lives. They're not. What's happening is we're giving some people who haven't had any choice, a choice."
    [Shades of Candidate Obama's comments about bitter, frustrated, bigoted clingers to guns and religion. Why, those poor people are just frightened! They don't know any better!]

  3. And finally, when discussing her upcoming "Town Hall" meeting in Portsmouth Saturday:
    She said the "tea-baggers" were quizzing her on the logistics, including why it's being held at a federal building where attendees will need to go through security checks.
    The Foster's reporter is more specific: "The state Republican Party has been critical of the venue choice…"

So: what's going on inside the Congresswoman's mind? Does she really think that directing a juvenile sexual slur at her opponents is likely to be seen as clever? It might be appropriate for union goons, washed-up potty-mouthed actresses or sniggering MSNBC hacks, but you'd think a Congresswoman might at least pretend to have higher standards.

[Skip at Granite Grok was much faster than I in posting on this story. In related news, Drew Cline posts e-mail sent out by the Democratic National Committee in an effort to pack the Saturday town halls in Manchester and Portsmouth with … well, with the kind of people who are on the DNC's mailing list.]