Chet Edwards Town Hall Meeting in Waco report

I haven't seen this posted yet by anyone else, so I wanted to give a brief report on the Chet Edwards Town Hall Meeting in Waco on Saturday, Aug. 29.

About 1000 people attended, I would estimate that the Democrats were outnumbered 9 to 1. We wore white shirts and sat together close to the front, but behind us were rows and rows and rows of people intent on only one thing: being an angry mob. The "death panel" question was asked at least four times under different guises, and each time Edwards told the crowd there was no death panel. He was boo'd and called a liar. Many who stood up said they wanted government out of their lives (one guy said it shouldn't be in schools and healthcare, it should "only be in government.") Edwards said he would not make a decision until he had read every word of the bill, and he was shouted down as a liar.

At one point, after saying the local hospitals have told him that without Medicare and Medicaid payments they would have to close their doors, at least half of the crowd jumped to their feet and boo'd. He asked if they were willing to do away with government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA, and again, half cheered wildly and applauded.

The questioners only put their name, hometown and county on a card and they were drawn at random. Of course, with a 9:1 ratio, most questions were from angry conservatives. The last two were the worst.

Second to last was a snarky young woman sitting a couple of rows behind me who threw in some snide comments about Obama's "brother in Africa," then mentioned that her cousin's husband was a missionary in Africa, presumably so we would know she was really a Christian. And she told Edwards she has seen the video of Obama telling an elderly woman she should "just take a pill."

The last person to speak was an old man, in his 80s, who said that Van Jones, the green jobs commissioner, was a communist and had the ear of Obama, "a communist in the Oval Office!" Edwards asked, "are you saying Obama is a communist?" and the man was clearly annoyed, "No! his green jobs man is a communist!" I looked up Van Jones when I got home, it appears he is among other things, the leader of the Color of Change that lead the boycott of Glenn Beck advertisers, so you know where that information came from.

It was the worse experience I've ever had. I came away depressed, with a raging migraine headache. It's the closest I've ever been to a mob. Edwards congratulated the group because "no one called anyone else unAmerican."

BTW, Edwards made it clear he was not for a "nationalized, socialized system like Canada."

I'm sorry you had to sit through that.

No disrespect, but after living 8 years in Houston, the day I left Texas for good was one of the best days of my life.