I went to Manzullo's town hall meeting tonight.

[murielm99]

He is the 16th District's republican congressman.

He is not very bright.

I do have to get out into crowds like this once in awhile to remind myself that this district is very red, and that they admire lightweight right-wingers like this guy. Most of the people here have the congressman they want.

He spent most of the event whining about the stimulus package. He also gave out quite a bit of misinformation about various topics and did not answer many of the questions put to him.

He told us how Canada's health care system does not work. His examples were all anecdotal of course. He told us that the Taliban is causing much of the country to be "given back to the Shi'a." Huh? About 70% of the Muslims in Pakistan are Sunni. I don't think they are giving the country away to the minority. He must have meant given over to sharia law. He gave out misinformation about the Fairness Doctrine, and tried to frighten everyone into thinking that it would mean the end of Christian broadcasting. He thinks the Fairness Doctrine started some time in the nineteen seventies.

He griped about how much of the stimulus package will go to pay interest. He showed us a copy of the stimulus bill, which is maybe eighteen inches thick. He whined about how they did not have time to read it. (He borrowed this bit of theatrics from bonehead boner, I believe).

I asked him how the interest on the stimulus package compares to the interest we pay on the debt for the Iraq war. I made sure to call it Bush's war. I told him that I knew that most congressmen do not read all the bills they pass. They have aides and staff to read and summarize for them. I asked him if he had read all the Homeland Security bill. He assured me that he had, and I told him that I did not believe him. He tried to quote something from the Tribune to me, and I told him that it was a republican newspaper. The audience laughed. WTF? Don't they KNOW that it is a republican newspaper? He did not answer my question about the interest on the Iraq war debt. He simply dismissed me and said, "Next question."

He is an asshole. Like it or not, I live in this district, and I am going to keep pressing him with questions. I am going to continue to attend these events, if he has them, and I am going to let him know that not everyone in the 16th District thinks he is God's gift to Congress.

[whathehell]

1. Just curious...What towns comprise the 16th Dist...I'm in the 8th

which is a chunk of the northwest 'burbs -- Palatine, Barrington, Wauconda, etc.
..We have Melissa Bean as our Rep. and she is a BlueDog which I'm not too happy about..I'm trying to get more involved with Rahm's old district -- They have a couple of true progressives running there.

[murielm99]

3. Goehagan looks like a good one for the 5th.

My daughter lives there. He attended one of their drinking liberally meetings.

The 16th is Stephenson, Ogle, part of Whiteside, Boone, Winnebago, DeKalb, McHenry Carroll and Winnebago Counties. It sounds big, because the population is small. It is the northernmost part of Illinois.

I wish we could get rid of Manzullo. But this is a very red area.

[Peregrine Took]

9. He is the best, imo. We need a new face and new ideas.

He's the only genuine progressive in the race.

[mopinko]

2. good for you. these idiots need some back pressure.

so, he'll be turning down any money for the 16th then right? sure, sure, they don't need that filthy washington dc money :eyes:
a bypass of 20 around downtown galena would be nice. i think they have been talking about that long enough for it to qualify as pretty close to shovel ready.

[murielm99]

4. Manzullo does not have many town hall meetings.

We used to try to pressure him to have more of them, but he refused.

I will get better at this as time passes. This is the first time I have asked him anything. I intend to go to more of these and to keep pressing.

They have been talking about 20 for years. It is a terrible road.

Yeah, he's turning down the money. Yeah, right. Let's see him do it. Although there are plenty of republicans here who are stupid enough to do just that, you know he won't.

[SlingBlade]

5. "He is an asshole"

That sums it up nicely murielm99
Most of his constituents are also assholes by the way.

Nice to see some sanity round these parts for a change

Good Job :)

[murielm99]

6. I have to agree with you on the constituents.

Many of the people at that meeting were simply not very nice. They were angry, hateful and fearful.

Looking at some of the expressions on their faces and hearing the types of questions they asked made me wonder about their humanity. I know that many republicans are just plain mean, but really! And the ignorance was astounding.

What is wrong with them? Republicans lose their homes, jobs and insurance coverage, too.

[OneAngryDemocrat]

7. You're not Alone

I'm with ya.

I post an awful lot on the Freeport Journal-Standard's website (http://www.journalstandard.com), after being given the boot over at MyStateLine.

Hope to see ya there, soon!!!

[murielm99]

8. I subscribe to that paper.

Maybe I should go there some time.

[Radical Activist]

10. He and Shimkus are the two worst Congressmen in Illinois.

They're both dumb, bitterly partisan and way, way outside the mainstream. This is what happens when we draw incumbent protection districts. Manzullo might be slightly more wacko conservative than Shimkus but its a close call.