Steve Driehaus (D-OH) goes undercover for his next town hall pep rally

"Blue Dog" Democrat Steve Driehaus ran as a fiscal conservative in 2006 to unseat Republican Steve Chabot for Ohio's District 1 seat in Congress.

After that Oscar-worthy performance, Driehaus washed off the makeup and exposed his true face.

He subsequently voted for the trillion-dollar Stimulus package, the disastrous Obama budget, as well as "Cap-and-Trade"; in toto, the largest spending frenzy in world history.

Put simply, ignoring his promises to constituents, Driehaus instead kissed Nancy Pelosi's feet and worshiped at the altar of radical leftism.

In early August, Driehaus held a town hall meeting to "take the pulse of the community" on ObamaCare. The result was a frustrated crowd as Driehaus filibustered, bobbed and weaved to disguise the fact that he was simply toeing the Obama line.


The mostly elderly, respectful crowd grew weary of the dissembling and erupted with a chorus of boos and shouts. After 90 minutes of pap, Driehaus called a halt to the proceedings and the large crowd dispersed.


The message was clear by at least an 8-to-1 ratio: his constituents do not want socialized medicine or any form of government tampering in the insurance markets.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports today that Driehaus is ready to hold his next town hall, only this one will be an invitation-only affair. The Democrats' paid thugs -- mostly ACORN and SEIU types -- are certain to fill the seats and prevent taxpayers from expressing their firm opposition to socialized medicine.

County Democrat officials emailed supporters earlier, stating that demand "for this event has been very high and, as a result, the Green Township Democratic Club has now been forced to move to a ticketed format... At this point, the very limited seating in the hall has already been claimed and only those with tickets will be admitted."

Driehaus' refusal to meet with constituents means that he is certain to vote for socialized medicine. Reports from the district indicates he has been ducking citizens for weeks.

In truth, this gathering can't be classified as a town hall. It is simply a pep rally for Obama's statist agenda.

Who does Steve think he is and who does he think he is dealing with? Does he not think we'll remember all of this at election time? Everyone in office in DC is hiding or pulling this type of stunt. This guy works for us and should be available 24/7 considering what is going on and what is at stake... What does Steve do? He sets up an insider only event where he can get sunshine blown up his skirt.

The anti-Driehaus momentum is building early and is strengthening. Objective Democrats (those without Kool-Aid stains on their lips) disagree with what is being done and how it is being done. They will remember. As for moderate Republicans, you’ve burned that bridge already.

Unlike Obama, who turned out to be everything he said he was, you are nothing you said you were. As a representative of the people in your community you are an abject failure.

Have your party Steve; take a lot of happy pictures for your scrapbook, you’ll need them.

'Blue Dog' Steve Driehaus makes the Drudge Report!

And not in a good way. Driehaus is, of course, the 'Blue Dog' Democrat and self-proclaimed 'fiscal conservative' who voted for the Stimulus package and Cap-and-Trade. Yesterday, Driehaus held a town hall on health care that turned raucous after he filibustered, deflected and dissembled.

Correspondent Amalaur sends in some new commentary this afternoon to address criticism that the health care town hall meetings were purposefully disrespectful and disruptive. That appears, at least in the case of the Steve Driehaus town hall, not to be the case.

I saw Rick Moran's column today where he said that "screaming in impotent rage at your congressmen is not the way to go".

As I described, the meeting was respectful and quiet to begin with. That was even the case after the moderator called any anti-Government Health Care folks "teabaggers"... after Driehaus filibustered for about 15 minutes with a prepared statement... and so on. It was only after a series of deflections and a refusal to run a real town hall meeting, like letting people line up and ask questions, that the folks started getting angry. The average age was probably 60. This wasn't a bunch of activists, these were seniors genuinely worried about losing insurance they have, they'd paid for, losing their relationship with their doctors, even getting denied care, which frequently happens to seniors in Canada and Britain. Everyone knows that state-run care will mean rationing as you can't add tens of millions of people without adding doctors!

Watch this video for an example. She asks a good question about state portability of insurance, which I mentioned in my first email. Driehaus would not answer any of these questions directly.

No one was getting shouted down here, they were cheering a question that Driehaus continued to evade and never answered. No one in the meeting hall that I saw came in to be rude or disrespectful, they were genuinely worried about losing health care.

And rightfully so, if these headlines are any indication.

Why is it that ACORN and "community organizing" and SEIU protests -- why is all of that okay, but real grassroots dissent by taxpayers, seniors and veterans is somehow "programmed", "directed" or otherwise illegitimate?


Update: Democrats see phony health bill outrage (Washington Times)

Update II: Crisis of Confidence: America's Government Losing Faith in Out-of-Touch Constituents. Also: The Corner and Virtuous Republic weigh in.

'Blue Dog' Steve Driehaus ripped, mocked, booed and laughed at during his Town Hall on Health Care

Correspondent Amalaur sent this report in from Ohio's District 1, where Steve Driehaus held a town hall on health care reform. While Driehaus campaigned as a fiscal conservative, he had the gall to vote for the Stimulus as well as Cap-and-Trade.

Apologies for the poor quality of photographs, these were taken using my phone. We got there early (about 6:10pm) for Steve Driehaus' town hall meeting that was scheduled for 7pm.

By 6:20, hundreds of people were in line. Once the doors opened, a tiny assembly room filled in moments. The organizers decided to move the meeting to the church's small (and very steamy) sanctuary. This allowed several hundred people to witness the debacle.

Not sure which group sponsored it, but NOW played a part and the organizers were very liberal. At first, they didn't even allow people to ask questions. You had to write questions down and submit them. The moderator began with a threat that "Teabaggers" who disrupted the proceedings would not be tolerated! Of course, the written question approach was a disaster, since there were hundreds of questions submitted (we had two, which weren't asked, of course).

Driehaus began with a canned statement of the typical Obama talking points and the crowd grew increasingly angry. A guy behind me yelled "Stop filibustering!" at about 7:15, at which point Driehaus gave in. He then started answering the written questions, mostly softball, that were picked out for him. The crowd started to get really rambunctious. One guy kept yelling out, "That was lie number (whatever)" when Driehaus repeated some nonsensical talking point like that there are 47 million uninsured.

You could hear a bunch of Tea Partiers outside yelling. Finally, enough attendees were sufficiently disruptive that Driehaus began taking real questions. There were a lot of good ones, about illegal immigrants covered under the bill... how the government couldn't run cash-for-clunkers, how could it run health care... etc.

I would say the ratio of those opposed to ObamaCare and single-payer ran about 8-to-1 (maybe more). In fact, when the "public option" was raised and people yelled that would destroy competition, one of the Obamatons screamed, "the public option is competition!". The guy next to me erupted, "No, it's MARXISM!"

The good news is that people are educated about what the public option is, which basically is a disaster for private insurance. One questioner noted that you could go on the Internet and get access to about 14,000 different health insurance quotes with reviews and so on. She wanted state portability. Driehaus, of course, ignored that part.

As the meeting progressed, folks got more and more fired up, openly laughing at Driehaus' talking points, mocking some of his more ridiculous answers ("I haven't made up my mind yet") and -- in general -- combating the patent falsehoods that he tried to market.

I felt bad for his daughter, who I think is about 12-years old. She didn't seem too happy to be there.

After an hour of questions, Driehaus called a halt to the proceedings. As the meeting broke up, chants of 'Vote for Chabot!' and 'Just say no!' rang out. Driehaus is a phony, through and through. He's no more a fiscal conservative than Nancy Pelosi.

Steve Chabot is the Republican that Driehaus displaced, barely, in 2008. Amalaur says that Chabot intends to run again in 2010.


Update: Doses of Reality also has a report on the event.

Update II: Driehaus makes the Drudge Report!

Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, Gateway Pundit, Wizbang, RightOhio and Oil for Immigration. Thanks!

Get your Steve Driehaus Blog Widget!

Steve Driehaus is a Democrat from Ohio who ran as a "fiscal conservative" in a very red district (OH-1). Seriously. And yet he voted for every single one of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid economy-killers including Cap-and-Trade.

Now we find out, courtesy of Say Anything, that Driehaus sold out for a measly $2 grand in campaign cash. $2 grand.

Three House Democratic leaders who were whipping members on the climate change bill gave tens of thousands in campaign cash to party moderates around the time of the 219-212 vote on June 26, according to Federal Election Commission records... Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) doled out $28,000 to reps who eventually voted yes on June 24, two days before the big vote—on a day when House leaders were doing some heavy-duty arm-twisting.

Clyburn recipients who voted for the bill included a who’s-who of battleground district Dems: Steve Driehaus, D-OH ($2,000); Martin Heinrich, D-NM ($2,000); Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla. ($4,000); Betsy Markey, D-Colo. ($2,000); Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH ($2,000), Baron Hill, D-Ind. ($2,000); Alan Grayson, D-Fla. ($2,000); Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa ($2,000); Jim Himes, D-Conn. ($2,000); Mary Jo Kilroy, D-OH ($2,000); Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. ($2,000); Jerry McNerney, D-Calif. ($2,000) and Tom Perriello, D-Va. ($2,000).

If you have a blog and you want to express your disgust with PelosiCons like Driehaus, please join me in posting a Steve Driehaus blog widget.

I can't guarantee it will lead to an additional 5,000 or 10,000 visitors to your blog, but I can say that you'll feel all warm and gooey inside after you post. While that could be constipation, odds are it's knowing you helped light a bonfire for 2010.




<a href="http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/06/steve-driehaus-voted-to-steal-4000-from.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDzkrjCimo3YXY0F_D9Dz008TyRR2VVXJFMpmTO3bbBt9khQX0Q5-5Z_rQEs222ncKxyjRJuJ7gTJdvj6HxN3DChwwOe98XCg59i4jqGTMYDEgKCzGNZb2AYVk_355eBfH0E1pWvYaGIh/s400/090629-driehaus-widget3s.jpg" alt="Steve Driehaus votes to steal $4,000 from your family. Thanks, Steve!" border="3"></a>
Let me know if you post the widget and I'll reciprocate with a back-link... and gladly pile on if you have a similar Blue Dog or Turncoat you're interested in politically targeting in 2010.

Yes we can!


Hat tip: Frank Kratovil.

Get your Steve Driehaus Blog Widget!

Steve Driehaus is a Democrat from Ohio who ran as a "fiscal conservative" in a very red district (OH-1). Seriously. And yet he voted for every single one of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid economy-killers including Cap-and-Trade. If you have a blog and you want to express your disgust with PelosiCons like Driehaus, please join me in posting a Steve Driehaus blog widget.

I can't guarantee it will lead to an additional 5,000 or 10,000 visitors to your blog, but I can say that you'll feel all warm and gooey inside after you post. While that could be constipation, odds are it's knowing you helped light a bonfire for 2010.




<a href="http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/06/steve-driehaus-voted-to-steal-4000-from.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDzkrjCimo3YXY0F_D9Dz008TyRR2VVXJFMpmTO3bbBt9khQX0Q5-5Z_rQEs222ncKxyjRJuJ7gTJdvj6HxN3DChwwOe98XCg59i4jqGTMYDEgKCzGNZb2AYVk_355eBfH0E1pWvYaGIh/s400/090629-driehaus-widget3s.jpg" alt="Steve Driehaus votes to steal $4,000 from your family. Thanks, Steve!" border="3"></a>
Let me know if you post the widget and I'll reciprocate with a back-link... and gladly pile on if you have a similar Blue Dog or Turncoat you're interested in politically targeting in 2010.

Yes we can!


Hat tip: Frank Kratovil.

Steve Driehaus votes to steal $4,000 from every American family

By voting for the massive Waxman-Markey Energy Tax bill, Representative Steve Driehaus (D-OH) voted to steal four thousand dollars from your family, as a pagan tribute to the weird state religion of radical environmentalism. Astoundingly, he represents a very red district and runs as a fiscal conservative (rimshot, please).

Steve Driehaus has now voted for multiple, poisonous, trillion-dollar bills without reading them, much less their last-minute 300-page amendments.

We cannot afford politicians like Steve Driehaus, who vote for economy-crippling legislation, then hope their colleagues in the other house of Congress will kill it before it hardens into a tumor.

This nightmare was unleashed by President Obama, who intends to personally execute the death warrant on their futures. This man thinks you’ve got $4,000 too much in the bank, he intends to take it, and Steve Driehaus stands by his side in doing so.

If you work in the manufacturing sector, Obama and Driehaus think your job belongs in another country.

If you’ve been worried about the economy since last fall, Obama and Driehaus think it should be three-percent smaller every year, stretching decades into the future.

Spread the word.

Steve Driehaus must go.


Hat tips: Doc Zero, for his excellent Blue Dog Decloaking template which I encourage everyone to copy, Virtuous Republic and COAST-USA. Linked by: TigerHawk, One Big Dog (hat tip: Frank Kratovil), Legal Insurrection, Grouchy Denny, Marathon Pundit, Taxman Blog, Throw the Bums Out!, Conservatism Today, Country Store, Norwood Township, Tri-County and Shooter Ready. Thanks!