"Deathers" and insurance lobbying groups try to disrupt OFA meeting in Pearl River

A handful of conservatives, including Republican Orangetown Supervisor candidate Paul Whalen, attended yesterday's Organizing for America (formerly Obama for America) meeting at the Pearl River Library last night. Many of these right-wingers went on to heckle the Obama organizer and disrupt the meeting. But they couldn't shake the resolve of those who are working for reform.

The hecklers interrupted the meeting by shouting down those that support health-care reform, with taunts, and with generally disrespectful behavior. One of the hecklers stood before the crowd with a menacing look and a sign that said, “Obama’s healthcare and other policies will take care of us like Teddy took care of Mary Jo.”

Another agitator insisted that the meeting was actually an ACORN meeting and manically shook a DVD box of the science-fiction movie Soylent Green in front of his face. Others were a somewhat more respectful; some just stood outside the library, smoked cigarettes, and carried anti-Obama picket signs.

Many of the blathering wing-nuts unwittingly tipped others off that they were associated with and mobilized by insurance-industry lobbying groups and the Christian conservative movement. The disruptors used media and talking points supplied by the National Center for Policy Analysis, an organization funded by the insurance-industry and the Liberty Counsel, a conservative, “family values” group begun by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Whalen, for his part, did not participate in the heckling, but did nothing to stop his fellow conservatives as they tried to disrupt the meeting. Later, I approached Whalen about a pickup truck that several of us have witnessed that carries one of his campaign bumper stickers next to a Confederate Flag. Whalen chuckled, “I guess I’ve got fans all over, North and South.” I informed Whalen that I found this to be an unfortunate juxtaposition and asked him what he thought about having supporters who are open racists. Whalen huffed away without answering and left the meeting.

In the end, the disruptive element failed and did nothing more but embarrass themselves. I’m not sure what Whalen’s role at the meeting was. Was he supporting the hecklers, or does he support the President’s health-care reform? In the end, the OFA organizer was able to get the productive members of the audience to break down into groups and work together in trying to create a canvassing strategy for the county. The hecklers failed, and very few reform supporters appeared shaken by them.