Arlen Specter: “We’re not going to tolerate any demonstrations or any booing”

CNN reports:

A hostile crowd shouted questions and made angry statements Tuesday at a town hall meeting on health care led by Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.

At one point, Specter shouted into his microphone that demonstrators disrupting the proceedings would be thrown out.

“We’re not going to tolerate any demonstrations or any booing,” he said after one audience member shoved another making an unsolicited speech. “So it’s up to you.”

Many in the crowd identified themselves as conservative Republicans, with one man noting they had voted Specter to Congress before the senator changed parties earlier this year.

It looks like Specter doesn’t agree with the White House’s stance that yelling at politicians is as American as apple pie:

“I think there’s actually a pretty long tradition of people shouting at politicians in America,” White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters

Update: Politico notes another choice Specter quote from this morning:

“I’m encouraging constitutional rights by coming to Lebanon (Pa.) to talk to my constituents. I could be somewhere else. I don’t get in the extra pay. I don’t have any requirement to be here,” [Specter said.]

But Specter’s assertion that he was not required to attend the town hall was not received so well.

“You work for us!” shouted several members of the crowd. “You work for us!”

Related Content