Cohen: Town Hall Protests ‘Not Spontaneous Generation’

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who faced a tough audience of town hall screamers over the weekend, gave his take on the experience to CNN today:

This wasn’t spontaneous generation at all these town halls because people are asking the same questions … and putting up the similar type of signs and talking about socialism, which is what people talked about in 1965, when Medicare and Medicaid came about and certainly that’s not socialism.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal supported Cohen’s assessment on Saturday, noting that “the nearly all-white audience was not a snapshot of the mostly African-American 9th District that Cohen represents.”

Adding further to the portrait of the day’s saga, Talking Points Memo yesterday pointed to local reports revealing that one attendee brought a gun to the gathering, though broke no laws in doing so.

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), interviewed along with Cohen Tuesday, said the town halls are just a sign of a healthy democracy.

“It is a great show of democracy and it should be occurring,” Gingrey said. “I mean, that is the American way.”