rssTown Hall Protester: Will the Government Inject Us With Syphilis?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 12:17 pm
- 13 Comments
Conservatives who attended a town hall meeting with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) have uploaded video of her being peppered with questions, including this one from a man named Ed Dickey. (It’s at the seven-minute mark.)
During the 1950s it’s admitted that the federal government engaged in what is called the Tuskegee Experiments, where they injected black men with syphilis, in the 1950s? And you as a black woman are telling me to trust the federal government with our health care?
A heckler asks if Dickey had a question. “Yes!” he yells. “How can she expect us to trust a federal government that injects black men with syphilis during the 1950s, which is called the Tuskegee Experiments?”
Two things. First, the Tuskegee Experiment didn’t inject men with syphilis; it brought together nearly 400 black men who already had the disease, and left them untreated, telling them they just had “bad blood.” But the idea of the government creating diseases to kill people has remained popular among conspiracy theorists of the right and left alike. Second, while the activists who grilled Jackson Lee portray this video of proof of her not listening to her constituents, it’s worth pointing out that her Houston-based 18th congressional district is a Voting Rights Act creation where white voters make up only 19.7 percent of the population; black voters are 40.1 percent, and Hispanic voters are 35.6 percent. In November 2008, Barack Obama carried the district by 55 points over John McCain, up from the 44-point margin John Kerry won in 2004. So if Jackson Lee is skeptical of the angry white voters suddenly showing up at her town halls, she has her reasons.
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13 Comments
Pingback posted August 12, 2009 @ 1:28 pm
[...] Article: Town Hall Protester: Will the Government Inject Us With Syphilis? — Washington Independe… Share and [...]
Comment posted August 12, 2009 @ 5:09 pm
I love that all these people are concerned after GWB passed the US Patriotic act and trillion dollar Medicare bill. Where was their outrage then?
Comment posted August 12, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
Wait until that woman at about 5:00 in (the cancer survivor) tries to get her own insurance. Unemployed, currently divorcing. If her spouse isn't going to cover that, I don't know how she'll afford it. She should look into it before talking.
Comment posted August 12, 2009 @ 6:11 pm
The level of mis/disinformation just seems to increase daily. How is any form of reasoned debate possible with people so obviously untethered to any form of reality?
Comment posted August 12, 2009 @ 8:37 pm
Damnit! Ok, who squealed about this? We're still working feverishly to perfect the infection serum.
Comment posted August 13, 2009 @ 12:39 am
Lady musta voted for Barry. Stupid enough, certainly.
And now experiencing “buyer's remorse”
One
Big-
Ass
Mistake,
America!
Comment posted August 13, 2009 @ 7:26 am
Maybe this whole “debate” is actually some sort of post-modern joke. Watching the surreal ignorance of people protesting the House bill makes me inclined to believe that this is actually the most elaborately-staged reality/prank show yet, with the DVD box set to come out early next year. Puts anything Andy Kaufman or Sasha Baron Cohen ever did to shame. Not sure I'll be adding a copy to my collection anytime soon, though.
Comment posted August 13, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
Nice that the Washington Independent pretty much ignores the FACT that Sheila Jackson Lee talked on her cell phone while supposedly conducting this meeting… pathetic, whether or not the questioner had his facts wrong, SHE IS THE ONE IN WRONG for not even bothering to listen people voicing their concerns (in a civil matter I might add). What a total lack of respect our elected officials have for voters. Its rather pathetic the media hasn't jumped on this rude behavior. I shudder to think what the reaction would be if Sheila Jackson Lee were a Republican
Comment posted August 13, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
I guess the Washington Independent didn't report on Jackson Lee answering her cell phone during a question asked by a cancer survivor. What kind of reporting is this? GIVE BOTH SIDES, not just the one you see.
Pingback posted October 26, 2009 @ 8:36 am
[...] say that they won’t be getting any shots this flu season. They just don’t trust this Obama fellow. I guess they have been reading their black history books. “As a nation, we have prepared [...]
Comment posted November 23, 2009 @ 9:17 am
When the experiment was brought to the attention of the media in 1972, news anchor Harry Reasoner described it as an experiment that “used human beings as laboratory animals in a long and inefficient study of how long it takes syphilis to kill marire penis.”
Comment posted November 23, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
When the experiment was brought to the attention of the media in 1972, news anchor Harry Reasoner described it as an experiment that “used human beings as laboratory animals in a long and inefficient study of how long it takes syphilis to kill marire penis.”
Comment posted April 6, 2011 @ 9:41 pm
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