The tide is turning in Kansas' Second Congressional district.
In what has to be described as Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins' terrible awful no good very bad August, the Congresswoman has faced a slew of bad front page headlines, embarrassing gaffes, and three consecutive mentions on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Jenkins has admitted she failed to read legislation she's voted on, has no plans to read the health bills she opposes, and failed to show compassion by laughing at an uninsured single mother while she held her young son.
Lucky for her, August is over.
...but September is already off to a bad start. She can't wait to find shelter in Washington.
All the bad press is starting to catch up. She's rattled. Yesterday, Rep. Jenkins held another town hall forum, and, let's just say, the crowd was left unimpressed. Meet me below the fold for more.
Despite billing the event as a chance to discuss health insurance reform, Rep. Jenkins spent the better part of the meeting avoiding the issue -- no doubt because she sensed the crowd wasn't going to like her "party of no" attitude. Today, the Topeka Capital Journal reported the crowd wasn't taking it:
After 15 minutes, some audience members grew restless and spoke over Jenkins, telling her they wanted to talk about health care.
"We will get there," Jenkins said, and then added that she had done 26 town hall meetings so far and had never had a group treat her with such disrespect.
"You need to be respectful to us," an audience member countered.
Respect? Seems to be a common problem for laughing Lynn Jenkins this summer.
But the most shocking part of the meeting came when Rep. Jenkins openly admitted what we already know -- she isn't a leader. Decrying the Democratically elected majorities held by Democrats, she was quoted: "The Democrats have unfettered power in Washington. My opinion is not needed."
Yet again, the crowd wasn't having any of it:
A woman in the audience spoke up, telling Jenkins she has a role in the House.
"You're our representative," she said.
You just know that deep down, in places Lynn Jenkins doesn't talk about at parties, she wants to get to Washington. Her constituents are fed up with the embarrassing national headlines and her complete lack of leadership. For her own sake, she needs to get back -- because the more she spends in the district, the more she leaves voters with a great sense of buyers remorse.
But I can write all the blog post I want decrying Lynn Jenkins. At the end of the day, we need to mobilize and we need to organize in the Second District. That's where you come in. We need your help ensure we have the resources and the infrastructure to help our eventual candidate oust Lynn Jenkins and restore strong leadership to the Second Congressional district.
Can you help us build our party by making a small donation of $10? The stronger we are, and the more resources we have, the better chance we have of being successful in 2010. Every penny will go toward building a grassroots infrastructure -- both online and offline -- that we will utilize to ensure victory in November. Any support you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
If you can't make a financial contribution, I strongly encourage you sign up for our party emails. We run a very aggressive and active online effort in Kansas and we'd love to make you part of it.
Finally, we're also very active on Twitter and Facebook. So if you'd like to keep up with what's going on in Kansas, please follow/friend us respectively.
Thanks for your support, as always. I look forward to continue working with you all.