I just came across this story and didn't see anyone else mention it, so I thought I'd put together a brief diary. Perhaps, in some small way, this will help balance out all of the car ramming/brick throwing/stray bullet stories that we've had, at least a tiny bit.
The protester at an anti-health care reform rally who yelled and threw money at a pro-reform advocate with Parkinson's disease has apologized for his "shameful" actions and blamed them on impulse.
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When Chris Reichert appeared in a now infamous internet video throwing money and screaming at Robert A. Letcher, a 60 year old man with Parkinson's, he became a nationwide symbol for the ugliest ideas behind the opposition to health care reform.
Screaming "No more handouts," Reichert's demonstrated the most odious form of opposition to health care reform: those that oppose reform out of cruel selfishness, hatred and misanthropy.
It seems that Reichert has had time to cool down since the incident. He told the Colombus Dispatch:
"He's got every right to do what he did and some may say I did too, but what I did was shameful," Reichert said. "I haven't slept since that day."
Sure, just about everyone here is probably thinking that this is on par with Bush going to Haiti: too little, too late, and with questionable sincerity. And that's probably an appropriate way to look at it. However, if nothing else, it is at least somewhat refreshing to me at the end of a week filled with violent intolerance.
"I wanted this to go away, but it won't and I'm paying the consequences," Reichert said.
Reichert says that he has read a lot of comments about this action on the internet. He says that he's afraid for his family, so I'm guessing that some of the comments were pretty nasty. However, considering his change of heart, I also wonder if he didn't come across a lot of comments that made him think about his actions. Comments from people urging compassion, rather than screaming back at the other side. Comments from people denouncing cruelty.
Another thing that I learned from this story is that the man with Parkinson's, Robert A. Letcher, is a former nuclear scientist with a doctorate from Cornell University. As we all know, the RW meme of a bum asking for a handout "cause he doesn't wanna work" is pretty much always wrong.
[Letcher has] been on disability since 2005 but was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2000. His last job was teaching science and technology policy at Ohio State.
Perhaps Reichert read about that as well.
The background that Reichert gives to the Dispatch is not surprising:
Reichert, a registered Republican, said he is not politically active. He said he heard about the rally on the radio and a neighbor invited him to attend.
I believe that's probably how a lot of these people are. Sure, a percentage of them are hard core, die hard conservatives. However, surely many of them are simply regular folks who've been whipped into a frenzy after stumbling upon some RW hate radio. They listen to the vitriol of Rush and Beck and Hannity every day on the way to work, and take their words for granted. Many people are too tired or uninterested to do follow up research of their own, and after a few years of this, well, you have a monster like we saw in that video.
"That was my first time at any political rally and I'm never going to another one," Reichert said.
"I will never ever, ever go to another one."
Hopefully he'll turn off the radio station where he heard about the rally too. In a better world, maybe he would learn a little more about Robert A. Letcher's life and experiences as well. Maybe he would come to realize that Letcher is not a bum, but a distinguished man that has accomplished much in his life, only to come upon adversity due to a genetic accident. Perhaps he would realize that Letcher was actually trying to do him a favor, by saying "This happened to me. It could happen to you."
I'm not saying that this man has redeemed himself. I don't have any naive delusions about converting teabaggers and sitting around the campfire singing kumbaya with them. But I think even the most cold and skeptical among us will admit that, at the very least, seeing this man question his cruel behavior, even if ever so briefly, is refreshing here at the end of this week. Hopefully we will see more of this, and less brick throwing.
Update [2010-3-26 13:52:47 by jabuhrer]:
Obligatory rec list update:
Wow, something must be wrong with my internets, because it says that this made the rec list. Thanks! I definitely think this can be attributed to the fact that this community is ripe for some refreshing news right now, and was willing to overlook my mediocre writing skills. I wrote this very quickly over my lunch break and had no idea that it would get so much interest, so I had to make a few small spelling/grammar edits.
Also, I'd like to thank tbetz very much for pointing out this statement by Reichert, from the Dispatch article:
"I made a donation (to a local Parkinson's disease group) and that starts the healing process."
Take it for what you will, but nonetheless I meant to include it in the diary but apparently forgot to put it in.