Like many people I am aggravated by the failure of Republicans to have town halls/meetings with their constituents. We know why they wouldn’t want to do this — AHCA is absolutely indefensible on the merits; it was simply a totem for producing a conservative legislative ‘win’. However, since these Republicans don’t appear in public they cleverly avoid creating the conditions for a media firestorm which will be observed by and commented on by their constituents. Rep. Maloney’s suggestion for a countervailing political punch-back is simple but, I think, quite brilliant.
He says if a Republican representative in a district refuses to publicly discuss the AHCA, a neighboring Democratic representative should offer to provide a public forum in that representative’s district! I really like the sound of this. I think that this would produce terrible optics for the hiding Republicans. I think it is a novel enough twist that it would be assured of heavy local media coverage.
Imagine the potential effect of Democrats holding town halls throughout Republican districts, where they will be given a press-heavy forum to repetitively list the horrors of AHCA, all the while slyly insinuating that the Republican in that district is a cruel and craven coward who can not justify why he or she voted as they did. Love it!