memeorandum: Health Care Town Halls Turn Violent in Tampa, St. Louis (Fox News)

11:45 AM ET, August 7, 2009

Top Items:

Six people, including P-D reporter, arrested at Carnahan meeting — UPDATE: St. Louis County police say six people were arrested. Two of those were arrested on suspicion of assault, one of resisting arrest and three on suspicion of committing peace disturbances. Carnahan was gone when the ruckus started.

Discussion: Moe_Lane's blog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Jawa Report, Wake up America, TPMDC, Taylor Marsh, Confederate Yankee, NewsBusters.org, Outside The Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Blogs of War, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Capitol Briefing, PrairiePundit, QandO, St. Louis Tea Party and Conservatives4Palin.com

Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:

Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform — As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don't agree. Today, I'm going to step over that line. — The recent attacks by Republican leaders …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Opinionator, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Foundry, Neptunus Lex, Brendan Nyhan, Prairie Weather, rubber hose, Obsidian Wings, JammieWearingFool, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, John Stossel's Take, Paul Krugman and Reason

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Town Hall Mob — There's a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Freedom of Speech,” depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.'s “Four Freedoms,” shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, The Campaign Spot, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Huffington Post, Discriminations, Jules Crittenden, TalkLeft, The Mahablog, American Power, Reason and Connecting.the.Dots

Wall Street Journal:

‘You Are Terrifying Us’ — Voters send a message to Washington, and get an ugly response. — Printer — Friendly — We have entered uncharted territory in the fight over national health care. There's a new tone in the debate, and it's ugly. At the moment the Democrats are looking …

Discussion: Mediaite, JustOneMinute, PrairiePundit, Boston Globe, Flopping Aces, The Anchoress, Zandar Versus The Stupid, No More Mister Nice Blog and National Review

Adam Smith / St. Petersburg Times:

Protesters drown out Tampa health care summit — TAMPA - Bitter divisions over reforming America's health care system exploded Thursday night in Tampa amid cat calls, jeering and shoving at a town hall meeting. — “Tyranny! Tyranny! Tyranny!” dozens of people shouted as U.S …

Patterico's Pontifications:

Angry Mob of Racist Extremists Beats Black Man at Town Hall Meeting — I guess the Democrats were right after all. At a town meeting held by a Democrat congressman, a rowdy group of organized and angry thugs showed up to make a point about ObamaCare, and then beat up a man.

Gateway Pundit:

RAW VIDEO!!.....TEA PARTY PROTESTERS ATTACKED— 1 Black Conservative Seriously Hurt in St. Louis!... 6 Arrested Including SEIU Members — ** RAW VIDEO from Missourah blog: — A black conservative was attacked by the Carnahan-supporting mob. — At least one SEIU member is arrested by St. Louis police in this video:

Discussion: protein wisdom, thedanashow.wordpress.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Piece of Work In Progress

Dana Loesch / thedanashow.wordpress.com:

Meet the Mob — You've heard a lot about this crazy, scary, vicious mob on some shadowy GOP payroll. By the way the DNC, Rachel Maddow, and President Obama talk, you'd think it was a motley crue of Hell's Angels. — Let me introduce you to the mob: — I am the mob. My kids are the mob.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Mahablog, American Power, RedState and St. Louis Tea Party

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Dueling protesters disrupt Carnahan forum on aging — In St. Louis and across the country, the debate over health care reform is growing louder. — On Thursday evening, a forum on aging called by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, drew an overflow crowd of several hundred to Bernard Middle School gym in south St. Louis County.

Discussion: Fired Up! Missouri, On Deadline, Atlas Shrugs, Below The Beltway and NPR Blogs

Jon Henke / The Next Right:
The Mob Revealed — Reports out of Florida indicate that Democrats …

Discussion: Red County, Pundit & Pundette, Erick's blog, American Power and RedState

Attaturk / Firedoglake:
“The Other” — Now that a Democrat is in the White House,

Discussion: Daily Kos and Shakesville

The Huffington Post:
Tampa Town Hall On Health Care Reform Disrupted By Violence (VIDEO)

Discussion: Facing South, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Washington Post, Pam's House Blend, The Huffington Post, News Hounds, The Plum Line, Think Progress, Paul Krugman, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Flopping Aces and American Power

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Rahm warns liberal groups to stop ads

Discussion: The Note, Associated Press and Swampland

Fox News:
Health Care Town Halls Turn Violent in Tampa, St. Louis

Discussion: Denver Post, Power Line and New York Post

Michelle Malkin:
SEIU and the “persuasion of power;” Update: St. Louis thuggery on tape

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, Atlas Shrugs and Gathering of Eagles: NY

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
WH to Dems: Punch back twice as hard

Discussion: New York Times, The Huffington Post, Boston Globe, New York Times, Washington Post, Pajamas Media, The Jawa Report, St. Louis Tea Party, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, The Reaction, GayPatriot and Columbian

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Fist Fight(s?) at Tampa Townhall

Discussion: TBO News Breaking and The Impolitic

RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Violence Erupts At Rep. Castor's Town Hall In Tampa

Discussion: Newsalert

William March / TBO.com:
Protests, passions roiling town hall meeting on health care

Discussion: Power Line, Salon, Don Surber and Glenn Thrush's Blog

CNN:

First on the CNN Ticker: Florida senator to resign seat — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Florida, will announce that he is resigning his seat, three GOP sources tell CNN. — The sources said that Martinez will officially announce his intention to step down on Friday.

Discussion: The Fix, The Daily Dish, The Campaign Spot, Salon, TPMDC and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:

Mel Martinez resigning — Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) will be resigning from the Senate, according to several senior Republican sources familiar with his thinking. — He made the announcement at a morning staff meeting, where he said he will not be returning to the Senate after the August recess.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Central Florida Political …, Daily Kos, The Buzz, The Page, NPR Blogs and Below The Beltway

Jack Healy / New York Times:

247,000 Jobs Lost in July; Rate Falls Slightly to 9.4% — The American economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, and in a reversal, the unemployment rate fell slightly, to 9.4 percent, the government reported Friday. — Although businesses are expected to keep cutting jobs through the rest of the year …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Associated Press, Donklephant and The Glittering Eye

Daniel Indiviglio / The Atlantic Business Channel:
Did The Unemployment Rate Really Go Down? — As Derek wrote …

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog

Annys Shin / Washington Post: Job Losses Slow to 247,000; Unemployment Rate Dips

New York Times:

Taliban Leader in Pakistan Was Killed, His Aides Say — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Baitullah Mehsud, the main leader of Pakistan's fearsome Taliban militia, was killed Wednesday in a C.I.A. missile strike, two Taliban fighters said Friday, but a spokesman for Pakistan's military, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas …

Discussion: Democracy in America, Power Line, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent, democracyarsenal.org, Registan.net, Danger Room, PrairiePundit and The Page

Bill Roggio / The Long War Journal:
‘Baitullah Mehsud is alive’ - US intelligence official

Discussion: ABCNEWS, New York Times, BBC, The Strata-Sphere, The Lede, Don Surber, Hot Air, FP Passport and PrairiePundit

Los Angeles Times:
Death of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mahsud is confirmed

Discussion: Mudville Gazette

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Gillibrand Rival Reportedly Won't Run in Primary — WASHINGTON — Representative Carolyn B. Maloney is expected to announce today that she has changed her mind and will not enter the primary race against Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York's newly appointed senator.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Scorecard's Blog, TPMDC and MyDD

Abf / We'll Know When We Get There:

Sincerely, John Hughes — I was babysitting for my mom's friend Kathleen's daughter the night I wrote that first fan letter to John Hughes. I can literally remember the yellow grid paper, the blue ball point pen and sitting alone in the dim light in the living room, the baby having gone to bed.

Discussion: Swampland

Pat Saperstein / Variety:
Director John Hughes dies at 59

Discussion: Slate, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, TMZ.com, Political Byline, Gawker, The Reaction, Scared Monkeys, Zandar Versus The Stupid and NPR Blogs

Elinor Mills / CNET News:

Twitter, Facebook attack targeted one user — A Georgian blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, and Google's Blogger and YouTube was targeted in a denial-of-service attack that led to the sitewide outage at Twitter and problems at the other sites on Thursday, according to a Facebook executive.

Discussion: The Register, Guardian, MediaFile, Mashable!, The Glittering Eye, TechCrunch, The Other McCain and Time

The Hill:

Axelrod gives Dems their health talking points — Senate Democrats are girding themselves for a month of vigorous debate over healthcare reform, armed with a new set of talking points from David Axelrod, the president's chief political strategist. — Axelrod and Jim Messina …

Discussion: The Foundry

The Huffington Post:
Reid Backs Off Health Care Deadline

Discussion: TPMDC

David Harsanyi / Denver Post:

Presenting new rules for radicals — If you're a virtuous and patriotic American, you may find this column either offensive or misleading. If so, please forward it to White House authorities at the Department of Fishy Activity. (E-mail the good people at flag@whitehouse.gov.)

Discussion: Dr. Helen and PrairiePundit