Shot in the Dark

Miss The Meeting?

I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a while:  issue a call to the MOB.

MOB bloggers – of all political persuasions – did you get an “invite” to Amy Klobuchar’s “tele-town-hall?”

Did you get the “callback” from A-Klo’s office to join the meeting?  Did you actually get to “attend” the meeting?

And presuming you got the “callback” – did you attend?  How did the meeting go?  Was there a balanced set of questions?

I plan on trying to listen to the audio later today. 

If you have a blog, write about it and either leave a link in my comment section, or email me.  If you do not have a blog, leave your story in my comment section.  I will update this post as needed.

I wanna see if there’s a story here.

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Mitch Berg

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31 responses to “Miss The Meeting?”

  1. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Yes, I got the invite. I responded and got an e-mail confirmation. I did not get the Friday callback, and I did not get the connecting call last night.
    I plan on doing a post later today.
    Needless to say I am less than impressed by my Senator.

  2. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Please leave a link to your post.

  3. swiftee Avatar
    swiftee

    Good idea, Mitch. I’ll inform all three of my regular readers~

  4. BradC Avatar
    BradC

    My wife did indeed get an invite and was called on her cell phone at 7:15 pm while in the car.

    She was in line for a question until her cell phone cut out on her.

  5. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    Sure thing, Mitch.
    http://www.anti-strib.com/blog/senator-amys-health-care-qtown-hallq.html#readmore

  6. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Will post something later today…

  7. Hot Air » Blog Archive » Klobuchar hides behind telephone for town-hall meeting

    […] Update: Mitch Berg would like to get confirmation that anyone else was on the line at all. […]

  8. Chad The Elder Avatar
    Chad The Elder

    NIGP was dissed as well:

    http://www.fraterslibertas.com/2009/08/liveblog-senator-amy-klobuchars-health.html

  9. gwennie Avatar
    gwennie

    I didnt even register but i got the call.. and sat and listened to her and her two “friends” most of the call they repeated themselves.. when asked about the new deficit numbers she blamed you guessed it Bush and said there plan is to reduce the deficit by 2012 That i want to SEE . i wanted to ask a quesion but never got the chance,, maybe she was lucky i didnt,,then at the end she said if you want to send me a message stay on the line and you can leave your details and email and someone would get back to you,,, well of course i waited then this auto mated voice came on and said Good bye,, and the call was disconnected I tell you they are scared of US

  10. bmoog Avatar
    bmoog

    Yes, I did somehow get a call. I have no idea why, because the only contact I have ever had with her would be in the form of emails asking her why she wants to take away my healthcare. I didn’t register, and I didn’t even answer the call – she was rattling away on my answering machine when I got home at 7:21 last night, so I picked up the phone and listened to her dance around the questions. Not a single questioner was allowed to follow up or edit their question, and each was prefaced by a commentator explaining what the question was going to be – which obviously means only pre-selected questions were allowed to be asked.

  11. Marty Andrade Avatar
    Marty Andrade

    Got the invite but ignored it.

  12. teri Avatar
    teri

    I had written to Sen Klobuchar a while ago expressing concerns about the privacy matters having health records online, and she responded by inviting me to participate in her tele-townhall. I called her office, expressed my disgust at it being a telephone townhall and declined. They called Sunday night anyway. My husband answered and hung up.

  13. LJohnson Avatar
    LJohnson

    I was invited to attend the meeting. I have written Amy’s office regarding healthcare reform several times. Including what I don’t support. I received the call on Friday. I called the office during the week to verify what I had to do…which was answer the phone on Sunday August 23rd when they called at 7:00 p.m. I prepared some questions even a compliment on how Amy is handling reducing the cost and access to Rx….the phone rang at 7:04 p.m. I answered but to my dismay there was a recording stating the conference had started and she was sorry she misssed me…but I was ON THE PHONE, it shows up in my answered calls on my cell, not my missed calls!
    I called her office and her voice mail was full…so I left my name and number at her DC office and have not heard back at all! I am concerned now more than ever that they want to run healthcare reform when they can’t even run a phone system.
    I was on a free webinar last week for a private sector with no challenges listening and viewing online. Someone help me to understand what is going on in our Country?

  14. LJohnson Avatar
    LJohnson

    Where did my post go? Must have went where my call acceptance was last night when they called and I answered….even my cell phone has it as a answered call, but i received a voice mail stating I missed the call even though I was on the phone.

  15. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    L,

    I should add – if you’ve never posted a comment on this blog, your first post goes into moderation so I can ensure you’re not a spammer. I don’t always get to the comments immediately – work intrudes – but I do try to approve new batches of comments a couple of times a day.

  16. LJohnson Avatar
    LJohnson

    Thanks Mitch….I am usually somewhat technically smart, but do have dyslexia that acts up more when I am stressed then I look stupid! I have never been on a blog…this is my first….appreciate the info! Thank you for posting this important topic on who missed the call and who did not!

  17. penigma Avatar
    penigma

    Gotta love technology, sure am glad there are no hickups anywhere else, like say, trying to sift thru spam.. or trying to handle 10,000 requests to be included.

    Sure am glad that Ben Ginsberg didn’t have any issues with HIS ‘townhalls for reporters’ when he was speaking for Norm Coleman.

    Look, fact is, not everyone gets a chance to ask a question. At least AKlo actually TOOK questions from people of different stripes, which would maker her completely different from the Bush townhalls, where if you even showed up in a T-shirt they didn’t like, you were escorted out, where the questions were selected before-hand, and where narry a dissenting voice was heard. Yet, I don’t recall too many objections on on SiTD about that kind of conduct.. maybe it happened and I just missed it?

    Live by the sword, die by the sword. One more aspect of that, maybe ole’ AKlo was trying to let people actually ASK questions, and chose to do so thru this format, rather than having them simply shout each other out of any possibility for actual discussion – maybe this was the outcome of boorish conduct by protesters from left AND right – and we then therefore have only ourselves to blame that she (and her office) would be seeking to use a format where voices could be heard CIVILY – if so, I have no objection. If people were off-put by the fact they couldn’t artificially dominate a meeting with aggressive tactics because this format (of AKlo’s) prevented it, my reply is, tough crap. Preventing other people from speaking IS preventing free speech, not Constitutionally protected speech, but it is violating the spirit of what we as a country stand for.

    Mitch, just a question, are you suggesting that Klobuchar purposefully left out people on the right? If so, how would that differ from Bush’s “townhalls?” Not that it makes it right, but where was the acrimony 5 years ago?

  18. Kermit Avatar
    Kermit

    At least AKlo actually TOOK questions from people of different stripes,
    Sure she did, Peev. Just keep telling yourself that.

  19. Emerson Twain Avatar
    Emerson Twain

    I signed up on Friday before the noon deadline & got the confirming call on Saturday. I was ready with a question when the call came Sunday nite at just about 7:00 on the dot. I was impressed with Mayo’s Dr. Cortese, however, the federal nurse was plainly an Obama hack, all single-payer in her heart. Sen. Amy handled it all even-handedly.

    I have no idea how the questioners were selected. Although we were asked to press *3 if we has question to ask (and I did); all of the questions were served-up without anyone knowing, (presumably), if they would be selected, or even what the procedure might be if one were to be selected.

    In the end, I left a VM question, citing the general lack of federal competence in law-writing and rule-making, citing her CPSIA boondoggle, vis-a-vis the (“unintentional”) purging of classic children’s books and 2nd hand children’s goods from bookstores and thrift stores and therefore can she assure us this kind of incompetence would not occur if a government option were passed as a part of the reform effort.

  20. thekidjr11 Avatar
    thekidjr11

    I received the call at 0801 and heard the last two or three questions. The call almost sounded contrived, scripted, and rehearsed. This was a sorry excuse for a discussion on the hottest topic facing Americans today.

  21. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    Gotta love technology, sure am glad there are no hickups anywhere else, like say, trying to sift thru spam.. or trying to handle 10,000 requests to be included.

    Well, to be fair to both Sen. Klobuchar and myself, that’s what I’m trying to ascertain here.

    Sure am glad that Ben Ginsberg didn’t have any issues with HIS ‘townhalls for reporters’ when he was speaking for Norm Coleman.

    Not sure what you’re getting at here. But then I suspect either are you 🙂

    Look, fact is, not everyone gets a chance to ask a question. At least AKlo actually TOOK questions from people of different stripes, which would maker her completely different from the Bush townhalls, where if you even showed up in a T-shirt they didn’t like, you were escorted out, where the questions were selected before-hand, and where narry a dissenting voice was heard.

    Pen – have you actually heard the townhall audio yet? I’m going to guess “no”. Either have I. I’ll be doing that, likely, tonight.

    By the way, saying “Bush was worse” isn’t much of a defense.

    But since you bring it up – Rep. Bachmann is holding face to face, in person townhalls.

    Yet, I don’t recall too many objections on on SiTD about that kind of conduct.. maybe it happened and I just missed it?

    Two things that are vastly more likely:
    1. It happened and I missed it. I generally write four blog posts a day. Sometimes more, but the point being that’s usually around twenty subjects a week I address on this blog. Conduct of town hall meetings rarely rises to the level of “interesting”, except when we see situations like the Carnahan meetings (SEIUSDAP thugs beating on people) or Reid/Boxer/Feinstein’s (referring to dissenters as “Nazis”).
    2. It happened and you came up with an interpretation of the event whose logic successfully evaded capture by me.

    Live by the sword, die by the sword. One more aspect of that, maybe ole’ AKlo was trying to let people actually ASK questions, and chose to do so thru this format, rather than having them simply shout each other out of any possibility for actual discussion

    That’s a lot of maybes! Which is fine; maybe Kate Beckinsale will join me for the NARN at the fair!

    maybe this was the outcome of boorish conduct by protesters from left AND right – and we then therefore have only ourselves to blame that she (and her office) would be seeking to use a format where voices could be heard CIVILY

    So because someone else behaves badly (and while boisterousness on the right is perhaps not ideal, it is hardly reason to get all “wee wee’d up” and run from the public with ones’ tail between ones’ legs; if A-Klo wants to protect all us dissenters from the SEIU – well, between myself, my camera and my lawyer, thanks Senator, but I got that covered), “our” “Senator” has to hide behind the cover of buggy technology?

    Is this the spirit that prevailed at Valley Forge and Gettysburg and Bastogne?

    Hardly.

    if so, I have no objection. If people were off-put by the fact they couldn’t artificially dominate a meeting with aggressive tactics because this format (of AKlo’s) prevented it, my reply is, tough crap.

    My government, right or wrong!

    Mitch, just a question, are you suggesting that Klobuchar purposefully left out people on the right?

    I’m trying to find out what happened at the townhalls. I have made no “suggestions” at all.

    If so, how would that differ from Bush’s “townhalls?” Not that it makes it right, but where was the acrimony 5 years ago?

    Bush’s townhalls were campaign appearances, not constituent contact. Our elected represenatatives (and Al Franken) OWE us access. If they don’t provide it, they should not be in office.

  22. gmg425 Avatar
    gmg425

    I wrote about it last night. She tried coming across as a free market capitalist but that didn’t work when she said that there’s have to be something to provide competition to insurance companies. She also talked about needing more regulations to keep the EVIL insurance companies honest.

  23. Emerson Twain Avatar
    Emerson Twain

    re: gmg425

    She was all about providing the appearance of equanimity. I didn’t hear her come out for anything specific, & she gave the impression she was not feeling at all boxed in by the house version(s), i.e., keeping the insurance companies “honest” with a Government Option. She never called the insurance companies “EVIL”.

    Interestingly, Mayo physicians are apparently paid on salary, not per procedure (which makes sense). Dr. Cortese spoke firmly in favor of universal private insurance, with a govt. hand-up to low income buyers. No so-called Government Option. I seem to recall hearing that Switzerland has taken that kind of approach.

  24. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    “govt. hand-up”

    Is this when government doesn’t redistribute the wealth of others? Seems like code for “non-optional goverment charity work”. *shrug*

  25. thekidjr11 Avatar
    thekidjr11

    I called both her DC and MN office and complained the over 1 hour late call. After voicing my concers and 2 questions I would have asked (if I had a chance), I was sent this e-mail:

    Dear Thomas:

    Thank you very much for registering to be a part of last night’s statewide healthcare tele-town hall. In a sign of how important this issue is to our state, the forum was met with overwhelming response, with over 10,000 people joining the call!

    If you weren’t able to join for any reason, or if you want to listen to part or all of the discussion again, you can do so by visiting my website at http://klobuchar.senate.gov or by clicking here. Feel free to forward this to others you think may be interested as well.

    Thanks again for taking part in this conversation. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to and hear from people like you and I look forward to continuing to work together on this important issue in the weeks ahead.

    Sincerely,

    Amy Klobuchar
    United States Senator

    How rich. “If you weren’t able to join for any reason,…”. Yah, how about not joining because you didn’t call me until after 8 P.M. when the call was almost over.

  26. breckhockey Avatar
    breckhockey

    We signed up for the call on Wednesday the 19th. We received our test call at 2:04 PM on Saturday and we answered that call and listened to the instructions for Sunday.

    We received “the call” at exactly 7 PM Sunday night but were told we had missed the meeting and would have the opportunity to hear the call if we went to the website. We knew the call couldn’t be on the web site if it was just happening, unless the “live” call was really a taped and edited call to begin with.

    We are disappointed in Senator Klobuchar.

    (By the way, I have written Minnesota’s other senator four times and never received a response.)

  27. Emerson Twain Avatar
    Emerson Twain

    re: Troy

    Troy,

    Call it what you want, hand-up, hand-out, hands across-the the-water, whatever. Bottom line: perfect is not one of the available choices we’re going to see. Better to have, in my view, as a free-market guy, a de-centralized bottom-up approach, as opposed to the Pelosi-Obama central planning, top-down trojan horse public option rationing disaster the Dems are trying to foist on us all. That way at least there is still a functioning market with its advantages and and hopefully its dynamic opportunities. Besides, you know they are going to pass something–right?

    Tort Reform, portable policies, everybody in, shopping across state lines, individual subsidies by need. These are probably the key ingredients that will define a successful bill, if we see one. Cheers.

  28. Master of None Avatar
    Master of None

    The good thing about A-Klo is that she’s not all that tied to any fundamental core belief other than “It’s all about Amy”.

  29. Emerson Twain Avatar
    Emerson Twain

    Re: Master of none:

    “The good thing about A-Klo is that she’s not all that tied to any fundamental core belief other than “It’s all about Amy”. ”

    Oh, c’mon, girls just wanna have fun. They just wanna. Put your helmet on. She’d chew your steak for you if she thought it might prevent you from choking.

  30. Skipper50 Avatar
    Skipper50

    I duly registered for the forum, did not receive the pre-forum call, but received a recorded call from Amy hereself (presumably) announcing that the forum had been held, “sorry you didn’t join in”, and an invitation to listen to the recording on her website. I wonder how many SEIU members failed to get the pre-forum call?

    I called her Minneapolis office to ask what goes, and the answer was “technical trouble” that was being investigated (ya, right). They suggested I attend to fair at some unspecified time to see her. Oh, goody.

  31. Bill C Avatar
    Bill C

    Our elected representatives (and Al Franken)

    best laugh of the day.

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