Screaming Town Hallers Take On Moran, Dean, Each Other

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) town hall.
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Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) knew last night’s town hall — held just 20 miles from Washington, D.C., and featuring universal coverage supporter Howard Dean — might get ugly.

Hours before the event, Moran told a local news station he was concerned. “I hope that they leave their guns behind,” he said.

There are no reports of people bringing their guns, but nearly 3,000 people packed a gymnasium in Reston, Va., many of them intent on either shouting down the night’s hosts, or each other. The majority seemed to be supporters of health care reform — but that didn’t mean the meeting was quiet.

Despite the rowdiness, Dean said today on CNBC that meeting was “exciting,” and that he enjoyed it. No one was really rude, he said, adding that Moran did a good job keeping control.

Moran’s office had tried to pre-empt shouters by passing out copies of George Washington’s “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior,” to no avail. Audience members began shouting halfway through the opening prayer; they screamed, “under God!” during the Pledge of Allegiance; and interrupted Moran’s opening remarks several times, even as he was asking for a civil debate.

“Dissent is as American as apple pie,” he said. “The freedom of speech, the first amendment, is clearly the foundation upon which our country was built. The voices of the American people should not be silenced [but] it doesn’t provide one with the right to shout down or otherwise interfere with someone else’s right to be heard.”

Video after the jump.

Many people cheered the sentiment. A few minutes later, Moran was booed while explaining how questions would be chosen from the audience.

“Please,” he said. “That wasn’t a controversial thing to say.”

He spent about an hour talking about health care reform bill, aided by slides about myths such as care for illegal immigrants and “death panels,” to various cheers and boos. Then, he introduced Dean. As the former governor started speaking, the crowd kept screaming.

Moran tried to restore order as a handful of people, including vocal abortion opponent Randall Terry, chanted, “We won’t pay for murder!”

“These folks are not from the 8th district, they don’t belong here and I’m gonna ask them to leave,” Moran said. The people kept chanting and the crowd roared around them, to the point that Moran was screaming into the microphone.

Then Moran called Terry out by name. “Please leave, Mr. Terry.” He then offered to allow Terry to have five minutes to ask the first question — but Terry kept screaming, “You’re a baby killer, Howard Dean!” Cops appeared to escort him out, as most of the crowd chanted, “Kick him out!”

Once the crowd calmed down, Dean spoke and then the two took questions.

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