Sen. Dianne Feinstein experienced heated town hall forums recently. The first town hall meeting was held at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in San Francisco. Feinstein was asked about whether or not she supports Bernie Sanders’ single payer Medicare-for-All legislation. She said that she does not support Bernie Sanders’ bill. Sen. Dianne Feinstein told the crowd that Sanders’ bill would make it so that the government would totally control everyone’s healthcare, insinuating that Sanders’ bill would restrict the medical freedom of the American people. Sen. Feinstein’s argument that Medicare-for-All would lead to a “complete takeover by the government of all health care,” has been a Republican talking point for years.
Watch as the crowd bursts out chanting, “Single payer now!”
Here’s a perspective of the San Francisco town hall fiasco from Washington Free Beacon .
A couple of days later, Feinstein got into it with her constituents again at a different town hall at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. This audience was also unimpressed with Feinstein’s opinion on single payer healthcare. Watch one perspective of the town hall meeting in Los Angeles from The Young Turks .
Sen. Feinstein is one of a number of establishment democrats that have been called out by their constituents since the eye-opening election season of 2016, in which Bernie Sanders caught the attention of the whole world.
Contrasting Feinstein’s town hall meetings, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard recently held a town hall forum with her constituents in Hawaii. Gabbard supports the single-payer system known as Medicare-For-All. Watch Tulsi Gabbard’s town hall to contrast Feinstein’s town hall meetings.
Tulsi Gabbard Schools Dianne Feinstein on ‘Medicare For All’ Tulsi pledges to support a ‘Medicare For All’ system. https://t.co/jTr1IiLQ45 pic.twitter.com/l8g0Te8Wp5
— swamiamala (@swamiamala) April 23, 2017
After Sen. Feinstein’s town halls heated to a boiling point, protesters called on her to step down.
San Francisco protesters call on Sen. Dianne Feinstein to step down in 2018 | The Sacramento Bee https://t.co/Y61R7g6uze
— Thriving garden (@GottaBernNow) April 18, 2017
Diane Feinstein wants war in Syria & is against Medicare for all! What party is she from? Retire neocon Feinstein! https://t.co/hp48bYVCd4
— melissa jacobs (@deathrep) April 21, 2017
‘Retire Feinstein!’ shout protesters outside First AME church, site of CA senator’s town hall meeting in LA pic.twitter.com/mPjiXPOMh2
— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) April 20, 2017
Los Angeles Daily News barely touched on the fiery moments of the town hall in South Los Angeles. SFGate reported that the San Francisco town hall “was fairly tame” compared to the town hall meetings held by other lawmakers around the country. The overwhelming dissent from the audience was focused on the single payer Medicare-for-All healthcare system like the one Bernie Sanders’ presented, according to the SFGate report.
According to an article published by Los Angeles Times , the San Francisco town hall meeting was actually Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s very “first hometown public town hall meeting since being elected to the Senate 25 years ago.” LAist reported that Sen. Feinstein’s press secretary , Ashley Schapitl, “pushed back against characterizations” that it was Sen. Feinstein’s first public town hall meeting. Schapitl claims that the senator often participated in public panels such as an event co-sponsored by the Public Policy Institute that took place in February. In February, Schapitl pointed out, Feinstein responded to audience questions that had been submitted in advance.
According to LAist , the Los Angeles town hall meeting didn’t escalate as quickly or as high as the town hall meeting in San Francisco did.
“Feinstein didn’t begin to show signs of irritation until the end of the town hall, despite some audience members’ efforts to unsettle her. (One particularly avuncular heckler did prompt a legendary shutdown from Marten, who wryly cut him off mid-yell, stating, ‘You can’t get louder than me, sir, that’s not possible.’) Eventually, though, she began to lose patience, snapping ‘Go somewhere else to make your speech!’ at a heckler—who, to be fair, to did not offer anything remotely resembling a question.”
Though several days have passed since the first town hall meeting in San Francisco in which Sen. Feinstein said she would oppose Bernie Sanders’ single payer Medicare-for-All bill, social media is still showing a steady stream of people publicly upset that Feinstein seems unwilling to bend on the single payer healthcare issue.
Hey @SenSanders , what’s the plan for getting Feinstein out of office? She needs to go. https://t.co/QlNhIe3DIX
— Mike Gaeta (@MaestroGaeta) April 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/CraigTuttle3/status/855837573687771140
Meet Dianne Feinstein’s challenger —–> @David4SenateCA a Berniecrat! Go follow him! @justicedems
— LeftwardSwing ??? ? ????????? (@LeftwardSwing) April 23, 2017
https://www.facebook.com/PeopleForBernie/posts/1980403768846494?match=ZmVpbnN0ZWlu
[Featured Image by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Images]
