Violence (Sort Of) Erupts at Florida Town Hall

The Democrats have been complaining about “violence” and “mob rule” because opponents of government medicine have attended town halls sponsored by Democratic Congressmen and voiced their opposition to Obamacare. Those complaints have been silly. Last night, however, something approaching violence did occur at a town hall in Ybor City, Florida. The event was sponsored by a Democratic legislator and it featured an appearance by Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor, a strong advocate of Obama’s government medicine plan. The room where the event took place holds 250, but 500 people showed up, including many opponents of the Democrats’ health care plan.
What happened is described in this article in the Tampa Tribune–note how closely the reporter follows the Democratic Party line–but can be better evaluated through this video. The person who uploaded it writes, “Kathy Castor’s union thugs beat up a guy (in the green shirt – evidence 3:21) and shut the doors to prevent the opposing opinions from being heard.” He may have had reason to know this, but you can’t tell from the video whether the people in question (who do indeed look thuggish) work for a union or not:

The protesters chanted “You work for us” and “Hear our voice”–pretty innocuous stuff. In general, I’m not a huge fan of chanting protesters. But the American people are right to be angry that the Democrats are scheming to destroy the world’s best health care system and replace it with the sort of government medicine that has been a miserable failure everywhere it has been tried.
What’s more, the Democrats tried to jam this revolutionary measure down the voters’ throats before Americans knew what hit them. If the Democrats had been able to follow their intended timetable, the bill would already be law, passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by President Obama. Only growing public concern stalled the measure’s progress and created this opportunity for opposition to government medicine to be mobilized. So the protesters’ sense of urgency is appropriate.
UPDATE: An even more violent attack occurred in St. Louis last night, this one unquestionably carried out by union thugs on behalf of the Democratic Party.