Arlen Specter: 'Do You Want to Be Led Out of Here?' Angry Citizen Walks Out on Town Hall as Crowd Fires Back at Specter: 'You Work For Us'!

Amid booing from the crowd, Senator Arlen Specter, at a town hall meeting this morning, yelled back at a gentleman who wasn't allowed to speak: "If you want to stay in here, we’re not going to tolerate any demonstrations or booing. So, it’s up to you."

Watch the CNN video. The crowd is cheering ecstatically in solidarity for their fellow consitituent:

And from the report:

Emotions ran high, with questioners complaining of government intrusion in their lives on health care and other issues. One man implored Specter and the government to "leave us alone," while another said the message Specter should take back to Washington is that he and others "want our country back."

The shoving incident occurred early in the 90-minute session, when a man started shouting that he had been told by Specter's staff that he could speak, but he didn't get one of the 30 cards distributed to people allowing them to ask questions. Another man stood up and shoved the protester, and Specter approached the men shouting for calm.

"You and your cronies in government do this kind of stuff all the time," the protester shouted before leaving the hall. "I'm not a lobbyist with all kinds of money to stuff in your pockets. I'll leave you so you can do whatever the hell you do."

The Politico's got a nice breakdown of what happened, "Arlen Specter Faces Fury: 'You Work For Us!'":

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) fired back Tuesday at a raucous town hall audience that booed and jeered him for more than an hour.

Specter immediately tried to temper the rough crowd, which started booing him before the question-and-answer session even began, with the blunt warning: “If you want to stay in here, we’re not going to tolerate any demonstrations or booing. So, it’s up to you."

But minutes later during the senator’s response to a question on whether Americans would be able to maintain their private insurance under the Democratic health care proposal, a protester who was not selected to speak stood up, walked into the aisle and began shouting at him.

“Do you want to be led out of here?” the senator told the man, pointing at him. “You’re welcome to go.”

Specter then walked toward the heckler who was being pushed back toward his seat by another member of the crowd.

“Now wait a minute,” Specter shouted repeatedly into the microphone. “You want to leave? Leave.”

“I’m going to speak my mind before I leave, because your people told me I could,” the protester said once the room quieted down. “I called your office, and was told I could have the mike to speak. And then I was lied to because I came prepared to speak.”

“I’ll leave,” the protester said, as several police officers stood nearby. “And you can do whatever the hell you please to do. One day God’s going to stand before you, and he’s going to judge you and the rest of your damned cronies up on the Hill. And then you’ll get your just deserts. I’m leaving.”

The man received loud applause and shouts of support as he walked out of the room.

So, what's the response among the chattering leftist-media classes? Blame the Repubicans, of course. Here's Mark Ambinder, "How Conservatives Are Blowing Their Chance":

Democrats are beginning to notice that opponents of health care reform have discredited themselves. They ramped up much too quickly. When smaller, conservative groups Astroturfed, they inevitably brought to the meetings the type of Republican activist who was itching for a fight and who would use the format to vent frustrations at President Obama himself. There were plenty of activists who really wanted to know about health care, and some who were probably misinformed -- scared out of their chairs -- to some degree, but the loudest voices tended to be the craziest, the most extreme, the least sensible, and the most easy to mock.

Yep, blame the Astroturfers. Typical. But let's not forget what's really going on: Americans want reform of healthcare, not a bureaucratic takeover that destroys the marketplace.

The left is losing this battle, and the townhalls are actually forcing the Democratic Party to do what what needs to be done: go back to the drawing board and write-up a market-driven reform plan that gives incentives for individuals to invest in ownership of insurance policies and health savings accounts. Reform should preserve functioning employee-based insurance programs (eliminate incentives for employers to abandon private markets); allow greater private competition, with individuals empowered to seek cost savings across state lines. Further, state-governments can reform Medicaid into a voucher program, which will help remove some of the stigma of public assistance in health care. As Arthur Laffer wrote recently:

By empowering patients and doctors to manage health-care decisions, a patient-centered health-care reform will control costs, improve health outcomes, and improve the overall efficiency of the health-care system.

More at Memeorandum.