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Answering the call

Thousands of conservative activists answered Rep. Michele Bachmann’s call to come to Washington and protest the Democratic health care expansions being pushed through Congress.

Standing at the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, the activists chanted, “Kill the bill,” and cheered Republican members of Congress who promised to vote against it. Conservative stars such as “Liberty and Tyranny” author Mark Levin and actor Jon Voight spoke to the crowd, drawing attention to, as Mr. Levin put it, “the wrecking ball” the Democratic majority “has taken to this magnificent society.”

Mrs. Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, had asked activists to attend her press conference, which she called a “House call,” during an appearance on Fox News last week. And on short order, activists, many of whom had organized previous “tea party” events, began organizing buses and car pools to get there.

Advocacy groups such as Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks also helped get the word out.

FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon said, “This was all put together in less than five days. We alerted our members, who know what to do after a summer of organizing. Within days, buses were chartered from as far away as Georgia and folks even bought flights from the West Coast.”

Others, such as Mike and Bonnie McCaffrey, came on their own. They said they got up at 5 a.m. to drive from their home in Hawley, Pa., to Washington for the event and to lobby their congressman, Rep. Christopher Carney, a Democrat. “It’s important,” Mrs. McCaffrey said.

The Democrats, for their part, think Mrs. Bachmann’s approach will backfire eventually.

Democratic National Committee press secretary Hari Sevugan dismissed Mrs. Bachmann’s event by saying, “If the Republican Party wants to make Michele Bachmann the voice of the party, that’s more than fine with us. We’ll help circulate the petition.”

Mr. Sevugan added that the event was an example of the “extreme, right-wing, rigid ideological agenda that has Americans leaving the Republican Party in droves - and so, if displays like today are what they think is a smart political strategy, all we can say is: ‘Go for it.’ ”

Debbee Keller, press secretary for Mrs. Bachmann, said, “The Democrats are completely tone-deaf. The story today is not the press conference that members of Congress held, it’s the thousands of people who travelled to D.C. to tell Congress that they oppose government-run health care.”

Getting arrested

The protest turned ugly when 12 people were arrested at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in Room 235 in the Cannon House Office Building.

Capitol Police public information officer Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail to The Washington Times that four of the demonstrators were charged with unlawful entry inside the room, and six were charged with unlawful conduct in the hallway outside. Two females were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct outside of the room, she said.

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