Angry Voters Turn on Daniel Webster

Angry constituents gathered outside Rep. Daniel Webster’s (R-FL) Winter Garden office on Friday, to demand that he votes to end the government shutdown with a clean bill to fund the government.

“Daniel Webster has joined with the extremists in his party to shut down the government and hurt millions of people,” said Rick Martini, a retiree, to cheers. “We want Daniel Webster to vote to end the government shutdown and we will not accept any vote that is rigged against the American people.”

“If Daniel Webster decides to put party ideology over his country and don’t stand with his constituents on these critical issues, Rep. Webster can be sure constituents like, you and I, will not forget this moment when the elections come in 2014,” Martini continued, to shouts of “yeah, we will remember.”

A recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling shows that the government shutdown is unpopular in Webster’s District 10 and could be a major issue in the 2014 elections. A mere 33% of voters approve of the job Webster is doing and the poll found that if the elections were held today, Webster would lose to an unnamed Democrat.

Voters said they are angry too, that Congressional Republicans want to defund the Affordable Care Act or to delay the individual mandate for one year.  They agreed it was not unusual that such a major program would suffer from glitches at the inception, but were clear that everyone should come together to fix it so that nearly 40 million uninsured Americans could have access to health care.

Steven M. Brady, a local attorney and former officer with the U.S. Department of State said, it is very important that voters hold Webster to account and he must explain his actions.

“He is giving us these Tea Party talking points which he is reading out and we would like to know, if Webster is thinking straight why did he go into this deal,” said Brady.  “Webster needs to explain to us what he is doing because shutting down the government isn’t a plan.”

Vivian Johnson, another retiree who addressed the crowd said, she is angry because she has been watching the shutdown and lawmakers are picking winners and losers, who can get money and who cannot, instead of just opening up the government and allowing it to work as it should.

“I am particularly concerned that the Democrats hold their ground and don’t mess with Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security as these are the safety nets that we need in this country, said Johnson. “No one should wonder if they would have food to eat or be able to get their medication.”

Johnson added that, some seniors live on as little as $500 a month – a pittance.  “I am young enough to remember when we didn’t have the safety nets and seniors were dying and they were being found on the street,” she added.

To shouts of “open up the government now” and “Tea Party shutdown, the crowd headed inside to Webster’s office to deliver first-hand their demands.

Elizabeth Tyrell, Deputy Chief of Staff to Webster, listened patiently to the demands of constituents, promising that she would faithfully convey them to the Congressman.

The crowd responded that they wanted not only their messages conveyed, but they wanted Webster to address them immediately.

Today’s protest was organized by local members of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and joined by local members of Democracy For America (DFA), MoveOn.org, and CREDO.