Thread by @stevedavid

THREAD: Tonight was the first night that I saw @RepKevinBrady answer questions without pre-selecting the questions. Here is the breakdown.

1/ Typically @bradyfortexas doesn’t host public town halls. He will pick his audience (think oil and gas employees, conservative groups, etc) and go speak to them, in which there is either a fee to get in or you have to be an employee of the company.

2/ Tonight was different for two reasons: 1) he spoke to a Woodlands village association (open to the public), and 2) it was announced about 2 weeks ago. Typically he will only give a 2-3 day heads up for a public event if he holds one.

3/ Prior to the breakdown I do want to thank the Alden Bridge and Indian Springs Village Associations for hosting this event, and for being board members. They are volunteers who care deeply about their communities!

4/ He spoke to the crowd about veterans, healthcare, and taxation. It was a generally pretty vanilla speech that went over the things he is proud of. It is worth mentioning that he did not talk about how he increased the deficit by $1.6 trillion, but I digress…

5/ After he finished speaking he did something that NEVER happens: the floor opened up for questions. He always asks people to fill out question cards and then selects the ones he wants to answer, but tonight he just picked random people. And boy was that a mistake.

6/ The first lady that he spoke to said that she was a successful small business owner, but that she is being drowned in health care costs. His rebuttal?

7/ “Obamacare is destroying small business.” To which she replied that her costs went down under the #ACA, but spiked after the @GOP started to dismantle it piece by piece after not being able to repeal it. His response?

8/ “We will just have to agree to disagree.” To which the room erupted with variations of: “You lie!” “You wouldn’t know the truth if it hit you.” AND “Who does this f@@king guy think he is.” (that guy was directly behind me and continued using colorful language)

9/ At that point, a lady next to me spoke up and started saying that he is actively hurting his constituents and is not “listening to [their] problems.” While she was saying this, he was talking over her. I say that to highlight the irony of him trying to convince us he listens.

10/ He moves on to another question that comes from the back about small businesses and the struggles they face. I will say that he did a good job of answering this question from a “feelings” perspective. “Small businesses are our backbone.” He gave no substance or plan, though.

11/ After this, and this is the most amazing part, he looks up to one of his staff and says “Are we out of time?” To which they reply, “you have time for a few more questions.”

12/ Y’all. I was a body man to @AnniseParker. If she had asked me this question, the answer is ‘yes’ and that is my queue to be the jerk in the room and give her the hook. (She never did, btw. She never shirked questions.) That is not what happened to him though.

13/ So then he asked, “what questions am I answering.” **ANOTHER GIANT HINT** Staff response? “Oh just pick someone."

14/ So he looks around the room and picks literally the worst 👏 person 👏 to 👏 call 👏on 👏 (Actually the nicest, sweetest person. We spoke after.) But the worst for him.

15/ A young lady says “I have a husband and three kids, and I have multiple sclerosis. My husband has to move from job to job to get more money for my increasing medical bills, but I keep dealing with ‘pre-existing condition denials’ and what are you doing about it.” #cripthevote

16/ His reply? “If Obamacare is so great, why are we seeing things like this 6 years later?” To which she replies, “You didn’t answer my question.” The room got a LOT louder after that reply.

17/ He finally put a lid on the questions and got out of the room. I’ve heard some people say that they approached him about immigration and border separations, and also that he was “beyond pissed” about how the meeting went.

18/ After it was all over, I told him I appreciated him coming out and that I hope he hosts more free-to-the-public events. I also gave him the same letter I mailed to his campaign office a few weeks ago that invites him to a debate.

19/ All in all, I was beyond impressed with the depth of knowledge of everybody in that room.

20/ I have experienced enormous amounts of wisdom, raw intelligence, and street smarts in every corner of the district. I have held 9 town halls and I am CONSTANTLY learning from residents. Men and women. Young and old. Rich and poor.

21/ Above all else, I have learned that in #tx08 @RepKevinBrady can't just show up and give us stock talking points and expect us to accept them hook, line, and sinker. In #tx08 we are #smarterthanthat
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