Broun-bashers plowing a barren field

It's safe to assume that few minds were changed by a pro-Democrat health insurance reform forum held at the Columbia County Library last week.

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That's because even if every person attending the two-hour meeting had left with an altered view, there just weren't many people in the room, period.

So while it's literally true that few minds could have been changed, it's also likely that few would have been anyway, considering the forum's venue and its lefty setup.

Engineered by a group called Pull the Plug PAC and hosted by Columbia County's Democratic Party, much of the session was a verbal flogging of U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, M.D., for his opposition to the congressional Democrats' health care legislation.

Small wonder Broun was such a hot target: Pull the Plug PAC is run by a handful of University of Georgia students "specifically to defeat Paul Broun," said Russell Edwards, the PAC's treasurer and organizer of last Thursday's forum.

Setting aside the Broun-bashing nature of the session, however, it was a foregone conclusion that the discussion largely would be a sales pitch for the proposed government expansion of health care coverage.

What might have been surprising and more than a little disconcerting to the average Columbia County observer, however, was that the comments from many of the presenters at the event - including the chairman of Richmond County's Democratic Party - seemed to suggest that any fault with current legislation in Congress is that it isn't liberal enough.

Specifically, some of the commentators openly called for more coverage for abortions, not less. And they were nearly universal in decrying the lack of a push for a single-payer, government-run insurance system.

Needless to say, it is unlikely those views are shared by many in Columbia County - which explains the light turnout of citizens interested in joining the Broun-bashing. In last year's election, just 28 percent of voters backed the Democrats' candidate here. For that matter, just 29 percent backed Broun's opponent.

The PAC visitors say they're holding such meetings around Broun's district, and despite their organization's name they admit they don't actually yet have anyone to run against him.

That would seem to be a more logical place for them to start. And if they believe that a candidate running to the left of the current health care debate has a chance in Columbia County, they'd be better off selling snake oil.