As anticipation mounts over the looming Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, tea party organizations announced Friday they will present a “virtual town hall” event in the nation’s capital Tuesday evening.
Members of the congressional tea party caucus, including Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee, will be on hand to respond to questions from grass-roots conservatives around the nation.
The event is being presented by The Tea Party.net, Unity Rally 2012, and the Tea Party Caucus. Other groups participating include Tea Party Patriots, the 9/12 organization, and Tea Party Nation.
The “Livestream Townhall” event, which begins Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, will originate from the Capitol Hill Club. Radio talk-host Rusty Humphries will serve as moderator for the event, which will focus on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Observers say the Supreme Court could announce its historic ruling as early as Monday morning. Topics at the town hall are expected to include how the decision will impact Obamacare, plans to repeal any provisions the court does not strike down, and how the verdict could affect hard-fought political contests in November. The event will be streamed live to Unityrally2012.com.
Republican leaders have been urging restraint from Obamacare opponents should the Supreme Court strike down the individual mandate as unconstitutional. They say Democrats will lambaste Republicans for spiking the football, and will use it to make political inroads with swing voters and the constituencies that liked the healthcare overahaul.
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips, who has affiliated himself with The Tea Party.net, told Newsmax in an exclusive interview Friday that he believes those concerns are overblown. He said he intends to openly rejoice if Obamacare is struck down.
“Unless every Republican out there is going to do no comment, they’re going to pick out a sound bite from somebody. So my reaction is, ‘Screw them.’ I don’t care,” he told Newsmax.
Phillips describes the president’s signature legislation as “fundamentally evil,” because he says government control of healthcare makes citizens vassals of the state.
Topic discussed may vary depending on whether the court’s opinion is announced before the event, he said.
“If the decision is not released by the time we have the rally on Tuesday,” Phillips told Newsmax, “we’ll just have everybody ready for it. So if the decision is released on Thursday, either we’ll celebrate or we’ll be ready for the next stage of the fight.”
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