Protesters at a town hall meeting were ready to reject anything, even a prayer to open the session, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Thursday.
"Every Congress is opened by prayer, and that has happened since the beginning, the Continental Congress," Cassidy told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "The other folks there totally rejected anything, even if they frankly probably agreed with it.
The crowd both heckled Louisiana State chaplain Michael Sprague, who was trying to open the meeting with a prayer, at the Feb. 22 town hall meeting in Metairie, and an unidentified Vietnam War veteran who tried to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Jesus was booed all the time, and Jesus heard people cry 'crucify him, crucify him,' and he said 'Father, forgive them. They do not know what I do,'" said Sprague, who was also on Monday's show. "I was not praying a political agenda or religious agenda. I was praying to a real person who says love your enemy. Care for the poor. Someone who sacrificed all so that all people must have peace with God and peace with each other."
Cassidy said he pointed out during the meeting Trump has said his goals for replacing Obamacare include not having coverage mandates, and people even started "yelling at that, so how much common ground can you have."
There were some who were respectful, but "there were enough there just to disrupt" both the talk about Obamacare and the prayer and pledge, Cassidy said.
The angry people looked terrible, he continued, because they claimed to want tolerance, but they "were terribly intolerant, and those that say they want dialogue, didn't want dialogue. They only wanted to shout . . . there were Americans who wanted to exercise their First Amendment rights. But also there were some there to make a scene no matter which way they find them."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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