Loud crowd cheer Gillibrand at town hall in Troy
Troy -- At a town hall-style meeting on Wednesday evening, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York singled out the three Republican senators who recently crossed party lines in the middle of the night to kill the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
The Democrat could be heard praising two of them from the stage, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. If she also praised Arizona Sen. John McCain it could not be heard, however, as the mention of the senators immediately drew by far the single biggest applause of the night.
Among hundreds of people, a sole man in the rafters of the McDonough Sports Complex at Hudson Valley Community College could be heard loudly booing.
Democrats in 2010 faced anger during town halls when trying to pass the Affordable Care Act, but at this one, Gillibrand's ideas on health care received almost nothing but praise. If the guests had one critique, it was that the audio quality in the cavernous complex was so poor during the first 45 minutes of the hour-long meeting that the audience often strained to hear Gillibrand or her questioners.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Loud-crowd-cheer-Gillibrand-at-town-hall-in-Troy-11746729.php
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She used to be my congresswoman here in NY-20! Though this is a traditionally Republican area, she was very popular - and managed to unseat a long time Republican congressman who was so entrenched in that seat that often the Democrats didn't even bother to field a candidate. I went to her initial campaign event in 2006 - and saw and heard President Clinton who came to this burg to campaign for her! He really charmed the crowd, no big surprise... 
She really is excellent - and we're very proud of the job she's doing as senator. But unfortunately, after one term, we're back to Republican representation, and the current rep is even worse than the one she replaced. 
We're very proud of her here in the district she used to represent. She's also personal friends with Gabby Giffords, another courageous and amazing woman. 
She won in this traditionally Republican district over John Sweeney who had held the seat for years! Her successor, Scott Murphy, was almost identical on the issues - and an intelligent and personable guy - but he only lasted one term. 
The room was full of red shirted senior citizens who were apparently bused in - and were very disruptive. His challenger was ex-military and the on the question of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," I thought Scott gave just the right answer - he equated it to Truman's desegregation of the military. He got booed. They booed him on everything. 
Both of our female senators have fought for the First Responders despite the opposition they faced. We're very proud of Kirsten in my neck-of-the-woods since she was our congresswoman (NY-20).
I was actually hoping to watch it again. I thought she was great, but then I'm prejudiced since she was my rep. I was a little disappointed my post of her appearance didn't get more attention, but it might have been a good time to revisit it now since she's gotten so much more national attention - with her work and her votes!
I'm glad if I helped you, sounds like you were confronting a tough time on two fronts. I'm so sorry that you had to go through either. I hope that you're feeling better now, thanks for remembering my Dad. That was a very tough time for my family, too.
And that's one of the most remarkable and wonderful things about DU, I've thought it so many times. The depth and scope of knowledge of the community here is unlike any other. There is bound to be someone - or several someones - here who knows the answer to anything under the sun! 