Angry crowd at town-hall meeting could be the norm for Dan Webster

It could be a sign of things to come for Webster, a staunch conservative in a competitive district that Democrats hope to recapture in 2012. Last week, Webster took heat from conservative tea party members for not pushing hard enough to cut the federal budget.

A town-hall meeting held in Orlando by U.S. Rep. Dan Webster degenerated into bedlam Tuesday, with members of the crowd shouting down the freshman Republican congressman and yelling at one another.

But Tuesday, the heat came from the other side.

The event was the last of a series of town-hall meetings Webster has held during Congress' spring recess, which ends Monday. While the others were civil and largely uneventful, the 300 people at Tuesday's meeting were so raucous they were scolded by a police officer to act "like grown people."

Webster tried to go over a series of charts showing growing levels of federal spending and debt and the reason he supports the federal budget plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. But he was interrupted at every turn by shouts from critics that included members of progressive groups such as Moveon.org and Organize Now.

Similar scenes have been repeated around the country — though not as rowdy as the one in Orlando — as liberals try to bring some of the grass-roots town-hall rage shown by the tea party during the health-care debate last year.

Tuesday at the Orange County Agricultural Extension office in Orlando, boos and shouts of "liar" were mixed with angry accusations that Ryan's plan to change Medicare would leave those now younger than 55 without health insurance in their retirement. There also were calls to eliminate the tax cuts first put in place by then-President George W. Bush and to raise corporate taxes rather than cut entitlement programs.

Others in the crowd began yelling at Webster's critics to quiet down, at one point with the chant "Let him talk!" But the meeting frequently devolved into multiple arguments — some of them heated — between members of audience.

When Vietnam veteran Ron Parsell yelled that he wanted to know why Webster was cutting Medicare and veterans' benefits, his answer came from the audience instead.

"We can't afford it, you moron!" a red-faced man screamed.

Two Orlando police officers moved to the front of the room and flanked Webster and pleaded for decorum when the congressman could no longer be heard.

"It's not going to be solved by yelling and screaming and hollering," one officer said. "Let's conduct ourselves like grown people."

The meeting never turned violent, and no one was asked to leave. Webster appeared flustered at times but remained calm and never raised his voice.