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Duncan Cites ‘Sore Losers’ in Rejecting Town Hall Request

Group plans ‘Kookfest’ at congressman’s Tennessee office after he calls them that

Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., called protesters at town halls "extremists, kooks and radicals." (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., called protesters at town halls "extremists, kooks and radicals." (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., turned down a request for a town hall meeting because he didn’t want to give publicity to “extremists, kooks and radicals.”

Because of the “anger in politics,” a meeting “would very quickly turn into shouting opportunities for extremists, kooks and radicals,” Duncan in a letter turning down a request for a meeting, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.

Duncan, who was elected in 1988, pointed out in his letter that he has “often been described as one of the most accessible members of Congress in this Country,” but said he prefers one-on-one meetings, which tend to be more civil.

He also said he does not want to draw attention to those on the left who “who have so much hatred, anger and frustration in them.”

“I have never seen so many sore losers as there are today,” he said.

Duncan cited fellow Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of California, who had to be escorted by police through protesters after a town hall in his district over the weekend.

Sarah Herron, who runs Indivisible Tennessee and who requested the town hall meeting, said she is planning to protest at Duncan’s office on Friday.

The protesters are hijacking one of the epithets Duncan used and calling the protest “Kookfest.”

 

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