
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) stooped to a new low by accusing one of his constituents of being a fake protestor.

The Republican Party is still reeling from the backlash of their disastrous plan to strip low-income people of health insurance, which came under fire for being written behind closed doors with no input from constituents.

But many Republicans appear to have learned nothing from the experience, like Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker.

At a $40-a-ticket Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Corker was confronted by April White, a constituent who wanted to know why he has not held any town halls open to the public.


Corker didn't have an answer for her. Instead, he had insults.

At $ ticketed event, a mom asked @SenBobCorker why he's avoiding town halls. He grabbed her, called her a Soros operative. @IndivisibleTeam pic.twitter.com/RWqk58DRMU — Indivisible East TN (@indivisible_tn) August 16, 2017

CORKER: Well, I've had 66. WHITE: OK, so how many did you do this year? CORKER: I do these kind of meetings all over. WHITE: But these are ticketed, I had to pay for my ticket. CORKER: Yeah, yeah. So let me just say this. I love you and George Soros is someone I meet with often. WHITE: Nobody paid me to be here. CORKER: I know they don't pay you, but I know this effort itself is organized. I meet with him on Ukraine and other issues all the time. But I had an experience in West Tennessee where what happened was instead of letting me talk, I was constantly yelled at. [...] It seemed that half of the people were there to listen, and the other half were there to embarrass me and take photos like you're doing right now and try to send that around. So I take real input. We do town halls on the telephone where we talk to 10,000 people at a time. So I get plenty of in — I do not feel like I do not understand what people are thinking about.

Out of the blue, Corker implied White was working for George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist who is a favorite target of right-wing anti-Semitic paranoia.

White is the mother of young twins, according to Indivisible East Tennessee, who fears her children will reach their lifetime caps by age 6 and be denied health care for the rest of their lives. Obamacare currently bans such lifetime coverage caps, but Corker voted for two bills that would have gutted the health care law.

Corker, who is up for re-election next year, has not held any events since then that are open to the general public, where he would have to defend this decision.

Speaking to Shareblue Media, White had some harsh words for Corker:

I was really insulted by the accusation that I was in some way a plant or a fake of some larger liberal organized effort to embarrass him. I got a ticket to the event because it was the only chance to get in the same room as the senator as far as I am aware while he is supposed to be doing district work during this recess. I was nothing but calm and respectful to the senator, and I was a paying attendee of the luncheon just like everyone else. I am sorry that he was interrupted by a handful of people at some other events in the state, guess I missed the part in his oath of office where he was promised by the people of Tennessee that he'd never have to be in a slightly uncomfortable situation and answer people's hard questions. I don't spend a single second of my day thinking about embarrassing Bob Corker. I am too busy raising my 4-year-old twins and worrying about whether or not our family will be able to provide them with the medical care they will need as they grow while Bob Corker plays political games in Washington with our access to care.

It is plain that Corker does not respect his constituents and does not feel fully accountable to them. It is up to Tennessee voters to remind him who he works for.