Rep. David Scott Explains Why He Got Ticked Off

Rep. David Scott, the Georgia Democrat who found his testy response to voters with health-care questions at a recent public meeting getting more national attention than he normally does, explained to Tell Me More host Michel Martin why he got upset.

The meeting, which was called by local officials to discuss a new highway going through Douglasville, Ga., was hijacked by the questioners, he thought.

"That meeting was not David Scott's town hall meeting," he said, adding that he does have a health-care meeting scheduled which those voters could attend.

Scott, whose district office was defaced with a swastika following the dust-up, also said race has had a definite role in some of the negative reaction to the health-care proposals and President Barack Obama's advocacy of them.

 

Scott read a message he received that used the n-word to describe him. Here's an excerpt of the interview:

SCOTT: " 'You were, you are and shall forever be nothing but a n*$%#!,' " he said it read.

MICHEL: So what do you think this all about? You don't really think this is about health care?"

SCOTT: No there's something else bubbling up over here.

MICHEL: What do you think it is?

SCOTT: When you have people making claims 'I want my America back' Racism unfortunately is a part of the fabric of American society. And whenever it raises its ugly head, it must be crushed.

Here's video of the last seven minutes of the meeting Scott attended.