The Washington Post wants you to watch people scream at politicians

Politicians live in cones of civility amongst themselves until they step into the wild of rallies and town halls.
 By 
Colin Daileda
 on 
The Washington Post wants you to watch people scream at politicians
Many people are screaming. Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

We're used to seeing politicians give long-winded speeches, ask politely to complete their points, and respond to others with a smattering of polite applause. In reality, we'd rather watch randos scream at them.

The Washington Post has gifted the internet with a list of 30 videos in which politicians from Barack Obama to Jeb Bush to Mitch McConnell get yelled at. It's pretty awesome.

The list is mostly full of Republicans, many of whom have endured or dodged a barrage of questions and shouting at recent town halls. You can watch a man yell at Sen. Chuck Grassley about the Affordable Care Act. You can watch Majority Leader Mitch McConnell slowly lose his will to survive in the face of a woman shouting a few feet from his slackened face. You can watch an entire room holler "do your job" at Sen. Joni Ernst.

But perhaps the best and most devastating video is one in which a man had such dedication to booing, that he helped destroy the career of Democrat and then-Toledo mayoral candidate Ben Konop.

The man doing the booing is Maxwell Austin, who thought Konop was a liar. This was due to Konop automatically backing out of a signed pledge to fulfill his term as county commissioner when he decided to run for mayor. If successful, his run as mayor would have stopped him from finishing the job in his previous position.

So, when Konop tried to talk about a few issues in front of some cameras that happened to be set up outside Austin's apartment, Austin booed -- every single time Konop opened his mouth.

"Are you done?" Konop asked Austin after a few seconds.

"No, I'm gonna keep booing."

Austin stuck to it until Konop asked the cameras to move, but the video captured in those four minutes caught fire on the internet, and Konop never really outran it, at least not enough to become mayor.

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Colin Daileda

Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.

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