Veteran Demands Answers From Congressman

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 24, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And in "Your America" tonight, now town halls have become opportunities for Americans all across the country to vent their frustrations with the Democrat's health care agenda. And Washington Congressman Brian Baird's town hall event was no exception, where a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps took the congressman to task. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HEDRICK, ATTENDED REP. BAIRD TOWNHALL: I swear to defend my constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.

(APPLAUSE)

Now I heard you say tonight about educating our children, indoctrinating our children, whatever you want to call it.

REP. BRIAN BAIRD, D-WASH.: I didn't say indoctrinating. I never said.

HEDRICK: Stay away from my kids.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

I also heard you say that you're going to let us keep our health insurance. Well, thank you. It's not your right to decide whether or not I keep my plan or not.

(APPLAUSE)

What I want to know is as a marine, as a disabled veteran that served this country, I've kept my oath. Do you ever intend to keep yours?

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And joining me now is the man at the center of that showdown, former Marine Corporal David Hedrick is with us.

• Video: Watch Sean's interview

David, thanks for being with us. You're a disabled veteran. You got injured and you were serving with the Marines for, what, 3 1/2, four years?

HEDRICK: That's correct.

HANNITY: And so you went to this town hall. Tell us why — and it was amazing the reaction. What were your thoughts about what happened and what was unfolding?

HEDRICK: Well, I went to the town hall because, you know, I'm kind of — the health care thing is huge. And I think like — that's the straw that broke the camel's back. But I think this is bigger than just the health care thing.

I think this is — it's a battle between — we're trying to decide what role does government have in our lives? Where should this government stop? And we have a Constitution. And that Constitution is a contract. It's a contract between the states, the citizens, and the federal government. And the federal government has decided to break that contract.

HANNITY: Now you're not part of any organized group? You're not part of a mob? You're not — you're obviously passionate. And obviously you had the crowd with you.

I read that one of the main reasons you wanted to be there is because Congressmen Baird had used the term brown shirts to describe people showing up at the town halls.

You confronted him on that. What happened?

HEDRICK: I did confront him on that. And I don't it's acceptable language that he's, you know, comparing us to Nazis. And it's Pelosi who did this. He did this. Now he's compared us to McVeigh and talked about bombings there. And basically, I called him on it, I said, you know what? If you wan t to call Nazis, let's look at Nazi doctrine. Let's look at national socialism.

And what is national socialism? You let the cat out of the bag. We'll talk about it. National socialism is very much what we see today in this administration. It's the policy almost line per line. It's the same economic policy. It's the same political policy.

And — so if they want to talk about Nazis, then they better be careful about that conversation because they might find that the swastika is on their own arm.

HANNITY: All right. When you went there, and obviously you had the crowd behind you. And the congressman seemed uneasy. He didn't really give a full apology for that statement. I didn't hear him say I'm sorry for using that term.

Do you find his so-called apology acceptable to you?

HEDRICK: No. I think it was more of a political dance. He was up there. I don't know if it was an Irish jig or a waltz or what he was doing but, but he definitely avoided the words. He didn't want to say what he said. He didn't want admit to saying it.

And I — you know, as my representative, you should at least be able to stand up there, admit what you said. And if you actually believe that you did something wrong, own up to it. Admit to it. You work for us, we don't work for you.

HANNITY: Well, you know, we seem to forget that term public servants. And I think your monologue there is a great reminder of that.

One of the issues — we have an investigative report coming up a little bit later in the program, Corporal, and I hope you'll have an opportunity to watch this. And it was broke — the story broke in the Wall Street Journal last week. There was a 52-page book entitled, "Your Life, Your Choices," published in 1997 that literally was given to VA hospitals and nursing homes around the country.

And George Bush, when he found out about it, they canceled the book. Barack Obama has brought it back. And among other things, we'll go into some details and specificity as the program unfolds, you know, they raised questions about, well, how are you going to feel if you view yourself as a financial burden to your family and things like that?

And I'm thinking, these are the 20 some odd million veterans that served this country and defended our freedom. Is that part of your concern that this is not being discussed?

HEDRICK: Yes, and I don't think — you know, obviously, this is something that they're going to try to bury and they're going to spin away like they always do. But it's not — it's not acceptable. And this is something — it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

To say that our veterans, our men and women that have served this country, risked their lives in many cases, to serve this country, that we're going to place a dollar value on their lives. It's disgusting.

HANNITY: Well, the fact that they would even recommend any such thing except to give them all the treatment to end of life and do everything to preserve and protect life is unimaginable to me. And then this is what, you know, Governor Palin was criticized for when she brought up the term death panels.

But, Corporal, great job. That's democracy in action. You certainly have earned your right as a disabled vet to say whatever you want. And we appreciate you being here. Thank you.

HEDRICK: Thank you, sir.

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