"These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views -- but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades." -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, in an op-ed in USA Today.
Two points. First, the Rethug right has been misrepresenting this statement to mean that speaking out at town hall meetings is "un-American," when clearly Pelosi and Hoyer were talking about those that only want to disrupt and halt the town hall meetings so that discussions can't occur. In other words, typical Rethug tactics when the facts -- and votes -- are against you.
Second, in watching Sen. Specter's town hall meeting in heavily Rethuglican Lebanon, PA today, we were struck by the fact that the vast majority of the angry and misinformed audience readily declared that they were conservative Rethugs. So this was not a cross section of voters by any means -- something that CNN, for example, is avoiding mention of.
