Lying To Make Friends

As noted in this post by Joan Walsh, President Obama’s health care town hall yesterday was so civil compared to other town halls that some have accused the White House of pre-screening participants to shut out dissent. In fact, participants were randomly chosen among those who applied for tickets online.

There is an important lesson to be learned here, and I hope it doesn’t get by members of Congress. The reason for the difference in tone between Obama’s town hall and the rowdier town halls is that the people causing trouble at town halls, for all the noise they’ve made attention and attention they’ve received, represent a very small portion of the country. Because of the high demand to see the president, it is likely that the crowd at his event, randomly selected, represents fairly accurately the mood of the public. In contrast, at an event where interest in much lower, like an event held by a senator or congressmen, those who care most about the issue,(such as those who have been lied to and think that Barack Obama wants to kill their grandparents or move money directly from their paychecks to a big abortion fund) will be able to dominate the event.

-AR