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Bonnie and Sandra and Jeff all recommended this E.J. Dionne article in the WaPo that questions media coverage of town halls and asks: "What if the highly publicized screamers represented only a fraction of public opinion?"

The article quotes Representative David Price of North Carolina, who spoke with a stringer for one of the networks at a town-hall meeting Price held in Durham. 

"'The stringer said he was one of 10 people around the country assigned to watch such encounters.' Price said he was told flatly: 'Your meeting doesn't get covered unless it blows up.' As it happens, the Durham audience was broadly sympathetic to reform efforts. No 'news' there."

"Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas is one member who did attend gatherings dominated by boisterous opponents of health reform. At a meeting in Waco, a man asked him what constitutional authority the federal government had to get involved in health care. Edwards replied, 'Article One, Section Eight,' which empowers Congress to provide for the 'general welfare of the United States.' Then Edwards asked the man if he opposed 'the federal government being involved in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and children's health care.' The man said he was, and the room roared its approval."

If we lose to this kind of nonsense, we're not worth it.