August 14, 2009 06:46 PM UTC

Town Hall Mobs Give Democrats Cover to Vote Yes

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• by: Colorado Pols

Whether you’ve been reading Colorado Pols or just following the local or national news, you’ve no doubt seen story after story of the angry anti-healthcare mobs that have been converging on Congressional Democrats holding town hall meetings.

Yet a curious thing has begun to happen: The angrier and less coherent that these mobs have become, the more that these anti-healthcare events might actually end up having the opposite effect intended. If Democrats end up voting down meaningful health care reform, they risk validating this kind of behavior by rewarding it; instead, many seem to be strengthening their resolve. Take a look at the first few sentences in an email recently sent out to supporters by Sen. Michael Bennet, who until a few weeks ago had been relatively silent on health care reform:

As I saw in Pueblo last week and in town halls across the country, angry protesters are working to disrupt substantive discussions on health care reform.

But we will not be intimidated.[Pols emphasis]

When President Obama arrives in Grand Junction on Saturday for a town hall to discuss the urgent need for health care reform, I will proudly stand with him.

These anti-healthcare protesters have been widely reported as being organized by Republican interest groups (with some health insurance companies said to be contributing), and if what they are doing ends up working – if Democrats lose their nerve to enact real reform legislation – then what will stop these same groups from organizing similar attacks on other issues? If this works to deep-six health care reform, what will stop organized, aggressive attacks against, say, education reforms or clean energy initiatives?

It’s kind of like the old “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” line (we’re not saying protesters are terrorists, so hold your angry comments), because if you give in once then you only embolden them to use the same tactics again and again.

The national media has started to notice the out of control nature of many of these protests, which are coming to Grand Junction tomorrow, and other Congressional members are starting to forego the town hall meeting format altogether. When all is said and done, it may well turn out that angry protests organized by well-funded conservative interest groups become the very thing that ensure passage of health care reform legislation.